One of the most respected thought-leaders of all time, Albert Einstein, said “If you want different results, do not do the same things.”

Many people are interested in the idea of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method (LSP). After all, there are many, especially engineers and scientists, who have fond memories of youthful hours spent happily imagining and building with LEGO bricks. And then there are many more who have had happy and productive experiences with their children or grandchildren, and tell me about how the container of LEGO bricks is one of their child’s favorite things, and go on to share how creative and imaginative their child is and how many hours they devote to building.

But when we think about using the colorful bricks in a conference room, things change. Rational thought can overshadow our emotional desire. There are things we think we know about work: it is serious, it is about productivity, it is about making money (and it certainly isn’t fun). These are business stereotypes established in the “dark ages”, during the dawn of the industrial revolution and the launch of the MBA, and most of these stereotypes still guide our mental models of the way business “should” look. Our thinking can benefit from leaving the dark ages behind and coming into the light.

By trusting our intuition, we can listen to our wants and needs, the weak inner voice that wants to believe that, collectively, we are creative and will be able to solve the many challenges our organizations face. In today’s diverse workforce, where Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are our mantra, we aspire to find a way to unleash this potential and have our co-workers listen respectfully to each other. But then rational thought shuts down our desire to break away from the bleak resolution of the status quo, afraid of change and the unknown. 



If we expect work to be more of the same, then it will be. If we expect to live as an engaged, dynamic leader, then we need to trust our inner voice. Everywhere we turn, there are articles about how the demographic, motivations and expectations of the workforce have changed, yet often we attempt to manage the same way our role models and mentors managed twenty or more years ago.

So when is the best time for your team to engage with LEGO SERIOUS PLAY? In our experience, whenever three or more are gathered together to make an important decision. The context and aspirations vary. For example, plan a LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop when you take on a new job or have been promoted, when you want to increase your market share or improve operations, when you want clarity about the difference between your organization’s favorite customers and your nightmare customers so you can get more of the former and fewer of the latter, when you are facing a problem or challenge which feels impossible to solve. The answers you create with your team-mates will be surprising, actionable and bring a new sense of optimism and shared purpose.

More Inspiration

Blog about the science of breaking habitual thinking



Video illustrating the core of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method

The innovation leader you might not want to become yourself. From a 3rd way of innovation workshop

Best Regards