Building a Better Strategy: How LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Unlocks Innovation (5 mins)

In the world of corporate strategy and management, the traditional boardroom meeting often follows a predictable script: a flood of PowerPoint slides, a handful of dominant voices, and a quiet majority whose ideas remain untapped. But what if you could break this mold? What if you could literally build your strategy, one brick at a time?

Enter LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) method, a powerful, facilitated methodology that leverages the familiar LEGO brick to foster innovation, enhance communication, and solve complex business challenges. Far from being simple child's play, LSP is a rigorously designed process rooted in neuroscience and business theory, helping organizations build a deeper, more shared understanding of their own landscape. For any leader looking to move beyond the usual buzzwords and truly engage their team, LSP offers a compelling and hands-on alternative.

What is LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®?

Developed by the LEGO Group in the mid-1990s, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a facilitated thinking, communication, and problem-solving technique for use with organizations, teams, and individuals. It is based on the core belief that everyone has valuable insights to contribute and that a hands-on, minds-on approach can unlock this potential.

The process uses specially selected LEGO bricks to allow participants to build three-dimensional models in response to specific questions related to their business challenges. These models serve as metaphors, creating a common language that breaks down communication barriers and makes abstract concepts tangible and discussable. The core idea is that the hands are connected to about 70-80% of our brain cells; by engaging our hands in the act of building, we unleash creative insights, memories, and understanding that might otherwise remain dormant.

The Core Process: How It Works

A typical LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop is guided by a certified facilitator and follows a structured four-step process:

1. Posing the Question: The facilitator presents a carefully crafted, open-ended question relevant to the strategic issue at hand. This could be anything from "What is our biggest growth barrier?" to "Build a model of our team's ideal collaboration."

2. Building: Each participant builds their own 3D LEGO model in response to the question. There are no right or wrong answers. The act of building is a form of thinking, allowing individuals to construct their knowledge and ideas in a tangible form.

3. Sharing: One by one, participants share the meaning and story behind their models. Because they built the model, they are the expert on its meaning. This ensures that every single person in the room participates and has their voice heard—a stark contrast to traditional meetings where typically only 20% of the attendees speak.

4. Reflecting: The group reflects on the stories and models shared. The facilitator helps the group identify connections, patterns, and insights that emerge from the collective builds. This shared understanding forms the basis for developing actionable strategies and solutions.
   
   

Applications in Strategy and General Management

The applications of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in the business world are vast and impactful:

• Strategy Development: Instead of just talking about a five-year plan, teams can build models of the current business landscape, future scenarios, and the guiding principles that will navigate the path between them. This creates a much richer and more dynamic strategic conversation, revealing risks and opportunities that a SWOT analysis on a whiteboard might miss.
  
  

• Organizational Identity and Team Building: LSP is exceptionally effective for exploring team dynamics and organizational culture. By building models of their roles, relationships, and shared values, teams can develop a stronger sense of identity and a clearer understanding of how they function as a unit.
  
  

• Complex Problem Solving: When faced with a "wicked problem" that has no clear solution, LSP allows a group to externalize the issue and explore it from multiple perspectives. Building the problem helps to de-personalize conflict and focus the group's collective intelligence on finding innovative solutions.
  
  

Why It's More Than Just Play

The power of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® lies in its ability to create a state of "flow," where participants are fully immersed and engaged, leading to deeper learning and more creative outcomes. It levels the playing field, ensuring that the insights of the introverted engineer are given the same weight as the confident sales director. By creating a shared language through the models, it ensures genuine alignment and a robust foundation for any strategic decision.

In an era where agility, creativity, and employee engagement are paramount, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® offers a proven method for unlocking the collective intelligence of any organization. It reminds us that sometimes, to think outside the box, we first need to build with what's inside it.