Team professional development
Play with Purpose
A wellbeing team building experience that brings play back into your organisation, and your people back to life.
Why play
More thinkers, fewer box tickers
The industrial way of running workplaces, and our habit of relentlessly motivating people, is squeezing out creativity and connection. Many leaders say they have more doers than thinkers, yet thriving teams need people who can do both.
Play is how humans connect, learn and recharge. When teams rediscover play with a clear purpose, they move from rule-following and survival mode to engaged, creative and critical thinking, and wellbeing grows along the way.
Your team will
- Reconnect with each other through shared, purposeful play
- Build trust, psychological safety and team cohesion
- Practise gratitude habits that lift wellbeing every day
- Leave with simple play rituals to keep using at work
The experience
Hands-on, joyful and grounded in research
Sessions combine conversation with Rod about the big ideas and plenty of group play, so people can take what they learn straight back into their workplace.
Discover
Why play matters for adult wellbeing and innovation, drawing on Dr Stuart Brown's work on play, Brené Brown's research on courage and belonging, and Rod's own research.
Play
Purposeful, inclusive play experiences that build connection and stretch thinking. No special skills or fitness needed, just a willingness to join in.
Embed
Gratitude and play rituals from the Playing with Gratitude Project that your team can keep using long after the session ends.
Formats
Tailored to your team
Every session is shaped around your team's size, goals and setting. Common options:
- Team session: a two-hour experience for staff meetings and planning days
- Half or full day: a deeper team building day, on site or at a venue
- Conference keynote or workshop: interactive and high energy for larger groups
- Ongoing series: regular sessions across a term or year, often paired with the Playing with Gratitude Project
Perfect for leaders, managers, business owners, early learning and school teams, councils and creative organisations.
The evidence
What daily play and gratitude changed
Staff in 25 organisations that practised playful gratitude every day for six months reported:
Playing with Gratitude Project participant data.