One cannot wait to grow up and finish school. One graduates from an obscenely expensive university with a brain full of sophisticated knowledge and embarks on professional life with the greatest of expectations. And what could happen next? One ends up laying Lego bricks in order to develop strategies or to find a solution to a stalemate situation! Sounds a bit far-fetched? Well, it isn’t, really. Helping to clear corporate obstacles out of the way playfully is what the methodology thought up by the Danish toy-brick company is all about.
Enhancing business performance using Lego bricks?
There are Legoland theme parks in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, California, Florida and Malaysia offering meeting space on their premises.
Yet, workshops with team colleagues accomplishing common objectives in concert are not only held in predefined places. Given that the proper mix of building kits plus professional instructions are provided, any random venue is feasible.
However, in order to get the most out of the “Serious Play” programme for ambitious masons, the skills and services of a certified „facilitator“ are commendable. For those interested in becoming a facilitator themselves, information on training and certification is indicated here.
What can the Lego concept achieve – and how does it work?
The technique rests on a foundation of robust theories and a limited number of core modules that can be configured to specific needs. Participants are being led through a number of questions, probing ever deeper into the subject, with each of them building their individual 3D Lego model in response to the facilitator’s questions. By identifying the metaphors within these models, discussions are triggered, knowledge shared, creative thinking fostered, problems solved and decisions made.
Tapping into and unlocking the full potential present in all delegates and harvesting potential already attainable in an organisation, may initiate change and improvement or, ideally, create something fundamentally novel.
Workshop sessions best not fall below three to four hours. Those lasting one entire day usually unfold their full effect, although some may extend over three days. The number of participants and the duration largely depend on the chosen topic – and the nature of the challenge.
“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than you can from a lifetime of conversation”. Plato
Meeting planners seeking to implement a custom-made scheme for their event or incentive taking place in Denmark, may resort to the Visit Denmark’s „Meetovation“ concept.
All images are from the creative commons domain and free of copyright.