Now the holidays are over, let’s keep on playing! (or the relevance of Lego® Serious Play®)

The “L” of Lift off

Facilitating a Lego® Serious Play® workshop, every time again it is such a great and dynamic experience.

People (engineers or sales men or back office members or … whatever) around the table, at first staring – some a bit nervous, feeling uncomfortable - to the bricks.

A few moments later, after the skill building phase, around the very same table, enthusiastic builders, passionate creators and grounded story tellers.

Introverts, extroverts, side by side, same tools, same challenges, same drive.

The “E” of Energy

If you would ask me to summarize Lego® Serious Play® in a few words?

Lego® Serious Play® is an open And structured invitation to be constructive, to push boundaries, to feel free and to have full access to your own potential (and belief me everyone has lots of potential).

The “G” of Generous

And if someone would ask me what, so far, I like most being a facilitator, I would answer the following:

Two things I like very much about Lego® Serious Play®:

We talk about what we “see” not what we think or assume. Everything is specific, everything is tangible. We just discuss the brick models on the table, not some assumptions, vague visions or ideas we have in our mind.

Talking about team characteristics? Do not just talk, but point me the characteristics in the model you just built! Everyone is challenged to make ideas visual and tangible to the others. (Far gone are the rich and sparkling but quite often superficial and sometime even empty statements and ambitions.)

Everyone is equal. That’s a real strength. The deplorable rule of thumb that a mere 20% of people determine 80% of the content and the outcome does not apply here. We all have the same tools, the same resources to work with.

The “O” of Of course…

I have to add a third one: it’s such fun!

A few extra words. LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a method, a technique that facilitates our thinking processes, the communication and problem-solving capabilities. A variety of themes can be challenged. External challenges: markets, competition, customers … Internal: team building, strategy definition, processes building … It can be used as a market research tool but most often it is a methodology to ease and stimulate in-company topics.