Define Professionalism

MAW should set up clear expectations of when different levels of professionalism are needed and what that looks like.

Professionalism is a vague term that should be broken down for staff. What does professionalism mean in MAW, and how does the “play” continue to support the mission of the unit. MAW leadership should create some guidelines for staff around what professionalism is and when those expectations may differ (such as with donors or other adult stakeholders). Some areas to focus on might include:

• Dress

• Accountability (both with oneself and holding each other accountable)

• Timeliness

• Ethical use of finances

• Communication, particularly around customer service

• Attitudes in the workplace

It’s important to address that how you act professionally around children will not be the same as with big donors or with your colleagues. MAW leadership should take time to outline when different types of professionalism are expected and acceptable to avoid questions of their effectiveness as an organization. 

Avoid Toxic Positivity

It is important that employees have mechanisms by which they can address the less pleasant elements of their work environment without fear of ruining the culture or being labeled as negative. Toxic positivity ”refers to the concept that keeping positive, and keeping positive only, is the right way to live your life. It means only focusing on positive things and rejecting anything that may trigger negative emotions” (Lukin, 2019). In such a stressful environment, where employees are responsible for making joy for terminally ill children with little money, employees will need spaces to process their complex emotions. It is imperative that a culture of playfulness does not ignore the sometimes grim realities of their work at MAW. These mechanisms should be private and focus on the wellbeing of the employees. Such a mechanism could be having a counselor onsite at regular intervals for employees to process emotions with. 

We recommend the formal addition of a process for employees to be encouraged to express their negative emotions in full. This also prevents a playful culture from becoming toxic and avoiding important issues that might not fit under a fun or playful description. 

Visual Branding

Developing consistent messaging about the MAW culture will be helpful in communicating the culture of play to families, donors, and potential employees. Developing the message can be done as a part of a visioning session with the entire MAW team, led by its leadership team.  The session would allow employees to share ideas about what they want to highlight to outsiders about the MAW play culture.  Using these ideas, MAW can create a visual branding campaign. One part of the campaign would be designing a business card or another form of takeaway marketing material to give families and potential donors who come to visit MAW.  The materials would explain the culture of play and why it is so important to MAW and their mission.  The marketing materials would enable MAW to communicate in a consistent way that is clear to those that are unfamiliar with it.

Another part of the visual branding would include some office redecorating.  Messages about play culture and mission/vision statements can be painted on walls, especially in areas with a lot of visitor traffic.  Messaging like this throughout the office will also benefit employees by brightening up the space, and reminding them of their mission.  Both of the visual branding options will also help employees with their communication to outsiders. 

Using the visual branding messages will help them create their own elevator pitch that will explain the MAW culture to others. Effectively and consistently communicating about the playful culture at MAW will help outsiders understand why it is so critical to their mission.