People should play more

The best teams I've ever been around have one thing in common that nobody talks about enough.

They very lightly make fun of each other.

Not in a mean way. In a warm way. The kind of conversations that mean everyone's comfortable enough to be a bit ridiculous. Where someone can say something daft and the room laughs and moves on. Where the wit is quick and nobody's "performing professionalism" at each other.

Most Leaders I know don't think about that as a leadership variable.

But I think it is.

Because the teams that can laugh together are the teams that can think together. Quick wit and a willingness to not take yourself too seriously aren't personality quirks. They're the early indicators that a team feels safe enough to actually be creative.

I've sat in sessions that were technically well-run. They had the right people, right agenda, right prep, and produced nothing interesting (sorry to say the quiet bit out loud).

And I've sat in sessions that were a bit chaotic, where someone said something daft that made everyone laugh, and suddenly the room was alive.

Someone threw out an idea they'd never have said in the first session.

Someone else built on it. Something real came out of it.

The difference wasn't process. It was permission.

I'm not giving permission to be offensive.

But I do think you should assume permission to play.