LSP (Lego Serious Play) is an innovative facilitation method known to improve creativity, communication, and collaboration in organisations. However, choosing the right Lego Serious Play workshop is as equally important as the concept of LSP itself.
There are various workshops to choose from, which might lead to decision paralysis for organisational leaders. It is counterproductive to invest precious time and money on a Lego Serious Play workshop that fails to tackle the immediate challenges faced by the participating organisation.
This dilemma can be avoided by identifying the prioritised goals of an organisation and matching them with the critical objectives of a Lego Serious Play workshop. Hence, organisational leaders should discuss and outline their specific goals and needs before deciding on a workshop.
Planning for LSP Workshops
The choice of LSP workshop the desired outcome. Leaders should ask themselves questions such as “What should I improve at the workplace?’’ “Is the focus on teamwork efficiencies or strategies that involve work culture as a whole?” “What is the biggest challenge faced by the organisation?”
It is important to note that although all LSP workshops apply the same principle – expression through Lego models – they aren’t structured the same. LSP facilitators use different approaches and interpretive methods based on the intended outcome of their workshops.
As such, every LSP workshop stimulates the thought processes of participants – but the key difference lies in the application of that newfound knowledge.
Before signing up for an LSP workshop, teams should meet and discuss their primary concerns and objectives. The discussion is an essential first step since goals are highly varied among organisations. For example, a startup might fret over branding development while an established company faces a crisis in employee disengagement. Both companies should seek suitable LSP workshops that address their unique needs.
Organisations will monitor the learning outcome of their LSP workshops by managing a checklist of objectives, and this will help optimise existing operations and practices, making the most out of their sessions.
Types of LSP Workshops
New LSP workshops are continually being developed by Lego facilitators, adding to an extensive array of options. LSP Workshops are available in myriad forms but grouped into two major categories: identity or strategy-based sessions.
Identity-based workshops focus on developing group dynamics and how individuals may unite under the organisational banner. LSP sorts out the intricacies in human behaviour to encourage active and lasting collaborations.
Strategy-based workshops leverage on the creative thought processes of companies. These LSP workshops will help shape business operations such as branding, customer engagement, and scalability. LSP reveals the hidden concepts and ideas among co-workers to facilitate new discussions that drive projects forward.
Identity-based: Self-Awareness
LSP workshops on self-awareness focus on recognising the unique talents within individuals. Participants will discover more about their authentic selves, which are suppressed by various environmental and social factors.
For example, workers who feel under-appreciated or consistently overlooked are similarly encouraged to share their perspectives. These workshops focus on self-growth, empowering every individual to embrace their unique talents, and acknowledge multiple aspects of their identity.
Additionally, self-awareness workshops place participants in the shoes of those around them. As a result, participants are encouraged to adopt a non-biased view of themselves and become more empathetic towards their co-workers.
Research has shown strong links between personal identity and workplace engagement. Self-awareness LSP workshops can help individuals become more confident and motivated to deliver their best work.
Identity-based: Collaboration
These workshops take self-awareness a step further by discovering the most effective ways of combining individual strengths through teamwork.
LSP’s unique hands-on approach eliminates the doubts and miscommunications that abound in everyday communication at the workplace.
Essentially, what one sees is what one gets. Participants get a unique chance to learn more about themselves through the feedback of their fellow teammates. The process further corroborated by participants directly explaining the meaning behind their models with the assistance of LSP facilitators.
Collaboration workshops help teams identify the strengths of each member and how they can make the most significant impact on group discussions and decisions. These lessons are then effectively applied to resolve or prevent real-life organisational conflicts and challenges.
Strategy-based: Design Thinking
Design-thinking involves a blend of innovation, practicality, and strategy. LSP workshops focused on design thinking can help organisations conceptualise their projects with more transparent, consistent, and more systematic frameworks leading right up to the ideation and prototyping processes.
LSP’s visual aspect enables participants to transform abstract or artistic concepts into practical actions. Visual learning is proven to improve retention by as much as 29-42%, making LSP lessons effective in the long-term.
The simple, colourful Lego blocks used in the workshops are known to produce design breakthroughs by solving complex problems. LSP achieves this through a concept known as constructionism, where participants apply the information provided by models to expand upon existing knowledge.
Design thinking workshops benefit creative companies that are continually working on innovative product or service designs that capture the imagination of their customers.
Strategy and Identity-based: Strategic Development
These comprehensive LSP workshops combine identity and strategy-based approaches. Organisations will establish the vision of their company by considering the rapidly changing business landscape through immersive Lego modeling.
These can help startups and SMEs establish their identity by inviting employees to co-create shared perspectives for the organisation.
Additionally, participants recognise the various identities of an organisation. These include core identities (what the organisation represents), ideal identity (the aim of org leaders), and external identities (how investors, customers, and partners perceive the organisation.)
On a strategic level, these workshops develop decision-making and communication skills through simple but effective guiding principles.
LSP remains an enjoyable and productive way to tap onto the hidden expertise of your organisation. From co-designing to staff management, and team-building, those colourful blocks hold something special for every organisation.
StrengthsAsia has helped many individuals and corporate clients throughout the region to empower leaders by enabling breakthrough experiences for both leaders and followers. If you wish to learn more about the Lego Serious Play Program, please reach out to us here.
A devotee at the altar of language and a celebrant of expression. Laurenzo has written for various SMEs, MNCs, startups and international brands over the last three years. He specializes in topics of psychology, lifestyle, employee management, and digital trends.
Aly is StrengthsAsia’s marketing and communications guru and lead editor. She's over the top inquisitive and everyone in the company knows her as “The Googler” as she practically googles everything. Honestly, we all worry for her… She is also the Principal Trainer for our one of a kind ice cream team building workshops in Asia.
