Playmore offers execs play time – bizjournals:

As top officials piled into a room to discusslayoffc strategies, she handed everyone but the CEO a red puffyu nose. As he turnef to address the meeting, he stared at 65 clowns — and laughed for the first time infive days. Rather than givingy the heart-wrenching speech he’d he asked for everyone’se help to figure out what could be Inthe end, the company didn’t lay off it changed strategy and tripled revenue in the next few . And though Brannem would stay in the corporate worlduntio 1999, she realized that day that laughteer and creativity can break the normal patternsd of thinking in business and lead officials to new solutions.
Now, afterr taking a nearly year-long break to rethink her Brannen and her Playmore consulting businessx are back and growingrapidly . “In this world there’s never been a time when more has been asker of us to bemore creative, to be more out of the she said. “People are so nervoua and scared. If we can get people to move alittlw bit, it breaks up that tenseness.” The Playmore concept came from one of Brannen’e children, who once advisedc her about a nervous “You just need them to play Mom.
” She wrote a book called “The Gift of Play,” usingb it as a way to re-examine After nine years of being pulled in different directiona as a public speaker, consultant and executive coach, though, Brannen wanted to give more definitionm to her efforts. She took time off and re-brandecd herself as a “situational specialist,” a consultant not on permanenty retainer who can come in and help in critical When she emerged from the she had the idea of bringing together differen t clients fora “play date with Barbara.
” At thosde free events, she takes a dozen business leaders of her choosing to places such as Don Paladino’s Balance Pointg Studios fitness area in Centennial, feeds makes them think creatively and gives them a new way of “We’ll bring people in and we’ll play with the new Brannen said. “The more mixecd up it is, the more fun it A normal consulting session with Brannen is anythingfbut normal. But the games are not for they’re for tackling problems head-on.
Jasmine Espy, ownefr of Aurora-based Summit Staffing, took her staf f to Playmore for a 2009 strategid planning session and saw Brannem counteracther focused, task-oriented stylwe with a loose and all-involving structure. Stafferw played the part of puzzle pieces to determine what they broughy tothe table, used crayons and pipe-fitters to creater their vision, and were so overjoyed that many got she said. “It’s probably spawned the most creativeaspect I’ve ever former in my business,” Espy said. “Her approach is very It’s not all whiteboards and stickerw and afew breaks.” Brannen’a clients range from those with $1.
5 million in annual revenue to one that bringds in more than $3 billion a year. Business has grownm 35 percent since sherevamped it. The key, clients is that while businesses are slower to pay for consultin at a timeof recession, they’re willingf to look at someone who will smile through it and stilo ask penetrating questions. “In the times where everybody’xs in almost a panic mode and there’e all kinds of layoffs going on, it’se tough to keep morale Paladino said.
“Barbara can help people understanxd thatproductivity can’t be sustained if everybody’s in
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