The definition of the word ‘professional’ is changing a lot these days. Being professional means consistently providing a high quality service and customer experience, as opposed to showing a clean-cut image. If play can support this objective, then it can certainly make your business more professional.

An environment that encourages and supports fun and play needs to have a set of attributes, e.g.: being flexible / adaptable, promoting equity, making people feel safe, and incorporating different forms of media that allow people to express themselves and capture ideas. None of these attributes require the space to look messy or juvenile, let alone unprofessional.

Just as play has its place in the process of creating value and providing services, creating space for ‘serious’ focused work is equally important. So the workplace will become truly professional when it will allow people to find balance between different work modes, and chose the activities that best support them to deliver outstanding results.