by Marko Rillo
March 20, 2012 in Serious Play Library
Serious Play Library
March 14, 2012 in Serious Play Case Studies
Case study: Using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY in a multi-cultural, multi-lateral stakeholder engagement context
Energy Efficiency Workshop
GIZ/PAKLIM and DANIDA/EINCOPS are development cooperation programmes respectively funded by the German and Danish governments, supporting the Indonesian government in its efforts to address issues related to climate change, particularly through improving energy efficiency, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Many institutions in Indonesia are also involved in mitigating climate change effects. Apart from Denmark and Germany, a number of international donors including AUSAID, USAID, AFD (France), IFC/World Bank, JICA (Japan), and the Dutch development agency. In addition, a few professional development and certification organisations are promoting competing Energy Management standards. Academic and research establishments are also conducting programmes to further knowledge about the causes, impacts, and mitigation approaches for greenhouse gas emissions. All these parties, depending on the exact nature of their activities deal with a variety of government ministries: Strategic Planning, Finance, Environment, Industry, Energy, and Education, to name a few. All of these institutions are typically seeking recognition for their own work and are reluctant to recognise the value of the contribution of others.
Previous attempts to document all of these activities have resulted in partially-completed tables in Microsoft Word or Excel, quickly obsolete.
When Dr. Joyce Miller, certified LSP facilitator, took over the leadership of the GIZ/PAKLIM’s Industry Component, she knew that an LSP-powered workshop would help to develop a clearer vision of what each actor was doing, and with luck, it would create a dynamic for community building and collaboration, rather than reinforcing the prevailing one of competition. Moreover, she suggested that the workshop itself be seen as a demonstration of a collaboration between GIZ and DANIDA. As Joyce wished to contribute fully to the proceedings and get to experience LSP as a participant for a change, I was asked to design and facilitate the workshop.
The Event
The GIZ/PAKLIM-DANIDA/EINCOPS Stakeholder Workshop on Energy Efficiency was held at the Méridien Jakarta Hotel on 21 November 2011. A last-minute change in rooms (requested by the hotel to accommodate another client) meant that some of the participants were a little confused, but this venue, which was on the same floor as already communicated, gave us some extra space, which definitely made the facilitation of the workshop easier.
No one, apart from Joyce and one colleague on the PAKLIM side, knew anything of the methodology or the process.
The workshop ran according to the following programme:
February 26, 2012 in Serious Play Case Studies
Check out this blog post by Rory O’Connor. Rory is a trained LSP facilitator and now an entrepreneur running a start up in Ireland. I ran a workshop with his team where we used LEGO SERIOUS PLAY as the method to explore and develop their business model. We used the canvas developed by Osterwalder, Rory will be integrating the results into the LEAN Canvas developed by Ash Maurrya.
February 17, 2012 in Generic Discussion
Identity and Landscape Kit - art. 2000415
As you many of you are aware the LSP Identity & Landscape Kit is sold out. A new one has been developed, but unfortunately the production has been delayed. Initially, the plan was to have it ready by early March, however, the schedule now is April!
February 10, 2012 in About Serious Play, Generic Discussion, News and Events, Training and Certification
New Programs added
The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method is a facilitated process, the impact of workshops based on the method are, consequently, directly tied to the quality of the facilitation.
Therefore, purpose with our facilitator training program is to provide the facilitator with the insights, confidence and commitments necessary to prepare and facilitate the workshops in a way that gives maximum value to the end-user and has lasting impact.
February 13-16, London, England: Stage 1 and Stage 2
March 26-29, Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Stage 1 and Stage 2
May 14-18 Mexico City. Mexico: Stage 1 and Stage 2
May 21-25, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Stage 1 and Stage 2
June 18-21, Toronto, Canada: Stage 1 and Stage 2
July 31 – August 3, Brussels, Belgium: Stage 1 and Stage 2
September 3-6, Munich, Germany: Stage 1 and Stage 2
December 10-13, Copenhagen, Denmark: Stage 1 and Stage 2 (offered in collaboration with Robert Rasmussen)
We will be following the updated program and use the new full facilitator manual developed by Robert Rasmussen and myself. The program meets the standards set by the Association of Master Trainers in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology.
Stage 1 gives a strong introduction to the method and how to use it with teams in personal relations. Stage 2 gives an advanced training in the method and on how to use if or business and organisational development
For more details please feel free to contact me by email (per.kristiansen@trivium.dk) or direct message via my profile on seriousplaypro.com
October 24, 2011 in About Serious Play, Generic Discussion, News and Events, Serious Play Facilitators, Training and Certification
The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method is a facilitated process, the impact of workshops based on the method are, consequently, directly tied to the quality of the facilitation.
Therefore, purpose with our facilitator training program is to provide the facilitator with the insights, confidence and commitments necessary to prepare and facilitate the workshops in a way that gives maximum value to the end-user and has lasting impact.
February 13-16, London, England: Stage 1 and Stage 2
March 26-29, Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Stage 1 and Stage 2
May 21-25, The Hague, The Netherlands: Stage 1 and Stage 2
June 18-21, Toronto, Canada: Stage 1 and Stage 2
December 10-13, Copenhagen, Denmark: Stage 1 and Stage 2 (offered in collaboration with Robert Rasmussen)
More sessions may be added in second half of 2012, expect a session in September (Germany)
We will be following the updated program and use the new full facilitator manual developed by Robert Rasmussen and myself. The program meets the standards set by the Association of Master Trainers in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology.
Stage 1 gives a strong introduction to the method and how to use it with teams in personal relations. Stage 2 gives an advanced training in the method and on how to use if or business and organisational development
For more details please feel free to contact me by email (per.kristiansen@trivium.dk) or direct message via my profile on seriousplaypro.com
by Marko Rillo
June 10, 2011 in Serious Play Library
Crafting Strategy book
by Cambridge University Press
All Lego Serious Play friends should be excited about the new book that professors Loizos Heracleous and Claus Jacobs have just published.
The book “Crafting Strategy: Embodied Metaphors in Practice” focuses on creative approaches of strategy making.
Term “strategy” normally symbolizes future planning as top-down, structured, rational and analytical activity. However, in recent years we have observed that creative, bottom-up ways of strategy making are frequently much more effective. Frequently Lego Serious Play has proven to be a great tool to support in this. It helps to dismantle inner walls of organizations and release the potential of ground troops. Hence – the authors use numerous examples from Lego Serious Play retreats that the they have observed to provoke thoughts of the managers and suggest alternative ways for more creative strategy making.
The book is full of rich imagery – photos of LSP sessions and resulting discussions have been analyzed in depth. All in all – it gives lots of interesting ideas for anybody who is interested in digging deeper into Serious Play methodology.
The synopsis of the book tells:
“The rationalist approach to strategizing emphasizes analytical and convergent thinking. Without denying the importance of this approach, this book argues that strategists must learn to complement it with a more creative approach to strategizing that emphasizes synthetic and divergent ways of thinking. The theoretical underpinnings of this approach include embodied realism, interpretivism, practice theory, theory of play, design thinking, as well as discursive approaches such as metaphorical analysis, narrative analysis, dialogical analysis and hermeneutics. The book includes in-depth discussions of these theories and shows how they can be put into practice by presenting detailed analyses of embodied metaphors built by groups of agents with step-by-step explanations of how this process can be implemented and facilitated. The link between theory and practice is further supported by the inclusion of several vignettes that describe how this approach has been successfully employed in a number of organizations, including BASF and UNICEF.”
Claus Jacobs
About the authors
Prof. Jacobs was part of the original team at the Swiss-based non-profit think tank Imagination Lab who helped to create the original concept of Lego Serious Play. They worked alongside with Lego Corporation and later with a number of international companies to carry out both theoretical and clinical research projects. Later Prof. Jacobs joined the University of St. Gallen where he has continued with his research activities on the subject.
Loizos Heracleous
Prof. Heracleous is the author of more than 50 articles published in leading journals and his wide range of academic interest spans from innovative strategising processes to culture and learning patterns in organisation change and development.
The book relies on research that the both Loizos Heracleous and Claus Jacobs have done over the years while they have helped people in several organizations to strategize using Lego Serious Play tools.
What do the others say?
“This is truly an amazing book. Combining meticulous scholarship with a plethora of illustrations, it succeeds in articulating an approach to strategy development that relies equally on philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Transiting such broad intellectual landscape is no small feat. These authors accomplish it in a way that will appeal to those who practice strategy as much as those who study it.”
– Steven W. Floyd, Frank S. Kaulback Professor of Commerce, McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia.
“This is a persuasive manifesto for the role of ‘embodied metaphors’ in strategy work. The book reflects its topic. It is utterly serious in both its theoretical grounding and its practical advice. Rich in vignettes and illustrations, the book is also a pleasure to read.”
– Richard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
The book is available for pre-order from Amazon.com
September 3, 2010 in News and Events
I will be offering this workshop as a “pre-conference” workshop to this years Pegasus Systems Thinking Conference in Boston (I will also do short workshop on conference). Here is what Pegasus write on their website (http://pegasus.prod.ifpeople.net/pre-post-conference/pre-conference-workshops):
Scenarios are carefully constructed stories about how the world around us might—not will, not should—unfold over the years ahead. Scenario thinking challenges our mindsets about what could possibly happen so that we are able to develop robust strategies in an unpredictable and uncertain context. This seemingly simple yet sophisticated tool has a solid track record in improving the quality of strategic conversations and outcomes both within organizational teams and in multi-stakeholder, cross-organizational groups. By integrating the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ method into the scenario construction process, we engage more than just our heads, but also our hearts and hands, enabling us to make our thinking more explicit, the stories we create more powerful, and our actions more effective.
In this workshop, you will:
For more info feel free to contact me, or even better, register on the Pegasus website
by Marko Rillo
June 24, 2010 in Pro Blog and Tweet, Serious Play Library
Stuart Brown. Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
A few months ago when I was doing my preparations for TEDxTartu talk about play@work I started reviewing popular sources for materials that cover connections between playfulness and work. I found out vast literature. In two extremes mostly – either related to developmental psychology or about (what Plato calls) “frivolous play”: play as a pastime. However, direct of play@work linkages were few.
One of them was written by Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, co-authored with Christopher Vaughan. The book is called “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul”.
The book starts with background on animals at play. First vivid example describes an incident where an encounter between polar bear and a husky did not end up tragically for the latter. Instead hungry polar bear was happy to be drawn into puppy-like play.
What follows is an interesting thought experiment that spans several pages. Play is considered to be one of the most important means of child and adult learning; one of the most important sources of creativity; playing together as a fundamental basis for bonding and teamwork. Numerous examples presented in the book demonstrate that our species has been produced to play throughout the adulthood.
Why on the earth do we consider that in order to be productive we need to be sombre and serious at work? Apparently this is an outdated view. There are several studies that demonstrate that playfulness at work is in fact increasing our productiveness.
Stuart Brown Video at TED
Indeed – even joking sometimes helps in certain conditions as Lancaster professor David L. Collinson has found in his studies[1]. Side remark – this does not obviously mean that we ought to start joking and playing all day. Certain modesty should be exercised – thinking of some light-hearted solitaire addicts. 
However, the most important statement of this about play@work comes from medical studies. These have identified that very serious workplaces are not necessarily more productive. But they certainly are much more depressive. So the opposite of play is not work, it’s depression.
Lots of books about play tend to take playfulness out. Brown is not one of them. His book is fun to read. My definite reading recommendation for anybody interested in how to incite some playfulness in your office or factory. If you are interested then I also welcome you to watch his inspiring video at Serious Play TED conference called “Play is more than fun”.
[1] Collinson (2002) Managing Humour. Journal of Management Studies 39:3, pp. 269-288.
June 21, 2010 in About Serious Play, Serious Play Videos
LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Explained in Spanish
I would like to share with the community the last video recorded by a web TC Channel about the serious play by juego serio consulting. I hope you can enjoy the video in the original language.
All the best
Lucio
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