Pickleball Challenge｜Sharestart and Learning Organization Training Case Study
Introduction: Sharestart and the Learning Organization
At Holo Solution, we believe that people are the most important asset of a company.
Every month, we hold a corporate Sharestart activity. This is not just an employee event, nor is it a one-way training session. Our goal is to build an environment where team members can learn autonomously, think actively, and gain a sense of achievement through work and interaction.
When each person is able to learn independently, think critically, and express their observations and ideas through sharing and communication, the organization gradually develops the ability to grow on its own. In a rapidly changing external environment, a company should not rely only on the decisions and management of a few people. Instead, it should continue to reshape itself through the learning, adaptation, and interaction of all its members.
We believe that an organization is alive, like a living organism. When it becomes ill, it gradually heals. After excitement, it gradually calms down. Through repeated learning and interaction, it finds its own way to keep moving forward. This is why Holo Solution promotes corporate Sharestart and the concept of a learning organization.
For records of previous learning organization activities, please visit:
This Month’s Learning Organization Theme: Pickleball Challenge
The theme of this month’s learning organization training was “Pickleball Challenge.” In simple terms, we brought everyone together to experience pickleball.
What does pickleball have to do with a learning organization?
We believe that communication is one of the most important nutrients in a learning organization. Although colleagues work together every day, workplace communication can sometimes remain quite shallow. Everyone focuses on their own tasks, and most conversations revolve around work, deadlines, problems, and results. These messages are usually already organized and processed, leaving little room for scattered, casual, or seemingly meaningless information.
However, many creative ideas come from moments of idleness, and many deeper forms of communication come from micro-expressions, tacit understanding, and shared experiences.
If we temporarily shift from only “focusing on tasks” to also “understanding people,” we can respond differently to different individuals. When there is more space between people, we have more opportunities to read the room and understand subtle expressions.
Returning to the idea of a learning organization, when mutual understanding increases, the organization becomes more flexible, and information can be transmitted more quickly and accurately.
In many small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan, interaction among colleagues often takes place through company dinners or group trips. However, these activities have several limitations. First, they do not happen frequently enough, often only once or twice a year. Second, there may not be enough open time, as trips often involve rushing from one destination to another. Third, interaction may still remain limited, as the same groups of people may sit together each time.
A sport with a competitive element may offer a new channel for communication.
Higher frequency：
Colleagues can meet after work to exercise. Not everyone needs to attend every time, and the cost does not have to be high, making it easier to continue regularly.
Open time：
Sports often involve taking turns. Those watching from the sidelines naturally have some open time. Moments of idleness can spark ideas, and casual conversations can help people understand each other better.
Cross-team pairing：
Competition allows teammates to be randomly paired and rotated. This helps people work with different colleagues rather than staying within the same small group.
Dopamine and healthy competition：
Moderate competition can stimulate motivation, and a healthy competitive spirit can accelerate interaction and communication. After all, no one wants to become the legendary bad teammate.
Through this learning organization training activity, we hope to encourage colleagues to meet up and play pickleball on their own in the future, allowing communication, idleness, cross-team interaction, and healthy competition to happen more frequently in daily life.
When these interactions are no longer limited to a single event, but gradually become part of everyday life, the spirit of a learning organization can begin to take root more naturally.
Why Pickleball?
There are many types of sports. Why did we choose pickleball?
Easy to Learn：
Pickleball is one of the easier sports to pick up. For colleagues who do not exercise regularly, it has a relatively low barrier to entry. It involves some running and movement, so it still provides exercise, but the overall difficulty is not too high and the risk of serious sports injury is relatively low.
Easy Access to Venues：
There happens to be a pickleball venue available for rental near the company. More importantly, it is an indoor court. For many people, heat and sun exposure are among the biggest concerns when exercising. An indoor air-conditioned court naturally makes participation much more appealing.
The Right Balance of Competition and Cooperation：
Some sports are more like a dialogue with one’s own body, such as swimming, jogging, or hiking. These are all valuable activities, but they may not quickly create interaction between people.
This time, we wanted to use a competitive sport to create more opportunities for communication and interaction among colleagues. Pickleball, with its team format, rotation, cooperation, and competition, was a suitable choice.
Post-Event Review: Pickleball Challenge
For this activity, we used a rally scoring system. This made the scoring easier to understand and kept the pace of the game faster, especially for beginners.
Our colleagues range in age from their twenties to their sixties, so it was a rare and valuable experience for everyone to get on the court and move together. Although it took a little longer than expected for people to get used to the game, overall, everyone found pickleball fun and felt that they had truly exercised.
More importantly, the activity achieved its intended effects: sideline interaction, random pairing, moderate competition, and shared experience.
The next and more difficult question is whether this experience can encourage colleagues to arrange pickleball sessions on their own outside of company activities. This will require long-term observation and continued encouragement.
If this event can become a starting point and give colleagues another natural channel for interaction outside of work, then the “Pickleball Challenge” will be more than just a sports event. It will become a small entry point through which the learning organization can gradually grow into everyday life.
