This paper extends understanding on the practical development of team creativity and innovativeness in organisations by exploring the concept of playfulness and its implementation in practice. We discuss what playfulness means in the context of creativity and innovativeness and illustrate its application through three action research projects. As a conclusion, we propose playfulness as a useful metaphor for illustrating creative activities and practical methods, which can be a viable means for stimulating team creativity and innovativeness and thereby in a broader sense encouraging innovation and organisational renewal in non-creative businesses.