What is LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®?

For which kind of problems or challenges does it make sense to apply the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method?

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a method without any predefined content. The facilitator adds content by designing an individual workshop. LEGO SERIOUS PLAY works like a language, with which knowledge is unlocked out of the participants. Therefore, the method can be applied to different areas: Team Identity Building, Innovation and Product Development, Change Management, Communication, Branding, Strategy Development, Problem and Risk Analysis as well as for the general development of individuals (professionally and privately), teams, leadership members and organisations. We also use it successfully to build or innovate your business model pairing it with other strong visual tools, like Business Model Canvas, Lean Start-up Canvas or 5 Bold Steps Vision Canvas.

From a company´s point of view: When does it make sense to conduct a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop?

You should be facing a complex challenge or problem, to which there is more than just one possible answer or solution. In that challenge, it is especially relevant to have all workshop participants pull in the same direction. At the same time you should be convinced that the success of such a meeting depends on hearing all voices in the room.

Are you a courageous manager, who gives a voice to every team member? LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshops can go deep, they strike at the heart of the problem. Thus, you should really be interested in solving that problem and not just touching it on the surface. The workshops make full use of your employees´ knowledge and ideas, not only to find the best possible solution to the problem, but also to enhance engagement and commitment in everyone participating.

What kind of logistic and organizational conditions should be fulfilled? 

We will discuss details in a personal conversation. But in general you should have a meeting room at your disposal, ideally with a big table in the middle or more than one table where participants can gather around. Depending on length and depth of the workshop we might need some additional tables to store some LEGO materials. If I cannot reach you by car, I would need to ship LEGO bricks and material beforehand via a mail service. So you should be able receive and store those for some days.

How many people can participate in a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop?

An ideal group size is between 2 and 12 people. In case there are more participants required, we can still split groups. Should there far more than 12 people, it would be advisable to include a second facilitator to make sure that each participant gets enough space and time to build his or her models and share his or her ideas on the topic. 

Can we keep the LEGO materials after a workshop? 

Normally you can´t. If, however, you wish to keep some, please let me know beforehand so I can order specific ones. They will be then charged separately.

How do we document the results of a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop? 

There are different kinds of documentation methods depending on the problem we want to solve. By request, I can send to you a detailed report or a summary of action points. However, visual solutions have proven to be ideal. For example, you can easily take pictures or make a short movie of the final results, the final strategy or product ideas. The meaning will be present to you even weeks and months after the workshop – even without page-long reports. 

What happens if we don´t find a solution at the end of a workshop?

You will find a solution! If you look for a new strategy for your organisation, you will have one. If you want a re-positioning or your team or include new team members, you will not only have gotten to know your team much better in the course of the workshop, but you will have developed common targets. And if you need to get new product ideas, you will get creative results in the end. Of course, we can also use a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop as a kick-off to an internal process, which you can easily continue afterwards. 

For more details, you can contact me here.