Dive into your processes with LEGO® Serious Play®

Plan. Do. Check. Act. Repeat. Easier said than done when it comes to complex processes and needs to drive a larger scale change, such as moving to agile development or becoming customer obsessed organization. Using process flow charts for these situations is like choosing a skateboard instead of a sports car. You will eventually get there with skateboard as well but much slower and with less people onboard. Process flow charts do not serve you well when you need to be able to discuss, generate ideas and gain common understanding on issues’ or opportunities’ impact on your operations end to end. At the latest during your third process flow chart walkthrough, your team is struggling to remember the connections of tasks, activities, and responsibilities, not to mention the relevance to your agenda. We know the challenges with this approach, still we go for it as you just can’t stop developing processes that are not working optimally. But what if I told you there is a way to do this in more efficient way? And it is way more innovative, engaging and fun? Would you believe me?

Enhancing Communication and Creativity with LEGO® Serious Play®

LEGO® Serious Play® is method and facilitated process that uses LEGO® bricks as visual aid to boost dialogue, engagement, and innovation. It gives you means to build a common story on your operations and processes. The LEGO® bricks concretize the phases and the roles also bringing the dependencies visible. You can even play out different scenarios and see how your process reacts in them. Visual elements help your team to remember the story, your process. Just seeing a picture of your LEGO® Serious Play® model brings the story back to live. The repeating feedback from LEGO® Serious Play® process workshops is that even though a complex issue was discussed with a whole lot of details, the participants did not feel exhausted and have their mind full of open questions afterwards as the method provided support for their thinking and possibility to anchor the thoughts, freeing also capacity for innovation and problem solving.

But how does it work? Your process deep dive workshop with LEGO® Serious Play®, or development with sports car method rather than skateboard method if you will, starts with getting your participants on the same level with their skills on using different LEGO® bricks, giving them metaphoric meanings and, building and telling a story. This phase introduces the method and kick starts the thinking with hands activating the part of our knowledge that we do not even realize we know. After the skills build it is time to dive into your process. According to well–planned building tasks your participants first bring their own observations and ideas visible, and then build a common story together on how to improve, develop and grow.

Read more on LEGO® Serious Play® method from our website and give us a call when it is time to challenge the habits and shape the future with innovative method that has been proven to deliver results already decades.

This blog continues the series of blogposts on facilitation and coaching in process development context. Stay tuned for more and let us know what topics you would like to hear about in the coming blogposts.