Welfare and Corporate Development

Find out about the story of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and how to apply it in your company

Claudia Vece – 16 September 2022

Since each person sees the world through their own lens, it is easy to be in situations of confrontation where different opinions can lead to communication problems within the company. These misunderstandings are counterproductive as they inevitably impact on business processes, operations, and decisions.

If communication were something tangible and visible, there would be no misunderstandings, it would be simpler and more understandable. This is because as human beings we need practicality and concreteness. It is this same concept that has been applied since 2002 with the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology, since it allows the collection of different points of view, engaging adults in a process of comparison that includes play, but in this case, it is “a serious game”.

The world of business facilitation in recent years has therefore diversified, embracing new methodologies that, if applied correctly within the company, allow employees to find their way more easily in the organizational context and allow managers to optimize processes.

How LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology was born

Starting in 1995, the LEGO® company began to suffer from market losses due to the entry into the sector of new forms of play such as video games. There was therefore a need to find new strategies to relaunch the brand. Thanks to the contribution of two Swiss university professors, Johan Roos and Bart Victor, the way was opened for a new way of playing, thinking, and creating solutions with the use of LEGO® bricks. But it was thanks to Robert Rasmussen, at the time head of the educational division of LEGO®, that a real educational method was created with coloured bricks, which today allows business leaders to find effective solutions to a problem or a project. In fact, in a guided and structured way, it is possible to collect and include the views and opinions of key people in the company and create a shared action plan with the assignment of specific tasks.

This is how the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® business facilitation methodology was born in 2002, which allows managers to think differently about solutions for their businesses. From this moment on, the bricks were no longer intended only for children, but have become an important tool to facilitate companies in the development of their strategies.

In 2012 Dr. Giorgio Beltrami, author of the book “LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®: thinking with your hands“ in collaboration with Per Kristiansen, Chairman Advisory Board for LEGO SERIOUS PLAY® and Partner of the LEGO® Foundation, have brought in Italy for the first time the certification courses for facilitators in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method according to the principles of the Association of Master Trainers founded by Kristiansen himself with Robert Rasmussen.

FUN FACTS

The word LEGO® is made up of the Danish words “LEG” which means play, and “GODT” which means well.
The first worldwide trainers of facilitators in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology were Robert Rasmussen and Per Kristiansen.
Robert Rasmussen and Per Kristiansen have founded the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Master Trainers Association.
LEGO® Group held the certification and affiliation process to the network of certified facilitators until 2010, then liberalized the use of the methodology and the purchase of related materials.
In 2021, TIME released its first “TIME 100 Most Influential Companies” naming the LEGO® Group as the most influential in promoting creativity in the Innovation category; in fact, during the COVID-19 period, LEGO® created the “Rebuild the World” campaign to encourage children and their parents to be creative.

Benefits of a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a very effective facilitation methodology as it allows you to actively involve each participant in the workshop. Its characteristic is therefore the richness of the contents that can be extrapolated in reference to a specific company theme (the development of a strategy, the plan, and the communication strategy for next year, the identity of the team).

It often helps to bring to the consciousness of the participants concepts and reflections that were still confused or unknown up to that moment. What makes LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® successful is its unlimited potential in making the immaterial tangible, by carrying a concept, an idea, a thought, a reasoning into matter to face a challenge and be able to understand and observe it.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® leads participants to build a SHARED MODEL or a LANDSCAPE that represent the business context with the most relevant information for the company, the dynamics and flows needed to plan the team’s actions.

In this way it becomes easy to guide the participants in the formulation of an action plan in relation to the topic addressed during the workshop to carry it out in the company reality. In fact, the Landscape obtained with LEGO® bricks represents the map for orienting oneself in the company territory.

Using the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to align the team with corporate projects allows you to release the maximum potential of the people involved, in a spontaneous, instinctive and immediate way, giving all participants time and opportunity to express their ideas.

Here are some ideas of how LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can be used in the company:

To bring out a defined action plan, aligned with company needs.
To make decisions accepted and shared by all participants.
To develop and define new business strategies.
To face a process of generational change.
To define the identity of a team.
To create the team identity to which you aspire and align the team in the direction of a common vision of growth.

Our LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshops

At Quantasia SA in Lugano, Ticino, we are a “boutique” company, we deal with Coaching, Training and Business Facilitation. We define ourselves as “boutique” because we specialize in disciplines that enhance and put the human being at the centre and our services are aimed at its evolution.

During trainings, we focus on the development of Soft Skills and leading personalities in their sector; in coaching we focus on the cognitive enhancement and development of our clients’ Neuro Emotional skills to allow them to make a great leap in quality in their personal and professional lives; in business facilitation, on the other hand, we use methodologies such as LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® that allow you to actively involve participants and make strategy and planning starting from the company’s resources and background.

In 2019 we held a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop at the ISG Economy & Business University in Lisbon, Portugal. 16 Directors of 16 schools belonging to the Ensinus Group, which administers the ISG itself, participated. The workshop was enlightening, and the participants expressed their experience with the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (you can read more about it)

With the Jetpharma company of Balerna, and others in the Canton of Ticino, we use LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in learning and confrontation processes on role and corporate values. By including LEGO® and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in our facilitation and corporate training courses, we are able to enhance communication and sharing between participants, achieving greater cohesion and team building.

If you wish to learn more with us, contact us and request our company brochure or a non-binding meeting and we will present our services .