“…I’m convinced there is always a way to make something work, however off-the-wall the idea might be…”
Play is often treated as something we grow out of – a childhood phase replaced by seriousness and responsibility. And yet it continues to shape how we think, work and relate to others to a surprising degree throughout our lives.
In this new series we ask a simple question: what did play do for you? We begin at home, with co-founder George Whitefield…
In the course of your work, what are you most proud of bringing into the world?
In our corporate work, I’m proud of helping adults not take themselves too seriously and letting their guard down in front of their workmates. When that happens, people get to know each other at a much deeper level and bring something closer to their true selves to work in the future.
For children, I think we’ve genuinely reshaped the way parties take place for hundreds of thousands of children in the UK and abroad. We’ve moved the dial away from rather Victorian, exclusive party games and one-man-band performers towards parties focused around joy, play and inclusivity.
What did play look like for you growing up?
A lot of mucking around in the garden with my younger sister — definitely more games, imagination and making things than sport.
My mum Pearlie is brilliant at treasure hunts — elaborate clues for birthday presents and rocket balloons on Christmas Day. My dad Groover is a chocolate maker, so we did quite a bit of “sampling” to help his work. He’s also very practical and loves designing and building things like model boats and little inventions.
Can you trace a line between play and something you later became good at?
The direct link between all the games we played and treasure hunts at home has formed a pretty key part of the content at Sharky + George.
As far as running a business and managing a team of people, having experience through imaginative play makes it easier to imagine and dream up creative solutions to problems.
Being understanding of others definitely comes through play. One of the best things my sister and I used to play on was a slightly lethal spinning seesaw. It was green and yellow and went up and down like a normal seesaw, but you could also make it spin, which was amazing. She is a couple of years younger than me, so unconsciously I must have been accommodating for that to make it fun, otherwise she’d have flown off the seesaw every spin. I think that has stuck with me into working life — understanding the importance of adjusting your pace and expectations to people’s experience and abilities.
I have a fairly relentlessly positive attitude to everything, so from a resilience perspective I’m convinced there is always a way to make something work, however off-the-wall the idea might be. I think this comes from being encouraged to make and build things when I was little. I vividly remember building a flying machine which had Coke-can rocket boosters and was mounted on old sofa casters for take-off.
When you hear the word “play” now, what does it mean to you personally and professionally?
Personally, almost anything to do with water and ideally the sea. Last week in February half term I spent a couple of days in Devon with my wife and three children and the highlight for me was a mad dash into a very wild sea and, briefly, jumping about in the waves.
Professionally, our seasonal rituals — conker championships, galette des rois, World Book Day, pancake races and so on.
What role does play have in moments of pressure, failure or uncertainty?
Reassurance — and not taking life or yourself too seriously.
During lockdown, lots of events companies folded or furloughed staff. Our response was to immediately come up with the most playful and ridiculous experiences we could imagine that would translate through video calls.
As a team we found ourselves doing the most extraordinary things in front of a laptop and huge live audiences, including milking cows, firing a homemade rocket launcher through a watermelon, doing the chicken dance in full ski kit, converting a whole sitting room into a robot wars arena, playing human curling in the kitchen, setting fire to cocktails in the dark, cooking and eating a wood pigeon in the wild and running a giant international escape room.
How can play change the dynamic of a group?
Aside from the longer-term changes, play immediately injects an energy that nothing else does.
We once did an assembly for 250 seventeen-year-old boys – not an easy audience! We split the hall in half and introduced inflatable balls into the crowd, turning it into a game… The whole atmosphere totally transformed within minutes and we had these otherwise potentially rather cynical and self-conscious teenagers fully engaged.
What’s one playful habit you’d recommend to someone who thinks they’re “too busy” to play?
It depends what play means to each individual. For some people it might be ten minutes of reading a novel every day. For others it might be introducing a very quick “beat the intro” challenge at the start of every meeting.
For us, it’s spontaneously testing out kit we have in our storeroom — Nerf guns, fancy dress, new sweets, micro-scooter jousting. A quick and simple game that a few people can get competitive about works well. Monopoly Deal is my favourite and takes about 15 minutes to play.
Another thing that can be introduced across a team is a steps leaderboard with prizes — using something like the Pace or Vitality apps, which automatically give points you can exchange for coffees and treats.
We all have a tendency to get stuck in predictable routines, so any small playful tweak — taking a bike or boat rather than the tube, or walking part of your commute by a river or park — can make a huge difference to your mood.
George’s story begins with treasure hunts and spinning seesaws, but the themes of play run through adulthood too and have directly shaped his career.
We’ll be asking the same seven questions to other founders, leaders and creatives in the coming months. If play has shaped you in ways you didn’t expect, we’d love to hear your story. Get in touch via enquiries@sharkyandgeorge.co.uk
