Abstract:
Synergy of a Playful Team is a narrative in the form of a story representing how playfulness can enhance learning and growth, create camaraderie, and improve performance at the workplace. The story is about a playful training and learning technique introduced for making a technical session not only engaging but also effective and impactful. If you have been fond of “Dumb Charades”, you’d enjoy reading this piece and reimagining a new version of your favourite childhood game! And to make it even better, how this game could enhance the performance of workers of a plant is something that might leave you intrigued!

Synergy of a Playful Team
It was twilight, and the 5 PM siren at the plant had already sounded. However, there was less congestion at the exit gate as the workers still seemed to be inside the plant. Barring one or two, none of the other workers were seen near the exit gate or punching out. Slowly, it started getting darker, and still, there wasn’t any sign of people leaving the plant even after the completion of the day’s operations.

The Security Guard finally checked on the officers in the administrative block (with a fear of having missed making their exit-entry if some of them might have left). To his surprise, he encountered a sight he could have never imagined. All workers and officers of the plant were together seated in the conference room and were laughing out loud repeatedly. His curiosity made him stay out of the hall while trying to overhear what was going on (thinking, what’s wrong with them?) 

He saw an officer do some actions, trying to explain something through his actions to a few other officers (who appeared to be on his team), while other officers and workers continued to laugh and giggle over the actions and the reactions! It appeared they were up to some school game of guessing the name of a movie from the actions of a team member. But then his eyes spotted a standee and a banner there that said, “Refresher Session on Plant Facilities and Safety Equipment” It was subtitled “Game On!”

By the time the Security Guard could figure out what was going on, the location-in-charge noticed him through the glass door and invited him in to join the ongoing game. He was perplexed about what he was supposed to do. Explaining the rules of the game, the Safety Officer whispered something in his ear and asked him to explain it with his actions without uttering a word. The Security Guard seemed to be petrified of the entire scenario and was still trying to understand what exactly was going on! The safety officer shook him by his arm and asked him to enact what he was told to. He lifted his arm and acted as if he was trying to wear something over his shoulders and then acting to hold something with his hand and putting it over his mouth, and everybody else yelled in sync, “SCABA” (Self Contained Air Breathing Apparatus) and clapped for the guard. It made him feel relaxed and proud as if he had given his best shot to the Director’s Cut!

He understood the relevance of the title and the subtitle on the standee! It was just that he had never seen this session happening without a PowerPoint presentation or a physical equipment demonstration from the safety officer or an outside faculty. He thanked the location-in-charge for inviting him in and asked for his permission to go back to his duty post.

The next day was the day of the Emergency Response Drill, which is a periodic firefighting drill in the presence of district authorities and mutual aid members. Everything was planned as per convention- equipment checked, emergency exits ready, district authorities informed, and scenario prepared but the only thing that appeared a bit different was the energy and confidence of the officers and workmen, who appeared to be on a different level than they used to be on such days. The only communication within the hazardous area was the VHF Handset, which wasn’t available to all the team members of the three teams involved in the fire fighting, assisting, and rescuing. But it was amazing to see what happened! The three team leaders were positioned around the site at places of highest visibility and were seen making some actions representing equipment, direction, or an act without yelling or looking for a VHF set to communicate to their team members located more than 50-100 metres away. Everything was brought to the site very promptly- the foam cans, the hoses, the branch pipes, the safety trolley, the fire extinguishers, the stretcher& the SCABA! The monitors and sprinklers all operated seamlessly, and the support from the mutual aid members was organized in a jiff on just certain movements and actions from the team leaders.

The only voice heard around the site was of the Site incident controller giving instructions to the team members and the security guards for controlling traffic movement. Apart from that, the only sound was of the air, the sprinklers, the ambulance, and the fire brigade.

The drill closed with the instructions of the incident controller, and everyone headed to the briefing point. All visitors, including the esteemed district authorities and the mutual aid members were murmuring and discussing amongst themselves what they just witnessed while walking towards the assembly point.

The Safety officer very courteously greeted everyone and began the briefing by saying, “Congratulations on overcoming the observation on communication between team members that was given by our visitors in our last drill, you all acted and guessed well”. The dignitaries present looked at each other, and the senior most of them came forward to say, “While your teams were swift and clear on whatever was to be done, we still don’t understand how acting and enacting improved your communication while this was the biggest flaw in the last drill when you all were struggling to obtain a VHF set to say what you needed at the site. I’m sure you might have rehearsed it before actual delivery (with a giggle and a sarcastic smile).”

The Location in charge entered the conversation with a humble tone and subtly mentioned, “Sir, we just got trained on it!” and everyone applauded! The mutual aid members started enquiring about the format of the training introduced to which all workmen, officers and the security supervisor present in the briefing happily and enthusiastically replied,

“GAME ON!”
This was never seen before. Training sessions and their implementation on the ground were a subject of feeble importance owing to the monotony in the delivery of the subject & content. But the playfulness inspired not only participation but also implementation and demonstration on the ground, the result of “Synergy of a playful team!”