Work As Child’s Play March 10, 2006

Of late, the concept of innovation has engaged my thinking quite a bit. Needless to say, I have barely scratched the surface of the subject and find that there are countless great people out there who have greater understanding and more profound views. Yet, in the course of my observations, I have come across a few truths. Among them, the very fundamental fact that innovation stems from creativity, and creativity has a link to a childlike state of innocence. Many of us lose that state of innocence; we leave it behind somewhere as we grow up. There is a certain pressure to grow out of childhood and, in a sense, we are encouraged to outgrow our innocence along with it. The ‘child state’ in us becomes a discarded outfit. I believe that in creative people, in people who innovate with great ideas and expressions, the child has never been abandoned, never left behind. The child lives inside the adult like a Russian doll and is nurtured, protected and communicated with regularity that is astounding. While the premise is fascinating and has a certain inherent joyfulness, when I share it with managers, they all ask me one question: if it is true that the child inside us is so valuable and we all have left that child behind, how do we get back in touch with that child? I think one way would be to observe children more.When I think of children, the first thing that occurs to me is how much more they smile and laugh. It is easy; it takes so little to make them smile and laugh. Try that with an adult! Many people who laugh with their colleagues at work do not share that same hearty laugh with their spouse who opens the door. They don a donkey-like seriousness on their face and find laughter childish and indulgent. Why must adulthood be de-linked from spontaneity? Children are perpetually asking questions. As adults, we are awkward with questions. We link the act of asking questions to ignorance. It indicates that we do not know; hence, we may look stupid while asking questions. Children have no shame, whereas adults suffer from layers and layers of shame. Because children have no shame, they are more capable of failing at something and moving on from it. Our sense of shame makes us inhibited. So we do not try new things at work. Children quickly make friends with strangers. Put two kids together along with a few toys and they will start playing before they care to know about each other’s antecedents. As adults, we seek the false comfort of known relationships before we agree to play with each other. Children freely express their emotions; adults learn to suppress their emotional side. We come to the workplace and are frequently counselled, “Do not get emotional.’’Children play. They find play in everything. Adults shun play and consider it the opposite of ‘serious work’. To a child, every act is an act of play. Playfulness is a deep state of imagination. While in it, a child is in complete engagement with the act of playfulness. In many religions, the idea of god and childhood are very treasured. In some religions, the universe is seen as ‘cosmic play’. In the corporate world, many chief executives see their work as ‘play’. Organisational structures often represent Lego-like building blocks; every structuring and restructuring is like creating, playing with, getting bored with, demolishing and starting a new model. Children fantasise. Adults feel that fantasy is strange. As a result, they curb their imagination. Less they fantasise, less becomes their ability to ‘visualise’ things. Visual thinking is very important to any creative process. Children do not always work on an ‘outcome-based’ manner. Consequently, they are always exploring possibilities and discovering things. Adults focus mostly on outcomes. As a result, they rule out an infinite nature of possibilities by seeking only a specific set of things. Most of the time, they come out either with that limited set or with nothing at all. Unscripted organisational situations require greater understanding of emergence and strategic thinking that looks beyond the stated outcome.Children derive happiness from very small things, adults seek only that kind of happiness which comes in super-size packaging. As a result, adult life is largely monotonous with just the occasional spikes of joy. The short supply of it, takes away potential of positive reinforcement that a child is flooded with, each time a small happiness is experienced. The contrast is so complete that they seem to have come from different worlds. It is time we got back in touch with the child in us and with the power of innocence, created work in a built-to-suit manner. Source : http://digvijayankoti.blogspot.in/2009/04/subroto-bagchi-speaks-all-articles-by.html