Serious Play Forum

[Yla Eason]

I am conducting LSP session for 13 college students who are participating in a short-term internship program. The goal of the session is to help them become better aware of themselves and find their true career passion. The issue is the session is only two-hours long and I will be using the exploration kit.
I will start with the tower building and think I will suggest they build their “ideal” career. The sharing will take at least 40 minutes. Does anyone think there is time for another skills building exercise in this short time? Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

[Sebastian]

Hi Yla..
Done this before.
A way to save time is to very quickly build a tower or bridge to get familiarity with Lego. As they are college students I would even skip this part and actually make the career model as the warm up exercise.
If you do do the bridge/tower then ask them to modify it to reflect their ideal career.
The second thing I do with students is among the following options:
Build the steps/conditions needed to achieve the ideal career.
Build how their ideal career ties into their life goals (family, wealth, recognition, etc)
Build the gaps between their ideal career and the things they are doing or have now.
I’ve done this with 20 plus students.
One time saving trick is to have an assistant to facilitate half of the group in the sharing stage using the assistant guidelines from Robert.

[Bruce Scharlau]

I’ve done similar short sessions with students. Given universities are international places, and that there is ALWAYS someone who’s not used Lego before, I strongly urge you to not skip the bridge building exercise. This also provides the transition period between when they are coming from whatever they did before to settle down to the serious questions you will be posing to them. You can’t really skip this cross-over time, so use it to help refresh those who’ve not played with Lego bricks, and to introduce them to the new folks.

I would also, as part of what Sebastian said, look at challenges they face in pursing their chosen career. If you reframe one of his questions this way, then it sounds like a good session.

[Yla Eason]

Hi Sebastian,

Thanks for your proposed career questions. I see how I can incorporate these suggestions. While I do not think I will have an assistant, I think I can artfully combine your ‘steps/condition’ suggestion with the ‘ideal career’ in the two-hour tile slot.

Your reply is much appreciated!

[Yla Eason]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for your reply. I remember in classes, Per stressed the importance of the skills building exercises. I am in New York and these students are from Korea, so,indeed, I can’t make any lego-playing assumptions.

Your insight is right on point!

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