Running a LEGO® Serious Play® Workshop
On Monday morning I got to run my first LEGO® Serious Play® - LSP workshop since the UK’s lockdown…. It's also the first time I’d worn a smart shirt in around six months! Fortunately despite all the drinking and eating I was still able to squeeze into my clothes!
The client had a group of 5 new starters and a day set aside for inductions with myself having the post lunchtime coma slot - So I was hoping a bit of activity would help wake everyone up and inject some excitement.
The Process
I started off with a lightning quick introduction to the LSP process and a quick discussion on Covid-19 safety and some ground rules before starting the first activity.
Skills build
A quick ask if anybody has never used Lego before! Believe it or not there’s often at least one! followed by the first build and then each gets to talk about their individual model followed by a team debrief.
“You have 2 minutes to build a model, any model, but try and use the bricks in an interesting or unconventional way”
Models as Metaphors
The next step is to introduce the concept of models as metaphors - To demonstrate I have a few bricks which I randomly assemble and explain how I could interpret my rather questionable model to perhaps be a lion and it shows courage! but equally it might represent a dog and shows loyalty - The point is that the models are not literal but can be interpreted by the builder. This was followed by a new challenge :-
“You have 2 minutes to select 10 random bricks and then to build any model”
I then gave each person a metaphor and asked them to interpret the model to match the metaphor - The point being that the model doesn’t need to be built with a metaphor in mind.. But can be reinterpreted afterwards.
After a few ‘fun’(?) warmup exercises we moved onto a set of questions designed to help the new starters talk about themselves and possibly if they liked/willing to share a few personal details with the group and to explore what makes a high performing team.
“Build a Lego model of yourself”
Why run a Lego® Serious Play® Workshop
Why on earth would anyone run an LSP workshop? Besides helping to pay my mortgage! Well besides being enormously fun (Who doesn’t enjoy playing with Lego) they offer an intriguing and different method to generate, share and discuss ideas within a group.
The process is much more democratic than many group activities - it allows equal time to everyone and helps to avoid some of the LVD (Loudest Voice Dominates) or HIPO (Highest Paid Person Opinion) situations which still exists within many organisations… meaning that more ideas are created, discussed and shared.
It also works well with ‘introverts’ and more quiet members of teams helping to create the space to share their ideas.
If you’d like to know more about running a LSP workshop with That’s Intelligence… Click here
Covid-19 Preparations
The client was already running a day of induction activities on site so nobody was coming in the office purely for the LSP workshop. The client had already arranged for a large (well ventilated) room to be used and had arranged for cleaning products and hand sanitisers to be available.
I hadn’t used my Lego since February/March so I knew it was currently safe to use! However, to avoid the risk of contamination.. I bagged the LEGO up into individual bags several days before the workshop, sprayed with disinfectant and then left the bags out in the sun for a day to allow the Sun’s UV radiation to destroy any Covid RNA!
On the day itself I wore my mask whilst setting up the room… Each person had their own physically distanced table and I pre-placed the LEGO bags out on each table wearing latex gloves - No sharing of LEGO bricks!
Usually time allowing for an event like this I’d run a level 1 and level 2 LSP workshop. Level 1 is an individual build, level 2 is a team build and would usually involve a team working close together on one model build… for obvious reasons for now I restricted this workshop to level 1 only.