AF - Playground

Participants will:

• Lower inhibitions around creative risk-taking.


• Generate unexpected ideas by removing performance pressure.


• Build team comfort with constructive failure.


• Establish "yes, and" culture through play.

Participants will have:

• Explored a playground environment.


• Established a creative space.


• Generated free exploration outcomes.

Setting Psychological Safety: Your job is to make it safe to look silly. Model it yourself. Show something half-baked and laugh about it. Interrupt apologies: "No apologies in the playground." Redirect practical explanations: "Save realistic for later. What's the wildest version?"

Choosing the Right Provocation: Generic prompts fail. Specific constraints are liberating: "Solve this problem badly on purpose," or "Design for the opposite user," or "What would a five-year-old do?" The constraint gives direction.

Managing the Serious Person: Every group has someone who resists play. Redirect: "Just try it once." Or pair them with someone playful. If they refuse, let them observe. Forcing participation backfires.

Handling Good Ideas: Note good ideas, but don't latch onto them. The moment you evaluate feasibility, you've killed the playground. Write good ideas down for later.

Energy Management: Start high-energy, wind down. The warm-up should be active. If energy drops, take a break or switch activities. Play requires energy.

Physical vs. Digital: This works better with physical materials. Touching objects unlocks different thinking. Digital tools invite refinement. Emphasize rough sketches over clean diagrams if remote.

What Comes Next: Playground is divergent. Don't evaluate or implement ideas immediately. Let them sit. The value often shows up later.

When It Fails: If people stay buttoned-up, push harder into the absurd, or acknowledge it isn't working and move on. Some teams have cultures too rigid for play. That's useful information.