Most people associate Lego with their childhood. With Lego Serious Play, the colorful bricks are also used in the business context, for example in the areas of idea development and team building.
Teambuilding and Idea Development with Lego Serious PlayMadeleine Gritzbach, Monday 01 October 2018 | Reading time: unknown
Most people associate Lego with childhood memories or, if you already have children of your own, with very painful encounters between Lego bricks and your feet. What many don’t know is that Lego can also be used as a tool in business: Lego Serious Play.
The idea of Lego Serious Play (LSP)
The LSP method promotes both innovation and business performance. Studies show that this kind of hands-on experience supports a deeper understanding of processes and faster recognition of opportunities. LSP basically works with the principle of complexity reduction using metaphors: The simplified representation of complex problems or structures helps us to recognize starting points and to develop solutions. The brain concentrates only on the concrete question and is not distracted by disturbing factors such as social constraints or fears. There is no right or wrong, because it is only about the story. LSP solves the problem of everyone understanding things differently by visualizing questions and ideas.
Lego Serious Play Workshop
In a LSP-Workshop the participants work on and solve a problem together. Each participant builds their own 3D Lego model based on the initial problem. These models later serve as a basis for the group discussions, the exchange of opinions and the final problem solving or decision making. A certified LSP moderator (facilitator) supports the participants and helps to find a solution at the end of the workshop.
In preparation to a LSP-Workshop you first select a LSP moderator. This person needs to have a LSP certification. Then you develop a specific question or problem to work on and select appropriate Lego pieces. Now the actual workshop can begin.
Every participant builds their own 3D Lego model after a short introduction into the LSP method and the specific problem by the moderator. After that every participant explains their own solution to the group. This will be the basis for the following group discussion which ideally will end with a group solution. If necessary, the moderator will lead the group there.
Teambuilding with Lego Serious Play
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation" - Plato
An LSP session can also help getting to know your team colleagues better and strengthen the team spirit. The playful exchange enables you to see colleagues from a different perspective and gain insights into their view of things. By exploring different hypothetical scenarios together, you will learn how your team colleagues tackle problems and, if necessary, you can optimize your own problem-solving strategy. Lego Serious Play strengthens team spirit by improving mutual understanding and the honest exchange of opinions.
Idea development with Lego Serious Play
LSP offers many advantages, especially for group collaboration. As visual, auditory and kinesthetic stimuli are addressed, the participants have to process and understand these stimuli on several levels. In addition, each person has the opportunity to express their own opinion. This way even rather introverted participants are “forced” to share their ideas and dominant personalities learn to first let all group members develop their own ideas (in the sense of 3D models) before they are influenced in their thoughts by the ideas of others.
Read more about Lego Serious Play here.