The Playful Shift: Reimagining Career Growth Through Game-Based Practice
PAID WEBINAR SERIES
LIVE WEBINAR
- Tuesdays, April 14, 21 & 28 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET (90 MINUTES)
Language 
This webinar is presented in English
Accessibility 
This webinar offers AI-generated live captions available in multiple languages
Overview of the webinar series
Career development professionals across Canada support clients navigating a rapidly changing, uncertain labour market and non-linear career paths. Many clients experience stress, fatigue and disengagement during complex transitions, while Canadian and international workforce data show that adaptability, creativity and emotional resilience are essential employability skills. As a result, CDPs are increasingly expected to help clients strengthen these skills while maintaining engagement and delivering effective interventions. Yet many practices remain predominantly cognitive and task-focused, often struggling to sustain engagement or address the emotional and motivational dimensions of career transitions.
Grounded in positive psychology, neuroscience and adult learning research, this new webinar series presents playfulness as an evidence-informed methodology for career development. Playful approaches are more than just engaging – they are effective. Positive emotions broaden cognitive flexibility and support behavioural change (Fredrickson, 2001), while play-based approaches enhance learning, experimentation and self-efficacy in adults (Brown, 2009). Finally, emerging research links playful work design to higher engagement and adaptability – critical skills for thriving in today’s fast-changing labour market (Scharp et al., 2023).
Why career professionals should attend
By engaging in this webinar series, career development professionals will deepen their understanding of the science behind playfulness, learning and behaviour change, and how these principles apply directly to career conversations. The series will be highly interactive and practice-oriented, blending brief evidence-informed inputs with experiential learning through live polls, quizzes, breakout rooms, guided reflection and hands-on experimentation with playful and game-based tools.
Attendees will learn how to use playful and game-based techniques to increase client engagement, motivation and reflective capacity – without sacrificing rigour or professionalism.
The series offers ready-to-use tools and micro-interventions that can be integrated into one-to-one counselling, group programming, workshops and employability services. Participants will also gain practical strategies for designing career conversations that support adaptability, creativity and self-efficacy, particularly with clients experiencing overwhelm or career uncertainty. Throughout the series, participants will actively test and reflect on playful approaches to build professional capability and confidence. They will also receive a practical playbook/workbook, with optional between-session exercises to support real-world application.
Upon completion, attendees can expect to walk away with a clear framework for applying playfulness ethically and intentionally in practice, increased confidence in facilitating engaging career interventions, and renewed professional energy grounded in evidence-based methods that support both client outcomes and practitioner well-being.
Sessions
Webinar 1: The Science of Playfulness in Career Development — Understanding how play supports resilience, adaptability and learning.
April 14, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm ET (check your time zone)
- Describe key psychological and neurological principles underlying playfulness and their relevance to adult learning and career development practice
- Recognize how playfulness can support resilience, adaptability and cognitive flexibility during career transitions and periods of uncertainty
- Distinguish between unstructured play and intentional, evidence-informed playful interventions in professional settings
- Examine common career development challenges (e.g., disengagement, indecision, burnout) through a play-informed perspective
- Reflect on your own practitioner mindset and consider how adopting a playful stance may enhance empathy, curiosity and client engagement
Webinar 2: Game-Based Tools for Growth and Change — Practical examples and case studies for integrating playful and gamified methods into practice
April 21st 2026, from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm ET (check your time zone)
- Explore real-world case studies illustrating how game-based and playful tools can support motivation, engagement and behaviour change in career development contexts
- Practice using selected game-based techniques in common career development scenarios, including career exploration, goal-setting, decision-making and transitions
- Identify playful interventions that align with client needs, readiness and context (one-to-one, group, educational or employment-focused settings)
- Reflect on indicators of effectiveness when using playful and gamified approaches to support client reflection, self-efficacy and adaptability
- Consider how existing career development tools and exercises can be enhanced using playful design principles while maintaining ethical and professional standards
Webinar 3: Designing Playful Career Conversations — Developing your own micro-interventions and reflective tools for immediate use with clients or teams
April 28th, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm ET (check your time zone)
- Identify how playful, evidence-informed micro-interventions can be shaped for different career development contexts and client needs
- Create reflective tools that support career exploration, decision-making, adaptability and self-efficacy
- Experiment with existing career development methods and tools through a playful lens to examine their impact on engagement, insight and learning
- Consider ways to integrate playful approaches into established career development models, frameworks and service offerings
- Apply facilitation strategies that encourage experimentation, curiosity and psychological safety while maintaining ethical and professional standards
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Meet the presenter
Anna Boltenko, PhD, PCC, CCS, is a leadership coach, career development strategist and change management expert with over 15 years of experience in HR, academia, leadership development and positive psychology. She is the creator of the RE.SET Coaching Game, an innovative, evidence-informed tool for reflective growth and learning.
A Forbes Coaches Council contributor and ICF British Columbia Board Member, Anna supports individuals and organizations in navigating career transitions, leadership growth and change with creativity, clarity and playfulness. Her work includes helping clients explore and build careers in Canada, the United States and international contexts, supporting professionals across diverse industries and career stages.