Head of Workplace Experience at LEGO Tim Ahrensbach joins Kursty to discuss how play can revolutionise the workplace. It is his job to make sure LEGO’s offices are as fun and as awesome as their LEGO sets and throughout the episode, he talks about how he does that. 

Tune in to learn: 

• The six layers of workplace experience; 
• What it means to play at work;
• Why being a fully remote workplace might stifle creativity.

“The aha moment for us was realising what our colleagues were missing was play” - Tim Ahrensbach

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Timestamps

[00:23] Episode overview and who is Timothy Ahrensbach? 

[02:16] What was happening at LEGO before the pandemic? 

[04:05] Adding a little bit of play to the interview! (walking the walk)

[07:29] How play helped keep people connected during the pandemic (does it matter if it’s forced?) 

[08:16] What does unconventional productivity look like (much more than getting through a to-do list)? 

[10:56] Why and how people have struggled to do strategic creative thinking remotely. 

[14:45] How LEGO was prepared for the pandemic. 

[16:46] The big aha moment for LEGO in the pandemic. 

[24:54] The SIX layers of workplace experience.

[30:06] How play revolutionized the LEGO workplace in the pandemic (what is play in the workplace?) 

[33:04] Examples of what play can look like in the workplace.

4 Key Highlights 

1. Activity-based working gives people a lot of variety in their work. However, activity based working is not very community centred. 
2. Our conventional measures of productivity can be completely misleading (eg: how many emails you send per day). For example, investing time in building relationships is not a conventional measure of productivity. That being said, it is through building relationships that you can get work done more quickly and in a fun way.  Creative outcomes don’t just come from sitting at your desk for hours. They also come from having coffee with a colleague. 
3. Working remotely is much easier when you already have a strategic creative plan that you are following. It is much more challenging when you don’t have a plan and need to create one remotely. Collaborating creatively is easier face to face. One of the reasons for this is that it is much easier to pick up on body language face to face. 
4. The pandemic compelled people not only to be their best working selves but also their best working colleagues. The future of work post-pandemic needs to work for people personally but also for companies as a collective. This is why work cannot be fully remote nor fully in person. 

Links 

Connect with Tim Ahrensbach: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter

Support the show

Spatial Attraction is written, produced, and hosted by Kursty Groves.

Original music and sound production by Lee Golledge.

For episodes and updates, visit https://kurstygroves.com/podcast/ - and follow Spatial Attraction on LinkedIn and Instagram.

To suggest a theme or guest, email [email protected].