Bring Back Fun

AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

• Make a clear, credible case for play at work so it feels like a smart leadership move, not a nice-to-have.
• Use simple, realistic strategies to bring more energy, connection, and ease into your team’s day-to-day work.
• Choose and run play-based activities that actually fit your team’s mood, capacity, and comfort level.
• Use play as a practical tool to ease burnout, support emotional labor, and help your team reconnect.

You’ll leave with go-to activities and a clearer sense of how to bring energy and connection back into your team in a way that actually feels natural.

If you're someone who:

• can feel that your team’s energy has shifted, even if no one is saying it out loud
• is trying to support morale while everyone is stretched, tired, and carrying a lot
• wants to bring more connection and ease into the workplace, but doesn’t want it to feel forced or awkward
• is responsible for team culture and knows it’s getting harder to sustain in the current environment
• wants practical ways to help people feel more like themselves at work again

This course was built for you.

This course is especially relevant for:

• library directors, branch managers, and department heads
• team leads and supervisors responsible for staff experience and day-to-day culture
• emerging leaders stepping into management roles and figuring out how to support a team
• anyone responsible for staff engagement, workplace culture, or team dynamics

If part of your job is helping a team stay connected, supported, and able to keep going, you’ll see yourself in this course.

Session 1 | 12:00-12:50pm ET

The Science of Play

What makes play such a powerful tool for connection and learning? This session explores the research behind play and its benefits in adult settings, including how it supports creativity, collaboration, and well-being. You’ll gain insights into how play impacts the nervous system and can regulate stress.

Break | 12:50-1:05 pm ET

Session 2 | 1:05-2:30 pm ET

The Practice of Play

How can play be used in real-world team and workplace scenarios? This interactive session invites you to view and experience a range of playful strategies firsthand. You’ll participate in games, group activities, and discussions that demonstrate how play can build trust, encourage innovation, and support team dynamics without requiring high energy or extroversion.

Break | 2:30-2:45pm ET

Session 3 | 2:45-3:30 pm ET

The Planning of Play

How can you take today’s ideas and apply them back at work? This session focuses on practical application, guiding you through designing your own low-barrier, high-impact play-based strategies. Leveraging Beck’s “Play Matrix,” you'll begin building an action plan that fits your team’s unique needs.

Optional Group Working Session | 3:30-3:50pm ET

This live, interactive working session will give you an immediate opportunity to process and apply the skills you’ve learned today. You will be divided into smaller working groups and presented with a prompt, game, or activity related to today’s sessions.

Please note: This session is completely optional, and it’s meant to be interactive, so if you can’t or don’t want to be in breakout rooms, you’re welcome to log off. If you stay, we ask that you please join on camera and audio to discuss ideas, ask questions, and hear from other participants in class.

Reflection & Closing Remarks | 3:50-4:00 pm ET

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

Beck Messick, Library Learning and Development Manager, Tacoma Public Library

With over a decade of training and leadership experience, Beck is the proud Learning and Development Manager at Tacoma Public Library. They have worked across industries, including food service, retail, government, and technology. However, working for a library is where they have witnessed the resilience and tenacity only library staff are capable of. Beck frequently finds inspiration in the curiosity and collaboration that their library staff exhibit in daily work. Beck holds a degree in education studies and organizational leadership and approaches their work with creativity, leveraging models like Lean 6 Sigma and human-centered design to solve challenges with a "how might we...?" mindset. Through consultation and calculated risks, they have helped improve employee morale, performance, and professional development for libraries nationwide. As a neurodivergent leader, Beck brings both clear, actionable insights and lived experience to help leaders better support their teams. They understand that what is intuitive to some requires explanation for others and design training that is accessible to all. When they are not teaching adults to play kazoo for morale, they can be found wandering antique shops looking for cool and creepy decor.

Play and productivity go hand in hand. In this dynamic, interactive session, participants will discover that play is not a break from work. It’s a crucial part of work.

Play is a powerful tool for energizing teams, fostering creativity, boosting morale, and mitigating burnout. Library managers and leaders will learn to incorporate playful engagements at personal, shared, and organizational levels, ranging from quick ice breakers to immersive half-day activities.

Through interactive exercises, participants will explore how varying levels of energy and vulnerability can provide relief from the cycle of emotional labor and compassion fatigue that lead to burnout.

Leaders of all levels will walk away with the confidence and tools to reignite inspiration and boost morale within library teams.

Please note: We know the ideas of play and vulnerability can be scary, especially in an online space, but this course is designed to be inclusive, flexible, and respectful of personal boundaries. You’ll always have clear guidance and the option to opt out of any activity.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay:

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This is a half-day live online course held on Zoom.

The session includes interactive exercises, reflection, and play-based activities ranging from quick ice breakers to more immersive team experiences.

You’ll receive clear guidance throughout and can opt out of any activity at any time.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

This course is 4 hours long. You will earn 4 professional development credit hours and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS

The recording will be available on demand for six months following the live session as part of your purchase.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

Complete the course requirements to earn 4 professional development credit hours and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.