Course Description
LEGO® Serious PLAY® (LSP) is widely used in team building, where it serves as a tool for building strong, engaged, and innovative teams. Key aspects of applying this method in the area of team building include:
- Strengthening collaboration and communication: Workshop participants build LEGO® models together, which stimulates open communication, active listening, and better understanding of diverse team perspectives. Everyone has an equal opportunity to speak, which prevents individual dominance and enhances integration.
- Stimulating creativity: The model-building process encourages unconventional thinking, experimentation, and innovative idea generation, essential for problem-solving and joint solutions.
- Increasing engagement: The method involves all participants—each contributes their “brick” to models, shared values, strategies, or solutions, boosting team responsibility and motivation.
- Building shared values and goals: LSP enables visualizing the team’s mission, vision, and goals, promoting consistency in their actions and a clearer organizational direction.
- Resolving conflicts and recognizing barriers: Metaphor work allows for a safe, open discussion on the challenges or conflicts, identifying their sources, and co-creating solutions.
- Integration and fun atmosphere: The workshop format fosters positive vibes, breaks barriers, and integrates diverse experiences and ages.
The method excels in small teams seeking deeper collaboration, openness to ideas, and improved communication effectiveness. Workshops end with practical, implementable team solutions.
Sample Scenario
Workshop 3: 12–18 Month Development Plan
- Metaphorical warm-up related to the future (e.g., “build a goal for tomorrow”)
- Individual models: most important development goals within the next 12–18 months
- Presentation and discussion of models, identifying common points
- Creating a shared team/company development plan model
- Adding “obstacles” and “support” elements to plan implementation
- Developing first steps and milestones with visual marking in the model
- Reflection: what actions we take today
Details:
- Deep self-reflection and self-understanding: Building LEGO® models translates abstract thoughts, values, or motivations into tangible, visual structures. Responding to the questions of the facilitator through model-building provides a deeper insight into emotions, needs, and goals. This “thinking through action” allows for seeing oneself from a new perspective and facilitates developmental conclusions.
- Developing creativity and unconventional thinking: The method stimulates creative approaches to personal and professional challenges, encouraging new solutions and the breaking of patterns. It allows for testing scenarios and visualizing ideas without fear of errors or judgment.
- Breaking communication barriers: LEGO® models serve as tools for telling a personal story. Even those who are more on the shy side can express themselves, share thoughts and experiences using metaphors and symbols instead of traditional conversation, which facilitates authentic, non-judgmental exchange.
- Setting goals and planning development: The building process helps with visualizing courses of action and challenges, as well as considering which resources and skills are key for achieving one’s goals. In the model, the participants can see what life or career elements to change, develop, or strengthen.
- Strengthening motivation and engagement: Play and visualization elements reduce stress and anxiety when confronting personal topics. Participants feel more motivated to act and experiment, as the process is naturally engaging and gives them a feeling of agency.
