Build Culture and Reduce Conflict by Making Work Fun Again

Often, the missing ingredient in collaboration isn’t structure—it’s connection. And the fastest way to rebuild it is through intentional, lighthearted fun.

The pandemic physically separated people, and hybrid work and dispersed teams are continuing to keep them apart. Now, we’re still trying to bring people back together—not just physically, but in trust and cohesion.

In a recent course I facilitated on building collaborative teams, the topic of barriers to communication and how to overcome them arose.

One of those barriers was a lack of trust between professionals. A lack of trust, not because people had broken the trust, but a lack of trust that resulted from professionals simply not knowing their colleagues. Their only interactions are brief, professional, task-based exchanges.

And this is a problem if companies want to build collaborative teams.

One popular suggestion that was discussed was for organizations and leaders to make work "fun again" to the extent that it is possible.

This group of healthcare workers' day-to-day lives were "heavy"—they had to deal with life and death, piles of healthcare regulations and policy, and people who were often having a bad day. Without intentional intervention, this became a cloud of "serious" that hangs over the professionals and the teams.

So the suggestion of planned social gatherings where professionals could mix with colleagues and other departments and chat, and get to know them better, was a popular practice to help build trust and a more positive culture.

Plan low-stakes, regular moments for your people to connect without an agenda. You’re not wasting time—you’re building trust. And trust is what makes collaboration possible.