Professional Safety - April 2025
By: Shawn M. Galloway
Printable Version
As our high school senior is finishing her eighth year of performing in her school orchestra, we were invited to attend what would be her final competition. To test musical literacy, one of the tasks is to perform what is called sight-reading. The orchestra is judged on its ability to play a piece successfully it has never seen or practiced before. The instructor was given less than ten minutes to teach the different sections their individual roles in the piece.
After a few minutes of teaching, the instructor creatively and humorously skipped around the piece, asking the group to play the unfamiliar composition with feedback provided throughout. Time was up, the judges came in, and to unexpected delight, the orchestra played the piece perfectly.
This experience is a great metaphor for highlighting the importance of deliberate play, an intentional and focused effort to achieve specific outcomes, such as skill development, problem-solving abilities, and collaboration. Engaging in purposeful, structured, and enjoyable activities designed to enhance skills, knowledge, creativity, and teamwork, combining elements of fun, challenge, and learning, helps promote personal and professional growth in individuals and groups.
The concept is rooted in positive psychology and organizational development. It draws inspiration from the idea that individuals learn best when they are actively engaged, motivated, and enjoy the learning process. By incorporating fun, creative, playful, and challenging elements into training, learning, and development activities, deliberate play aims to make the learning experience more enjoyable, impactful, and effective. Why not use this concept to elevate safety programs, empower teams, and orchestrate performance and culture efforts with the finesse of a master conductor? Let’s explore the benefits.
Value From Deliberate Play
Engaging and Motivating Employees: Deliberate play can help to engage and motivate employees to participate in safety training and activities. By making safety training fun and interactive, employees are more likely to pay attention, retain information, and apply it in their daily work.
Improving Skills and Knowledge: Deliberate play can also help improve employees' safety skills and knowledge. By providing opportunities for hands-on practice, problem-solving, and teamwork in a playful environment, employees can enhance their safety competencies and confidence.
Building a Culture of Safety Excellence: Deliberate play can contribute to fostering a culture of safety excellence within organizations. By creating a culture where safety is seen as a priority and a shared value and responsibility, organizations can improve communication, collaboration, and trust among employees.
Tactics to Leverage Deliberate Play
Embracing a playful approach to improving safety can make learning more enjoyable, increase retention of safety information, and ultimately create a safer and more productive workplace. Here are some tactics that organizations can deploy to leverage deliberate play to improve safety performance and culture:
Gamification: Implementing safety quizzes, competitions, and challenges can make safety training more engaging and interactive. By incorporating elements of competition, rewards, and recognition, employees are motivated to participate and learn in a playful way.
Safety-Themed Games and Apps: Developing safety-themed games or mobile apps that simulate real-life safety scenarios or provide safety tips and challenges can be a fun and effective way to engage employees in safety learning. These games and apps are easily accessible to employees and can be used as supplementary tools to reinforce safety messages.
Simulations and Role-Playing: Conducting safety drills, simulations, and role-playing exercises can provide employees with hands-on practice in a safe environment. By allowing employees to experience real-life safety scenarios and practice their responses, they can improve their skills, decision-making, and confidence.
Team-Building Activities: Organizing safety-focused team-building activities can help to foster collaboration, communication, and trust among employees. Working together towards common safety goals in a fun and supportive setting, employees can build strong relationships and a sense of camaraderie, vital for strong cultures.
Creative Communication Channels: Creative communication channels such as videos, infographics, and storytelling can make safety messages more engaging and memorable. By incorporating humor, storytelling, and visual elements, organizations can effectively communicate safety information and reinforce desired safety behaviors.
Safety Storytelling and Role-Playing: Incorporating storytelling and role-playing activities into safety training can help employees connect emotionally with safety concepts and understand the importance of following safety procedures. By sharing real-life safety stories or engaging employees in role-playing exercises, organizations can create a more impactful learning experience.
Employee Involvement and Empowerment: Encouraging employees to actively participate in safety initiatives, share their ideas, and take ownership of safety goals can help to create a culture of accountability and empowerment. By involving employees in safety decision-making processes and giving them a voice, organizations can build a culture where safety is everyone's responsibility.
Safety Challenges and Puzzles: Creating safety-related challenges, puzzles, or scavenger hunts can make learning about safety more interactive and engaging. Employees can work individually or in teams to solve safety-related puzzles, which can help reinforce key safety concepts and encourage critical thinking.
Interactive Workshops and Training Sessions: Conducting interactive workshops and training sessions that involve hands-on activities, group discussions, and problem-solving exercises can enhance employee learning and retention of safety information. By making safety training sessions more dynamic and engaging, employees are more likely to apply what they have learned in their day-to-day work.
Safety Team Projects and Initiatives: Encouraging employees to work together on safety-focused projects or initiatives can promote teamwork, collaboration, and a shared commitment to safety. By assigning safety-related tasks or projects to teams, employees can apply their skills and creativity to improve safety performance and culture.
Organizations can create a dynamic and engaging safety culture that prioritizes continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation by implementing these tactics and exploring new ways to incorporate deliberate play into safety programs. Embracing a playful approach to improving safety can not only improve safety performance but also enhance employee morale, motivation, and overall well-being in the workplace.
Orchestrating a Symphony of Initiatives
As the orchestra masterfully concluded the spirited performance under the instructor’s adroit guidance, the once unfamiliar sight-reading piece came alive with precision and harmony. It was a triumphant testament to the power of deliberate play — an intentional and focused effort yielding exceptional results.
In much the same way, embracing deliberate play in the context of safety performance and culture is akin to orchestrating a symphony of initiatives that harmonize development, innovation, and collaboration. Just as the orchestra adeptly performed the sight-reading piece by leveraging intentional practice and feedback, organizations can cultivate a culture of safety excellence that thrives through purposeful, structured, and enjoyable activities. The artful practice of deliberate play enriches learning experiences and fuels growth and success, resonating as a powerful force for positive change.
By cultivating an intentional and enjoyable learning environment, organizations can empower employees to embrace safety with enthusiasm and dedication, elevating workplace morale, performance, and well-being. Embracing deliberate play as a fundamental tenet of safety culture is not merely a compelling concept — it is the crescendo that heralds a harmonious symphony of safety excellence and success.
Shawn M. Galloway is the CEO of ProAct Safety and an advisor to leading organizations across all major industries. With over twenty years of experience in safety systems, strategy, culture, leadership, and employee engagement, he is a trusted advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness.
He is the author of several bestselling books and has multiple regular columns in leading magazines, with over 400 articles and 100 videos to his credit. He also created the first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence, with over 800 episodes. Shawn has received numerous prestigious accolades and has been featured in Power 101 Leaders of the EHS World, Top 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS, Top 40 Rising Stars, Top 11 Health and Safety Influencers, and Top 10 Speakers.
He serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the Fast Company Executive Board. He has appeared as a guest on Bloomberg, Fox News, The Daily Mail, Dubai One, U.S. News & World Report, Sirius Business Radio, Wharton Business Daily, and leading safety magazines and podcasts, reinforcing his status as an authority in the field of safety excellence.
For more information, call +1.936.273.8700 or email info@ProActSafety.com.
