I just returned from a week of training in the LEGO Serious Play method with Rasmussen Consulting http://www.rasmussenconsulting.dk/lego-serious-play/.
It was amazing to say the least and I can’t wait to start facilitating workshops!
We began the week as a group of individuals from many different backgrounds, experiences and industries. Entering the room, we were met with a long “U” shaped tables covered in nearly every kind of LEGO brick imaginable. This was our debrief table and we all built, took apart, modified and played with these LEGOs non stop for the next 4 days.
A second set of tables were set up to be our landscape for Serious Play. The rest of the room was lined tables filled to overflowing with LEGOs, DUPLOs connectors, gears, little people and every other kind of LEGO creation ever made. We built models of people, places, things, fears, strengths, opportunities, roadblocks- you name it we built it. Then we would talk about what they represented and share the stories behind the models. It was a safe and fun place to work out our plans where we focused on the models, not the others in the room. Unlike every other meeting or training session I’ve ever been in, where some people participated more than others (or not at all) this involved 100% of the group giving 100% of their focus towards building shared models, negotiating changes, coming to consensus and evolving a view of the topic at hand, and it was hard work.
As the week came to a close we found we were no longer the same group of individuals but had morphed into a team with a shared interest, goal and vision (not to mention a model) of how to use LEGO Serious Play in our professional lives. We designed plans for our first workshops until 10 PM on Friday night. We used each other as sounding boards, mentors, coaches, counselors and ultimately became a network of friends with a common experience and perspective on the power of this facilitation tool.
If you’ve never heard of it, I highly recommend you take a look. You will never have so much fun, working so hard, and achieving results that will amaze you.
Train IT will be adding these sessions to our list of available consulting services. If you’re interested in a conversation drop me a note and I’ll tell you more about this experience and see if it could help you, your team or company achieve amazing results.
