A lot of great ideas are the result of people messing around.

Being silly. Thinking beyond the possible. Putting something ridiculous out there and then refining it into something meaningful. This is often how great ideas are generated.

The imagination can’t be driven by process. Creativity can be harnessed by a creative process, no doubt – there are ways in, there are ways to stimulate – but really imaginative solutions happen in the head where seemingly unconnected things make new connections (or when two heads, or more, make the unconnected connect in order to create a new whole).

The World Economic Forum claims creativity will be the third most desirable skill for employers by 2020 (moving from its current tenth position). To create the right conditions for this will require a seismic shift in terms of how organisations think about defining, hiring, and working with creativity.

In our systematised, automatised, algorithmic world, finding the time and space for imagination, for play at work – culturally and operationally – is going to be one of the toughest challenges for organisations to overcome (particularly in an increasingly volatile, chaotic world).

Despite this, there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future of work.

Above all, this is an ideas economy. Ideas are what we have to sell. We have to, as a commercial imperative, create new working environments that encourage and develop greater creativity.

Play has to be our priority in order to survive – and, the more we play, the more likely we are to find Work Happy.

I’m a big believer that it’s possible to find Work Happy.

A combination of matching individual wiring, skill and passion to organisational purpose and task, Work Happy People, unsurprisingly, love what they do – and are great at it.

They make work look like play. They make work feel like play.

They have confidence in their abilities, and a desire and openness to being stretched.

For me, whether researching, writing, reporting, advising, brainstorming, work-shopping, presenting or public speaking, my Work Happy comes from helping others find their confidence, think about things from other angles, make connections and be bolder in their ambitions. 

To find out more about what I do (or could do for you), please visit playatwork.co.uk or email me at mtthwsnclr@gmail.com