From Bored Room to Boardroom: Why Adults Nee Purposeful Play at Work

Written by: Jessica Low

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The attribution is disputed, but this line feels familiar in many organisations.

Every year, teams organise another learning programme, training intervention, or strategy session. The slides become newer. The agenda may be tighter. But the design often stays the same.

People sit. Someone presents. Participants respond politely. A few discussions happen. Everyone leaves with good intentions. Then, a few weeks later, the old behaviours return.

After 13 years of facilitating workshops across Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, I have heard many versions of the same hope: “We need people to collaborate better.” “We want more ownership.” “We need innovation.” “We need alignment.”

These are important goals. But very often, the room is still presentation-heavy, overly formal, and safe enough for people to stay behind their roles.

The issue is not that adults do not want to learn. The issue is that many rooms are not designed for adults to think differently.

The Objection Is Usually Not About Play

When I introduce purposeful play into a workshop design, the objections are familiar: “Play is only for children.” “LEGO is for kids.” “Play is not for my directors.” “We are too old to play.”

I understand these reactions. In many corporate cultures, play has been misunderstood. It is associated with entertainment, childishness, games, or a break from serious work.

But purposeful play is not play for the sake of play. It is structured exploration. It gives adults another way to think, express, listen, test ideas, build meaning, and make sense of complexity together.

Play is not the OPPOSITE of work. Play is the opposite of RIGIDITY.

Many organisations are not suffering from a lack of seriousness. They are suffering from too much rigidity: rigid meetings, rigid hierarchies, rigid ways of speaking, and rigid learning designs that expect behavioural change from passive participation.

Why Do Adults Stop Playing?

Most adults do not lose the ability to play. We learn to suppress it.

Cultural conditioning tells us to “be serious” or “grow up.” Corporate professionalism teaches us to sit still, speak carefully, and appear composed. Fear of judgement makes us worry about sounding foolish, being wrong, or losing authority. And many people confuse play with entertainment.

Entertainment helps people relax. Purposeful play helps people think.

Without play, work can become overly procedural, emotionally flat, low in imagination, and fear-based. Teams may keep naming the same problems but never see them differently.

That is the bored room problem.

Purposeful Play Is Serious Work

Purposeful play does not lower the standard of a leadership conversation. It often raises it.

In a well-designed facilitated process, play can support connection, communication, creativity, psychological safety, problem solving, and learning. It can help people approach difficult topics without immediately becoming defensive. It can make hidden assumptions visible. It can give quieter voices a way into the conversation.

I remember one workshop with a chairman of a company who was 71 years old. He had initially planned to attend only half a day. It would have been easy for him to make an appearance, say a few words, and leave the rest of the session to his team.

But something shifted in the room.

Through purposeful play, he listened more deeply. He watched how his team built their ideas and made sense of the work ahead. He participated, reflected, asked questions, and stayed with the conversations.

In the end, he cleared his calendar and remained for the full 1.5 days. That was three times longer than he had planned.

For me, that moment said a lot. Purposeful play is not about age, seniority, or being “serious enough” for the room. It is about whether the room is designed well enough for people to become present, curious, and engaged.

When a senior leader chooses to stay, listen, build, and reflect, the method has done more than create activity. It has created attention.

Where the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method Comes In

This is why I use the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method in my facilitation practice.

Many people first react to the bricks: “Isn’t LEGO for kids?” I understand the reaction. But the bricks are not the point. The bricks are a medium.

In the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method, participants build models in response to carefully designed questions. They give meaning to what they build. They tell the story behind their model. Others listen, ask questions, and make connections. The process makes thinking visible and tangible.

Over the years, I have used this method to support alignment conversations, strategic clarity, change conversations, leadership reflection, communication, and problem solving.

The power is not in the bricks alone. The power is in the facilitation design. A poorly designed play activity can become entertainment. A well-designed purposeful play process can become a serious thinking space.

How to Know Whether Play Is Purposeful

Before introducing play into a meeting, learning event, or workshop, leaders can ask:

• What is the business problem we are trying to address?

• What kind of thinking do we need from the team?

• How will this activity help people speak, listen, build, test, or make meaning?

• What will participants carry back into work after the session?

If these questions are missing, play can feel random. If these questions are clear, play becomes purposeful.

Stop Hosting Bored Rooms

Many organisations do not need another learning intervention that looks different but behaves the same. They need better-designed rooms.

Rooms where adults can think beyond the usual answers. Rooms where hierarchy does not silence contribution. Rooms where serious leaders can explore without feeling foolish. Rooms where teams can build shared meaning, not just exchange updates.

Purposeful play will not solve every organisational problem. But it interrupts rigidity.

Perhaps the better question is: What are we losing when we design every serious conversation to look the same?

It may be time to stop hosting bored rooms and start building better boardrooms.