A few days ago I attended the myConf conference. In one of the presentations, the LEGO® Serious Play® concept was introduced. My first impression was that it seemed a bit forced — a way to sell more LEGO. But after mulling it over, my perspective started to shift. There could be real value in the process. As an educator and occasional facilitator of workshops, I can see potential in the method.

First, it’s not immediately easy to grasp what Serious Play is. My understanding is that it’s a process designed to help participants reflect and externalize thoughts and opinions. These externalized ideas can then be explored and expanded in a group setting.

A Serious Play workshop begins with a skills-building section, where participants are taught how to use LEGO bricks to create metaphors in the form of models. The workshop is led by a facilitator, who is responsible for guiding the group through the process and helping them extract as much value as possible. Once the team understands the approach, they are presented with a set of challenges. These challenges are designed to help participants explore their thoughts.

Each challenge is built individually. While building, the participant assigns meaning and a story to the model. Once the build is complete, the model and its story are shared with the group. The group can then ask questions — but only about the model itself, not why it was built a certain way. This rule builds psychological safety and encourages honest reflection and learning.

A workshop includes multiple build challenges, often centered around a common theme. The challenges may build upon one another. Individual models can also be combined into group builds or more complex systems.

The Serious Play process was once proprietary but has been under a Creative Commons license since 2011, which has helped it spread globally. Certification is still available for those who want to become facilitators. The method works with any LEGO bricks, though LEGO has created specific (and sometimes quite expensive) kits designed for this purpose.

There are many books written about the process, and it’s easy to find providers offering certification courses for aspiring facilitators. I still think it’s a fascinating topic worth deeper investigation, though I now believe its main application lies in organizational development, change management, and strategy work. The method may be less applicable to pure training and education, which was my initial assumption.

LEGO and Serious Play are used throughout this blog post, both registered trademarks of the LEGO Group.