Why is Team Building Using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ so Much More Effective Than Other Methodologies?

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology is a remarkably efficient process as it allows participants to connect quickly and to develop fresh insights into tough issues. It offers not only a day of fun and escape from the office environment, but also explores the real challenges confronting teams. Teams explore how they work together, communicate and much more. They reach a common understanding of how to take their team to the next level.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology is based on the substantial research of The LEGO Group into creativity and the key ingredients for innovation. It provides a facilitated framework within which groups can have the fierce conversations that are needed to interrogate reality, tackle the tough issues and provoke learning.

In team building sessions using the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology run by Management Consultancy International, we combine nearly all the senses and make use of multiple intelligences.

• We touch the LEGO® bricks to construct models of what we have in our minds.

• We verbalise our thoughts through telling stories to others about what we have built

• We listen to other team members' stories to reach an understanding of how they perceive team challenges

• We see where others have differing views from our own and we directly discuss what the team is experiencing right now and where it is headed.

• There is no need to relate the experience back to the workplace - the experience is about the workplace.

We share, examine and discuss issues that currently have an impact on our team or our organisation - even when these issues are emotionally charged.

We experience the session on a conscious level and as our hands are connected to 70 - 80% of our brain calls, we use our hands to unlock more information. So, as we play, the bricks serve as a catalyst for what we are seeing and feeling.

Everyone’s involved

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ involves people in being open and constructive at all times.

Everyone participates in a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology based session and there are no observers. There are no physical challenges and all participants engage fully in both the construction of models and in the telling of their stories - 100% participation, 100% of the time.

In this level playing field, we harness all the diverse resources of the team to overcome barriers.

Team building using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology and materials works in real-time to develop commitment to a team’s guiding principles.

Academic Underpinnings

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology is built on Seymour Papert's theory of Constructionism, developed at MIT in Boston. When we construct something external to ourselves we gain knowledge. With the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology, participants construct three-dimensional models and, through play, find ways to solve problems.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology is not just about the fun aspect - it is also about responding to questions about individual identity, team identity, connections to other team members and successful team behaviour.

The culmination of the process is to create a set of guiding principles that allows a team to evaluate existing options and identify new ones, even when faced with tight constraints, complex situations and unfamiliar territory.

Through the use of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology, we engage both hemispheres of the brain - we use our ‘whole mind' to solve problems and to gain insights into how our team strategy could function more effectively.

Our hands are connected to both our left and right brain and through using both hands as we build with the LEGO® bricks, we bring far more of ourselves to the process.

Too often project teams work sub-optimally because they do not tap into valuable knowledge of all team members. They sometimes make poor decisions based on illusion rather than reality and react to events unconsciously instead of consciously and with intent.

In a session based upon LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology and materials, we do not create a joint artwork - what we do achieve is a group interaction that uncovers new insights using everyone's experiences and knowledge.

Participants feel more confident to act on knowledge that has been shared and more committed to buy in to new ideas.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ methodology builds the capacity of the group to respond intentionally and optimally to the unknown. It improves the quality and speed of their decision making and leads to faster and more effective implementation of changes and solutions.

We think with our hands to build in the world what we have in our minds.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ facilitation methodology is not an overtly complex process. It is built on a series of building challenges issued to participants. These do not involve following complex instructions.

It is a communications and problem-solving technique for teams that need to constantly adapt to changing circumstances.

The sessions are facilitated by qualified, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ Facilitator Diploma Holders who are keen to ensure they gain insights into your organisation’s challenges prior to any workshop or intervention to ensure that the day is customised to meet your outcomes.

The problems the team solves are their problems. Solutions are not imposed by the facilitator. This is based on the belief that the ‘answers are in the room'; that people naturally want to contribute to something bigger than themselves - and take ownership of it. The leader does not have all the answers - a team's success is based on hearing and engaging all the voices in the room.