LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation for wicked problems
LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) is a knowledge production system, communication method, facilitation technique, and problem solving approach that offers a new way to think and talk about challenging topics and wicked problems.
- Penn Nursing
- University of Pennsylvania
- Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics
- Villanova University
- Yale University
- Yale Alumni Association
A new way to think and talk about wicked problems
LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) is a knowledge production system, communication method, facilitation technique, and problem solving approach that offers a new way to think and talk about challenging topics and wicked problems.
While not designed explicitly as a team building exercise, LSP also produces noticeable team cohesion and shared understanding as a welcome bonus.
Developed at the LEGO company in the 1990s
LSP was originally developed at the LEGO company in Denmark in the 1990s to support the company's own strategic planning, but has since been made open source and has spread to nearly every corporate and nonprofit sector. LSP is also gaining substantial traction in higher education and in innovation.
A typical session follows a 4 part process
After a few quick “skills builds” to orient participants to the LEGO® Serious Play® method, a typical session follows this 4-part process:
Prompt
The facilitator offers a question or challenge to participants, usually starting with "Build a model that shows..."
Build
Participants build individual LEGO models to answer the prompt. Builds are silent and quick, just 3 to 7 minutes.
Share
Participants tell the story of their model to a small group of fellow participants, who ask questions that help elicit deeper meanings and connections.
Reflect
Participants reflect on the stories and insights that emerged in the shared discussion and capture the outputs of the discussion (in written words, images, and/or video) for further analysis and action.
In more complex LSP applications, individual builds can be combined into shared models, placed into landscapes, or assembled into systems that allow the group to test scenarios, evaluate hypotheses, and identify shared vs. divergent visions.
Great for messy, wicked problems
LSP is great for messy or "wicked" problems with no obvious answer. It's a powerful tool for strategic planning and visioning, and an excellent way to translate "unknown knowns" into concrete concepts and shared understanding.
It's important to remember that LSP itself is not the topic or agenda of the session. It's just the facilitation technique to get you the answers, insights, and progress you need.
Is LEGO® Serious Play® right for your team?
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Grounded in several scientific traditions
LSP is grounded in several scientific traditions including constructivism and constructionism for knowledge production, the importance of play in human development, the power of story and metaphor in human communication, and the potential for a flow state to increase creativity, focus, and pleasure.
There is a large and growing scientific literature on the impact of LSP in management and education settings.
What you'll have at the end of the workshop
A basic LSP workshop takes 1.5 to 2.0 hours. This allows enough time for skills build, the main build, and some immediate reflection and capture. With more time, shared models, landscapes, and systems can be explored.
At the end of a workshop, you will have photos of captioned builds, videos of shared models, and any written output (e.g., on sticky notes or reflection cards) that participants create during the session.
Watch LSP in practice
Watch Alison explain LEGO Serious Play in this talk for the Yale Alumni Association. A short video by master facilitator and trainer Sean Blair gives a flavor of LSP and some reasons why it works so well, and two more helpful short videos from other master facilitators are here too.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need any experience with LEGO bricks?
No. The method is designed for adults with no LEGO experience at all. A short skills-building warm-up at the start of every session gets everyone comfortable with the bricks before the real work begins.
Can a workshop run virtually?
Yes. Nerdloom facilitates LEGO Serious Play sessions virtually as well as in person, so distributed teams can take part fully.
How many people can take part?
Sessions have run with groups as small as 6 and as large as 60. Group size affects how the session is structured, so it's worth mentioning your group size when you reach out.
How long does a session take?
A basic workshop takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. Sessions that also build shared models, landscapes, or systems can run longer.
Is this a team-building exercise?
Not explicitly, but it's a common and welcome side effect. LSP is built to work through real strategic or organizational questions, and the team cohesion it produces along the way is a bonus, not the main goal.
What does it cost?
It depends on group size, format, and session length, so reach out and we'll put together a quote for your specific situation.
Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA
Co-founder and Principal, NerdloomDr. Alison Buttenheim, PhD MBA, is co-founder and principal at Nerdloom, a consulting and coaching practice focused on stronger science through strategy. She is a Certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator who trained with Sean Blair from SERIOUSWORK, a leading training provider. Alison is also a professor of nursing and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-directs the BEGIN Lab and leads a portfolio of extramurally funded research on behavioral economics and health behavior change.
Alison has facilitated more than 25 LEGO Serious Play workshops at universities and research institutions in the US and South Africa for diverse teams with myriad goals for using LSP. From strategic visioning to research study design to reflective practice, she has designed and delivered engaging and impactful LSP sessions for groups of 6 to 60 people.
Please reach out. Let's talk about your wicked problem and how LEGO Serious Play might help.
Let's talk about your wicked problem.