LEGO bricks
– great to play with, painful to step on with bare feet.
In Person meetings – great face-to-face, painful to get 100% focus and participation.
If you’re investing in getting your team together, why not create an environment that ensures every person is contributing their knowledge and perspective?
Some of our clients have teams that work across the globe. They talk daily, but get together face-to-face infrequently. Other clients work in the same building but their meetings are standardized and the same people dominate the conversations.
When you have serious questions, how do you unlock all the knowledge and creativity in the room? Lego Serious Play™ is a tool to make it happen.
Ok, I’m interested but…what is it?
“Lego Serious Play™ (LSP) is a facilitated thinking, communication and problem solving technique for use with organizations, teams and individuals. It draws on extensive research from the fields of business, organizational development, psychology and learning, and is based on the concept of “hand knowledge.””
Before humans had language, we processed information and understood the world through what we saw, heard, and touched. Later language was developed, which aided our ability to transfer information from one person to another.
In the business world we rely on language alone to share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings. A lot of information is lost through meetings with just talk. Getting all our senses involved improves the quality of communication and thinking – more of our brain is activated.
Does play have a place at work? Yes!
You might be thinking, “Come on, isn’t this just a throwaway, nicey-nice team building thing?” Not really.
“Since we were children, play has been an integral part of our ability to understand the world around us and test alternatives without risk.
Play was one of the reasons we were able to thrive. It still is.”
Why is LEGO Serious Play™ effective?
LEGO bricks serve as a common language that anyone can use, regardless of their education, position or culture. Everybody’s knowledge and insights are surfaced.
The initial focus is on the individual, not the group. The process requires everyone to be actively involved in decision-making.
LSP produces more concrete ideas and results. Everyone has time to build answers before conversation and knowledge sharing begins.
LSP ensures faster and better communication and understanding because it uses 3D visualization, metaphors and stories. This leads to fewer misunderstandings.
Because more senses are involved and more of the brain is activated, communication is richer. It can help people with different cultural, language, and work backgrounds clearly understand one another. When understanding is deep, commitment is high.
Everyone builds, everyone shares – 100% participation. Everyone has time to reflect before responding – rare in our hurried world. And even though time is taken for reflection, the process ensures an efficient sharing of information and focus on the task at hand. More work and connection is achieved in less time.
Every Lego Serious Play workshop is custom
There are no cookie-cutter companies, problems, or challenges. We are trained (see our certifications) and work with you to create an experience that will move your business forward. LSP is adaptable to many contexts. Below are examples of workshops we’ve conducted:
Establishing team values and operating principles
Creating a unified, shared understanding of a problem, goal, or business goal
Sharing hopes and fears about change
Creating quarterly/annual team goals
Playing emergence and testing the possible outcomes of business decisions
Developing strategies that can remain flexible and weather uncertainty
Contact us to learn more – LSP is novel, powerful, and practical. Just keep your shoes on and it will be pain free!