LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method in a Nutshell

Recently we launched our Youtube Channel. With it, a short video of “What is LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®”.

In this video, Per and Beatrix share thoughts on what LSP is, how it works, and the value of play in business. Below you will find the video and full transcript.

We invite you to subscribe to our channel here as we expect to share more content

Enjoy!

Full Video

Full Transcript

Per: “What is LEGO SERIOUS PLAY?”

So the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method is really a thinking technique developed to unleash or unlock the full potential in the individual and in the full group. It was initially developed inside LEGO, and based on what you say the LEGO Company knows about the brain and the power of play, combined with external professors and their understanding of leadership and strategy. Initially, it was developed for developing strategies. And now it's being used for any sort of complex issue with no obvious solution. It's used across all types of organizations and age groups even whenever there is a wicked problem, and the full brain power needs to be applied basically.

Beatrix: “How does the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Method work?”

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a very simple process where everyone is actively contributing. It starts with a facilitator asking a serious business question. Team members are then building the answers with LEGO bricks and sharing their stories, insights, and new ideas that are coming up with the whole team. Everyone has an opportunity to ask questions to get a better understanding and to have team reflections. We call that a 100-100 approach, it means that everyone is really 100% fully contributing to what usually happens rather rarely, in a normal business world.

Per: “What is the value of play in the corporate world?”

I think lots of people think of play as something you do to take a break from work, but in reality, play should really be seen as a fertilizer for the brain. And by using play, you use the full brain. So bringing play back into work is valuable because that means that we bring our full brains back into this. So with play, in companies or in organizations, we allow ourselves to explore, to experiment, and, really, to use that full plasticity of the brains and we get different kinds of ideas. It allows us to work together in a different way. So we can make, for example in serious play, shared models. There are parts of the play where we explore an experiment in terms of playing with our let's say competitive landscape. So we can play out events that could happen. And we can play with decisions we want to make to get a sense of how a competitor or a client would respond. That way we collectively co-construct new knowledge.

Beatrix: “What do leaders appreciate about the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Method?”

There are many things we are hearing from leaders about what they really like about the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method. The most common ones are a commitment to implementation through the co-creation that happens in the process, new insights and disruptive ideas for shaping the future together, and high effectiveness because there are lots of achievements made in a relatively short period of time, which usually takes much longer in normal business processes. And finally, and most importantly, really engaged associates because people feel heard, feel understood, and can actively contribute and that makes them very happy.