The power of Lego® Serious Play®

Oct 13, 2020
Frieda Janssens

When CompanyWise experts mention Lego® Serious Play® as a method to address or investigate organisational themes, they sometimes get derogatory reactions like: "Play with the blocks? We don't! " or "That's childish".

Lego takes us back to our childhood, and is often seen as child's play. Nevertheless, Lego® Serious Play® is increasingly appreciated in the business world for its functional and serious aspects.

We increasingly use Lego® Serious Play® to support our workshops. It is a facilitated method developed to promote innovation and business results in a supported manner. Here are a few themes:

  • Developing mission and vision
  • Designing of macrostructure
  • Bringing values and organisational culture to life 
  • Strengthening team building
  • Providing insight into lean and agile

Why is Lego® Serious Play® so effective?

"You get to know someone better by playing for an hour than by talking for a year." - Plato

Our creative spirit is triggered. It’s proven that games are essential to our social skills. It increases our adaptability, our intelligence, our creativity, and our ability to solve problems. Especially in difficult times, it provides us the strength to look for new solutions and to remain optimistic. 

WHAT does a Lego® Serious Play® session involve?

Of course, it's not just being confronted with a box of blocks and start building.

We start with small individual sets for an introductory low-profile exercise. It opens the mind to creative thinking, and instantly shows the diversity of solutions a team can come up with. Below is a set of models as a result of the same assignment, i.e. build a tower with only yellow and green pieces.

Then we will start working on the subject of the workshop. 

Everyone is able to enter into a dialogue on the basis of self-built models. Sharing and naming your model and its mutual connections ensures that every participant stays up to speed. 

The jointly acquired insights form a basis for coordination and common objectives. The outcome usually is a shared model, i.e. one in which everyone can identify him or herself. Example of a shared vision:

Lego® Serious Play® is a good choice if you want everyone to participate constructively and equally for 100%, even if there are essentially different answers to the same question.

The focus is on the models and not on the people behind those models. This creates an environment for honest and authentic communication

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