When I first saw Boonstra’s “Organizational Change as Collaborative Play” (2019), the title left me skeptical. I read it anyway, and I’m glad I did. Boonstra offers a credible alternative to top-down, plan-and-push change. Using “play” as the core metaphor, he reframes change as a collective search in which people co-create a desirable future through interaction, experimentation, and learning.
Traditional change treats objectives as fixed targets, delivered by a rational project plan. In complex settings those targets often paralyze more than they mobilize. Boonstra’s idea of a “play ambition” works differently. It clarifies meaning, purpose, values, and capabilities so people have direction without being over-specified or boxed in. The result is movement with latitude for discovery.
This shift alters how we diagnose and strategize. Rather than applying standard assessments to identify gaps and then rolling out solutions from the top, the play lens surfaces the “unwritten rules of the game” – the beliefs, assumptions, and interaction patterns that actually drive behavior. Strategy becomes a set of adaptable “play concepts,” combinations of moves that different people can tailor to their context. Culture stops being a rigid obstacle or a lever to manipulate and becomes a living pattern we can name, test, and, when useful, change.
Control gives way to rhythm and momentum. Instead of marching to milestones and compliance checks, players look for the right moments to act, amplify positive forces, and keep progress alive. Success is judged less by scorecard tick-marks and more by the quality of the play: visible effects on the ground, the learning produced, and the capacity built for the next move.
The metaphor rehumanizes motivation. Planned change often treats people as rational calculators to be persuaded and managed past “resistance.” Play treats them as Homo Ludens The metaphor rehumanizes motivation. Planned change often treats people as rational calculators to be persuaded and managed past “resistance.” Play treats them as Homo Ludens, players who take satisfaction in creating together. Opposition is not a defect to eliminate but a signal of involvement to understand. Leadership shifts accordingly. Instead of concentrating agency in formal “change agents,” the work invites everyone onto the field. Ownership grows from participation and contribution, not from assignment.
Constructive exploration sits at the core. In turbulent environments, meaningful change requires choosing uncertainty over false certainty. That means acknowledging unpredictability, staying alert to weak signals, creating space for new “games” to emerge, and allowing rules to evolve as work unfolds. Tensions, which incorporate conflicting interests, ambiguous roles, power dynamics, are not problems to silence but engines of innovation. Most progress starts small, learns fast, and stacks visible wins until it tips.
The human skills that make this work cohere around three qualities. Intention supplies courageous clarity about the future we want and why it matters; it frames the play concept and sustains energy. Precision turns that intent into executable action, sequencing moves, choosing complementary strategies, and making context-sensitive decisions again and again. Intuition draws on crystallized experience to read patterns, motives, and emotions in the undercurrent where formal data runs thin. Together, intention sets direction, precision makes it do-able, and intuition keeps it humane and adaptive.
Boonstra’s Collaborative Play Model functions as both a way of seeing and a way of working. Practically, it helps you map the playing field, make patterns visible, choose fitting formats for action, and clarify your role. It encourages structured interactions that surface multiple perspectives, expose dynamics of stagnation, and unlock innovation. Reflection happens in action: real outcomes and real tensions become material for the next iteration. The point is not to “install change,” but to grow the organization’s capacity to keep shaping itself.
Along the way, Boonstra urges us to let go of several unhelpful habits. Manufactured urgency is not leadership; organizing aspiration and a vivid picture of the future mobilizes more sustainably. Selling ready-made solutions may look efficient, but it suffocates commitment and creativity; co-exploration builds both. Linear roadmaps promise control that today’s turbulence won’t honor; treat change as a journey and find direction step by step. Programs labeled “culture change” often try to manage behavior directly; sustained dialogue about customer value and professional standards shifts practice first and culture follows. Treating resistance as something to “fix” only entrenches it; read it as evidence of care and engage the critical positives who can move the neutral middle. Delegating implementation while leaders chase new projects drains credibility; leading players must stay visible from start to finish. And while consultants can help, lasting capability must reside inside the organization; the people who live the system should ultimately own the expertise to change it.
None of this is whimsical. Change as collaborative play is a disciplined, humane way to do hard work under uncertainty. It trades rigid plans for shared ambition, command-and-control for rhythm-and-momentum, and resistance management for sensemaking and participation. Most of all, it treats change as a collective search—where intention, precision, and intuition compound into small wins that accumulate into durable transformation.