Play and LEGO® Serious Play®
We have two points to make: play is one way to solve problems and figure things out, and LEGO® Serious Play® is a method that enables the expression of playful learning and problem solving.
First: Play is the way. Play happens outside our normal routine and rules. It’s voluntary, with a timeless quality—people are caught up in the activity, the “flow” of psychological engagement described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi—and related to that, people are less conscious of themselves during the activity: it’s a short-cut to connecting with others. Play has rules, whether written or unwritten, explicit or implicit, with the possibility of improvisation and risk-taking, and always a concern for fairness: it’s not fun if it’s not fair. It seems purposeless, but it serves an important purpose: freeing our minds and connecting us to others.
Second, LEGO® Serious Play® is a special kind of play. It uses play, the hand-brain connection, the power of metaphor, and object-mediated communication to bring to light insights people didn’t know they had, allowing sharing and working together on projects. It was developed by some business professors in Europe, in conjunction with LEGO® (see below for more sources on its foundation and how it can be used). LEGO® controls who can call themselves a trainer, and who can call themselves a facilitator in LEGO® Serious Play® (basically, people who have been trained by an approved trainer, as well as have been). But facilitators do not work for LEGO®.
It’s a flexible method—at one end of the spectrum, it can be used to solve a specific problem with a specific group of people in a specified amount of time, and at the other end, it can be a come-and-go building event with whoever shows up. Powered by Play does come-and-go community builds, and two-hour workshops for small groups focused on Adulting for All (college, career, retirement, money management).
If you want to know more about play, check out:
Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination and invigorates the soul, by Stuart Brown
Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world, by Jane McGonigal
If you want to know more about LEGO® Serious Play®, check out:
Thinking from within, by Johan Roos (This explains the intellectual foundations of LSP®)
These are books by certified LSP® trainers:
Strategic play: The creative facilitator’s guide, Volume #1, Jacqueline Lloyd Smith and Denise Meyerson
Strategic play: The creative facilitator’s guide, Volume #2, Jacqueline Lloyd Smith, Denise Meyerson, and Stephen J. Walling
Building a better business using the LEGO® Serious Play® method, by Per Kristiansen and Robert Rasmussen
Serious Work: How to facilitate LEGO® Serious Play® meetings and workshops, by Sean Blair, Marko Rillo, and partners