Insights
The Hidden Gift
We use LEGO bricks to help create psychological safety, but the real breakthrough isn't about the toys. It's about externalization—shifting focus away from the person and onto something external they can use to tell their story.
LEGO® Serious Play® Emerges as a Game-Changer in Team Development
In the ever-evolving landscape of business innovation and team development, a surprising contender has emerged: LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP). Despite being nearly 25 years old, this method is gaining significant traction, particularly in the United States. Let's explore why this playful yet powerful approach is climbing the ranks in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Innovation Practices, 2024.
The LEGO® Serious Play® Method Explained: The Share Phase
The share phase of LEGO® Serious Play isn't just about presenting ideas. It's a carefully crafted experience that brings out the best in teams. By compressing time, encouraging curiosity, equalizing voices, focusing discussions, leveraging metaphor, and infusing play into serious topics, LSP creates an environment where true collaboration can flourish.
The LEGO® Serious Play® Method Explained: The Build Phase
The build phase of LEGO® Serious Play is more than just a fun activity – it's a powerful tool for unlocking team potential, fostering creativity, and driving meaningful collaboration. By providing a structured yet playful environment for reflection and expression, LSP allows teams to tap into their collective wisdom and build towards a brighter future, one brick at a time.
It's an Illusion: The Psychology Behind LEGO Serious Play
On the surface, LSP might look like simple child's play, but in reality, it's a sophisticated and highly effective group communication method used by organizations like NASA, the Department of Defense, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more!
Unlock Team Potential with Magical LEGO Sessions: Integrating Psychometrics for Better Collaboration
Understanding these traits helps in appreciating the diversity within any team. Each person's unique blend of abilities and values can create a more cohesive and effective group dynamic. During our LEGO Serious Play sessions, we often see that the key takeaway for participants is how these varied strengths build uniquely within the team, fostering a deeper understanding of each other.
Top 5 Benefits of Using LEGO Serious Play for Team Building
1. Diminished Consciousness of Self 2. Inverted Persuasion 3. Equitable Expression 4. Curious Listening 5. Time Compression
How LEGO Serious Play is like Reese’s Pieces for Team Development
Some of the major challenges in group dynamics are the speed, pace, and focus of the individuals and group. This is why facilitated sessions are so valuable as they get people focused and paced similarly. For us at IN8 Create, we love using LEGO Serious Play as our primary method. Like Reese's Pieces, It breaks down the session into bite sized rewarding segments. I purposely use the term rewarding because for each challenge question, participants get to create a LEGO model and a story that's tied to it.
Have You Heard of the Cortical Homunculus?
Think of when we have an active dialogue in groups. Due to the context we are generally using the prefrontal cortex, or the logic center of our brain.
Yet when we get our hands involved, such as when we build our thoughts and ideas out of LEGO bricks, we are using more parts of our brain.
Our hands, as pictured in the cortical homunculus image above, are activating more neuron networks in our brain, which in turn can give us access to more information or knowledge that might have not been accessible when just working verbally.
Unraveling Thoughts: LEGO Serious Play for Goal Setting
In a recent presentation on play, I shared this exercise as a way to view a goal in a unique way- by using LEGO bricks!
Step 1: Build YOU
Step 2: Build your goal - what is it you are trying to achieve
Step 3: Build the most likely barrier to your success - place it between you and your goal.
Step 4: Build how you will prevent this barrier or overcome it.
Although this isn’t technically LEGO Serious Play - You are using the elements of metaphor, 3D, and mental offloading to better understand your scenario. Imagine how much more powerful this could be if done in a group! (Hint- A lot!)
Unlocking the Mind: Achieve Clarity with LEGO Serious Play
Your mind is a messy attic…
There is a ton of stuff being stored up there and you can't always access what you want.
With objects, we can mentally offload information onto them, allowing us to see, rearrange, and even play with them, providing new perspectives and a deeper understanding. You also get benefit of externalization.
On top of these benefits, we get something called detachment gain. According to Daniel Reisberg, this is the cognitive benefit we receive from putting a bit of distance between ourselves and the content of our minds
Using LEGO Serious Play with Entrepreneurs and Future Builders
What is the problem that we are trying to solve? What is the solution and why is it unique?
What is our kryptonite- the most likely failure cause for each of us?
What is a piece of advice we can give ourselves to avoid that failure point.
This is the true power of LSP - We learn from ourselves, we learn from others, and we dive out of reality to gain a new and better perspective on how to best move forward before diving back in.
The benefits- Communicate succinctly, Listen with curiosity and wonder , and use 3D to understand goals, barriers, and the path forward.