In 1948, a peasant farmer started a business making tractors. Within five years this man – Ferruccio – was one of the richest men in Italy. He amassed a fine collection of cars – Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, Lancias – but his heart belonged to his Ferraris, of which he owned six.
Just one thing bothered him: all of his Ferraris had clutch problems. One day in his workshop he discovered why: the clutch in his Ferraris was the same part he used in his tractors. Ferruccio complained to Enzo Ferrari, who replied: “Ferruccio, you may be able to drive a tractor but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly.”
Ferruccio was furious. He vowed to make a car worthy of beating a Ferrari. And as it happens, that’s exactly what he did. He took his revenge by creating one of the most powerful, well renowned cars in the world. The farmer’s full name: Ferruccio Lamborghini.
I love this story because it makes me think that the most powerful, well renowned facilitation techniques in the world might become LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®.
To do that we’ve got to do more than spread the word, we’ve got to spread the experience.
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Friends and Facilitators.
In that spirit, I recently set up a London MeetUp group for LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Friends and Facilitators.
London MeetUp Group – LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Friends & Facilitators
I’m pleased to share that the group now has 75 members and 4 MeetsUps all fully booked.
We see the purpose of the MeetUps as a chance to practice, learn and spread the word, helping further legitimise and expand possibility for LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. You can see, and join the London MeetUp group, here.
International Chapters
The team I trained with are from six different countries, if you include Scotland. Together we plan to set up a MeetUp group in Singapore, a MeetUp group in Hong Kong, and perhaps groups in Sweden and Holland too.
It seems a good idea to use the social environment of after work MeetUps to run short introductory sessions for LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, both to help new facilitators develop there skills in low risk environments and to help explore and validate the application of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in wider applications.
Some MeetUp groups have grown to several thousand members across cities in many countries, perhaps other LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® evangelists in other parts of the world will join in, and set up MeetUp groups too.
We have three MeetUps planned in March, I’ll let you know how they go. If you’d like to start a MeetUp group in your city, get in touch and lets compare notes. This year a tractor… in time who knows?
This blog post first appeared on the ProMeet website.
Become a LEGO Serious Play facilitator - check one of the upcoming training events!
That sounds great! Hope a group in Holland will be set up.
Thanks Onno – I’ll pass your cheer onto Bjorn! Fingers Crossed.
Great Idea Sean! I did something similar here in Madrid although I widened the net a little to deal with “Serious Play” in the broader sense and we already have two under our belt and they have been great sessions – and we have yet to even talk about Lego! The last one was 2 hours exploring a tennis ball!
http://www.meetup.com/Serious-Play-Juego-Serio-Madrid/
There is I believe an LSP specific Meetup too for Madrid but I need to find it!
Alan.
Hola Sean,
Hace un mes me certifique en Argentina, actualmente me encuentro en Colombia con una amiga mía buscando implementar la herramienta en diferentes sectores.
Inicialmente, estamos generando practicas con grupos de amigos o entornos cercanos, para fortalecer nuestro conocimientos.
Cuéntame de que se trata esta red? han participado facilitadores latinoamericanos?
Te mando un saludo
Vane
Hola Vane
Gracias por escribirme.
Es cumplir un sitio web conocido en Colombia ?
Si es así ¿por qué no crear un grupo de meetup Colombia ? ¡Y mira que viene ?!
Disculpas por mi español
amablemente
Sean
Sean,
Gracias por responder pronto, a lo mejor podemos hacer un skype mañana para conversar mas del tema.
Saludos
Vane