Begin with one daily interaction to improve, such as a welcome, meal, handoff, or family update. If your team is stretched, a small shared habit can create momentum without adding another large initiative.
What can Play look like in a care setting?
Choose one moment that often feels rushed or routine, then invite the team to make it warmer or easier. During a morning welcome, staff might try a new question that helps a resident feel known. At a meal, they might test a more personal way to offer choices. During a handoff, they could use a simple image or phrase that helps everyone remember the person behind the task. A family update might begin with one specific observation about what went well.
Curiosity and safe experimentation are central when Play becomes part of the conversation. Play means bringing energy and creativity to the work, so the team can ask, “What would make this interaction feel more human?” It can be quiet: trying a clearer explanation, rearranging a supply cart, or finding a gentler way to invite cooperation. It does not require jokes, games, or a naturally outgoing personality.
Set a clear playing field before trying something new. Agree that dignity, consent, privacy, safety, and the person’s preferences come first. If an idea could embarrass, exclude, interrupt, or distress someone, change it. The team can be light and inventive while taking care seriously.
How do we turn one idea into a team habit?
After the interaction, take five minutes to ask:
• What happened, and how did the person respond? • What helped the interaction feel more welcoming or respectful? • What should we repeat, adjust, or leave behind?
Recognize useful efforts specifically: “Your question gave her time to choose,” or “That handoff helped me understand what mattered to him today.” If a trial misses the mark, ask, “What did we learn, and how can we make the next attempt safer?” That response helps people keep sharing ideas.
Start with one interaction, one small experiment, and one brief debrief each day. Signs that the habit is taking hold include more suggestions from staff, warmer responses from residents or families, smoother handoffs, and people speaking openly about what they learned.
Questions like this one, and many more about service culture, are explored in the FISH! Philosophy upgraded trial, which gives your team 30 days of access to the FISH! film and its digital guides.
