LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

At A-C-T we always look for the best options to facilitate improvements and changes. One of the methodologies we like to use is LEGO^® SERIOUS PLAY^® (LSP). In this blog we share some of the characteristics and benefits of this methodology.

What’s so special about LSP?

Most challenges we face in doing business have different perspectives. There are internal perspectives, IT perspectives, market perspectives, HR perspectives and so on and so forth.

To deal with the challenges in the best way possible we need to reveal all these perspectives and create a shared understanding of the complexity of the situation and the context. Then we need creativity and divergent thinking to come up with a desired end-state and of course the actions that are needed to get there.

LSP is the ideal methodology for this because of five very strong characteristics:

1. In a LSP workshop all participants are invited to build from their own perspective and to explain their model. We create maximum inclusion and involvement.
2. By building models the participants use more than just their cognitive skills that are dominant in most other brainstorming techniques. They build with their hands and hearts, and go beyond logical thinking by incorporating emotions and feelings.
3. A LEGO model appeals to the imagination and explaining it using metaphors and storytelling makes it easier for everybody to understand and remember.
4. By creating a model even complicated systems become clear and the 3D visualization will help to deal with the complexity and work towards actionable outcomes.
5. A shared, complex model can be used to simulate all kinds of scenarios to see how those will play out. It’s a risk-free approach to find the best possible actions and risks to mitigate to prevent bad things happening to the system.

The main building block of a LSP workshop

The main building block of a LSP workshop consist of 4 steps:

1. Ask a question to the participants.
2. Let the participants build a model that reflects their answer to the question.
3. Let the participants one by one explain their model to the group.
4. Reflect on the model and ask questions for clarification and more details.

We encourage the participants to let their hands do the building and not think too much. The available bricks stimulate the use of metaphors and the storytelling in step 3 will make things personal and meaningful. Step 4 often leads to further exploration of the model beyond the original thoughts of the builder and is very powerful.

The flow of a LSP workshop

There is a more or less fixed flow of a LSP workshop with up to 6 different elements. For each element you use the 4 steps of the main building block or have a group discussion on it that will reflect in the model. You can decide to stop and define actions to move forward at any level:

1. The individual models and stories
2. The shared model and story
3. The landscape (or context)
4. The connections (between the model and landscape)
5. Simulation of scenarios
6. Actions or guiding principles

The more elements you explore together, the more information will emerge and the better the outcomes will be of course.

Possible use cases for a LSP workshop

The possibilities to use LSP are endless. Based on our experience and the market we see for example these use cases:

• Team kick-off
• Team development
• Project kick-off
• Year planning
• Design Thinking
• Big Room Planning
• Strategy formulation (organization/department)
• Agile- and digital transformations (organizational change)
• System design

As you can see the LEGO^® SERIOUS PLAY^® methodology is a well thought-through concept. It has many different applications and lots of advantages compared to more traditional approaches.

If you are interested in having a chat about a challenge in your company where LSP might be useful just reach out to us and we can have a conversation about the possibilities!