Three questions about LEGO Serious Play workshops

A conversation with David Hillmer about conducting LEGO Serious Play workshops

LEGO Serious Play is a low-threshold method for working on complex topics in a team. It is based on the idea of using LEGO bricks as a tool for thought processes and problem solving and follows a basic process of building, sharing and reflecting.

David Hillmer believes in a world where everyone enjoys going to work. He pursues his vision of contemporary work in various ways: as managing director of HelloAgile, he helps people and organisations understand the new world of work and its rules. As a content creator, he publishes content from the new world of work in his podcast Unboxing New Work. And as the author of ‘PLAY! The indispensable LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® practical guide’, he imparts practical knowledge about the colourful building bricks and the method behind them. David Hillmer is therefore the right person to answer the following three questions:

What influence does team culture have on the success of a LEGO Serious Play workshop?

David Hillmer: Team culture and the interaction between participants are crucial factors for the success of a LEGO Serious Play workshop. The method can enable a lot, but it cannot force anything.

I moderated a LEGO Serious Play workshop in which managers were at the very beginning of a one-year training programme and were asked to define goals together. The setting was excellent, the organisational effort enormous, the expectations high. And yet the dynamic in the room was difficult. The participants did not take the method seriously, and one person refused to participate altogether. The energy remained flat, the discussions superficial and the results ultimately hardly usable.

In the same week, I facilitated a completely different workshop. A sales team from an automotive supplier, shortly before the onset of foreseeable crisis years. The goal was not strategy, but cohesion. A conscious, perhaps final, coming together in good spirits. This workshop was characterised by energy, curiosity, courage, openness and genuine cooperation.

The biggest difference was not in the format, the material or the questions, but in the people and their team culture. In the attitude with which they entered the room. In their willingness to engage.

Of course, parts of this culture can be assessed in advance, for example through a clear clarification of the assignment, discussions with clients or through concrete observations from the collaboration. However, another part always remains uncertain. As a facilitator, you never know exactly what to expect in the room. And that is precisely part of the reality of workshops.

When I receive indications that it could be challenging, I don’t adapt the method. I adapt the influencing factors that I have control over. These include, for example, a more intensive briefing of the participants, a short video in advance to reduce reservations, or a different framing of the method to set expectations more clearly.

None of this changes the team culture. That’s not the goal. However, it does increase the likelihood that people will engage, participate and take responsibility for the joint process. In the end, good moderation and careful preparation can influence a lot, but not everything. And that’s precisely where the honesty of this format lies.

How does the role of the facilitator change when emotional or controversial topics come up?

David Hillmer: This is precisely where LEGO Serious Play shows its greatest strength. As soon as emotional or controversial topics arise, the additional visual element helps enormously. Misunderstandings are less likely to occur because participants are not only speaking, but also showing. Meanings become visible and connections become tangible.

Participants find it much easier to address difficult topics when they don’t have to talk directly about themselves, but rather about their model. Formally, there is no difference, since they built the model themselves. Psychologically, however, there is. The distance between the person and the model creates a safe space that allows for openness without exposure.

This significantly increases the likelihood of honest conversations and a space of psychological safety. At the same time, the method brings with it a special dynamic. People become attached to what they have built. This so-called IKEA effect means that more value is attributed to what has been worked out independently. This increases engagement, but can also lead to discussions becoming more emotional and positions being defended more strongly.

At this point, the quality of the facilitation is crucial. A LEGO Serious Play workshop stands or falls not only on the material or the corporate culture, but also on the facilitator’s ability to moderate conflicts cleanly. This means perceiving tensions, naming them and giving emotions appropriate space without allowing them to dominate the process. Especially when it comes to controversial topics, facilitation becomes less about guidance and more about responsible process management.

How can the insights gained be successfully transferred into practice?

David Hillmer: A good LEGO Serious Play workshop must include the transfer into practice. That’s why I deliberately schedule time for alignment and transfer at the end of each workshop. Not as a nice add-on, but as an integral part of the workshop planning.

One method that has proven particularly effective for this is brainwriting. All participants are given a few minutes of quiet working time. Each person formulates concrete ideas on how what has been built can be implemented in their everyday work. One idea per Post-it note. All ideas are then made visible, reviewed together and prioritised.

The suggestions with the highest level of agreement are assigned clear responsibilities and binding deadlines. Only at this point does the probability increase significantly that the insights and ‘aha’ moments from the workshop will lead to results that have an impact beyond the day itself.

As a facilitator, I am usually out of the picture after a workshop. I do not accompany the implementation in the long term and do not measure any lasting effects. That is precisely why I do everything I can in the workshop to maximise the likelihood of impact. Clear agreements, concrete next steps and a common understanding of what should follow from what has been developed.

In the end, as with any workshop format, whether something comes of it or fizzles out is not down to the method. It depends on the people who take the results seriously, take responsibility and carry them forward in their everyday lives.

Notes:

Would you like to talk to David Hillmer about LEGO Serious Play and workshop design? You can easily get in touch with David Hillmer on LinkedIn. You can also find more information on this topic at HelloAgile and in the podcast Unboxing New Work.

David Hiller has published an interesting article on the t2informatik blog: Team culture in the home office with Lego Serious Play

Here you will find more information about LEGO Serious Play.

And here you will find posts from the t2informatik Blog series ‘Three questions …’: