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Create Connection — transformative change

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® METHODOLOGY

build what is difficult to put into words.

Some organisational questions are difficult to explore through conversation alone. The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology gives people a structured way to build, share and examine their perspectives.

By making ideas tangible, the method can help groups surface assumptions, recognise connections and develop shared understanding—while creating a meaningful opportunity for every participant to contribute.

Discuss a workshopSee how the methodology works
Participants building an interconnected LEGO landscape together during a facilitated workshop.

A STRUCTURED METHODOLOGY

serious questions. hands-on thinking.

In a facilitated LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® session, participants respond to carefully designed questions by building three-dimensional models and sharing the meaning of what they have created. The model becomes a shared object for thought—something that can be explained, questioned, connected and changed.

Because everyone builds and everyone shares, the method can create a more balanced form of participation than an unstructured group discussion.

This is a structured facilitation methodology designed around a clear organisational purpose—not an unstructured play session.

IN THE ROOM

what a session actually looks like.

  • A participant selecting bricks from a shared pile during a facilitated workshop
  • An individual three-dimensional model built in response to a facilitated question
  • Participants photographing and discussing a shared model built by the whole group
  • A group seated around a table of connected models, listening as one participant explains their thinking
  • A close view of a completed model, with figures and objects standing for different perspectives
  • Rows of simple four-brick models built by participants during the opening skills-building exercise

Photographs from training workshops.

THE PROCESS

from an individual perspective to shared understanding.

The methodology moves through six stages: question, build, share, explore, connect and act.

  1. Question

    The facilitator introduces a carefully designed build challenge connected to the purpose of the workshop.

  2. Build

    Each participant constructs a model in response, using bricks, metaphor and spatial relationships.

  3. Share

    Participants explain the meaning of their own models—the builder decides what the model means.

  4. Explore

    Questions focus on the models and the ideas they contain, opening reflection and different perspectives.

  5. Connect

    Individual models are linked or combined to explore relationships, dependencies and patterns.

  6. Act

    The group identifies shared understanding, principles, choices or practical next steps.

ORGANISATIONAL APPLICATIONS

a different way to work with complex questions.

  • strategy and shared direction

    Make different interpretations of purpose, priorities and future direction visible before developing a shared view.

  • culture and values

    Explore what values mean in practice and translate abstract intentions into observable behaviours.

  • team connection and alignment

    Help team members understand different perspectives and build stronger shared ownership.

  • change and transformation

    Support people to express how change is experienced, explore uncertainty and shape what happens next.

  • complex problem-solving

    Externalise a complicated challenge and generate possibilities that discussion alone may not reveal.

  • leadership reflection

    Use individual and shared models to examine leadership identity, impact and future choices.

INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATION

more than one way to think and contribute.

Many workplace conversations depend heavily on rapid verbal processing, which can favour people who are comfortable thinking aloud or competing for conversational space. A structured build-and-share process offers an additional route into reflection and expression, giving participants time to develop a model before explaining it.

Accessibility is designed, not assumed. Before a workshop, Susan considers the participants, sensory environment, physical space, communication needs and pacing—but individual experiences vary, and no method is universally accessible.

LEARNING AND EVIDENCE

exploring why hands-on thinking can feel different.

Susan’s developing work draws on research relating to embodied cognition, externalised thinking, attention, metaphor and collective sense-making. These perspectives may help explain why structured model-building can support reflection and shared understanding.

This is a practitioner-focused synthesis of related research, not an experimentally validated neurocognitive model of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® itself. Individual experiences will vary.

CURRENT LEARNING

How the Bricks Work: What Neuroscience Is Revealing About LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

A practitioner-facing synthesis of what current neuroscience may tell us about why the methodology works. This developing article explores how building, sharing, reflecting and iterating may support insight, meaning-making, connection and action.

Status: Forthcoming

PUBLISHED WRITING

learning from practice—and sharing it.

Susan has been writing about the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology since 2023, exploring coaching, listening, creativity, participation and facilitator ethics.

Explore all insights

THE FACILITATOR

careful design. curious facilitation.

Susan completed training in facilitating and designing workshops with the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology in 2022. Her wider practice brings together organisational experience, professional coaching, conflict-management coaching, team development, neurodiversity expertise and continuing study in psychology and neuroscience.

The bricks are a medium—not the purpose of the work.

WAYS TO ENGAGE

designed around the question—not a standard package.

  • focused session

    A short, carefully framed experience addressing one clearly defined organisational question.

  • half-day workshop

    A structured exploration combining individual models, shared reflection and practical next steps.

  • full-day workshop

    A deeper process supporting system exploration, shared models, choices and action planning.

  • connected programme

    A sequence of sessions supporting strategy, culture, team development or organisational change over time.

Every engagement begins with a discovery conversation to clarify the organisational question, participants, accessibility needs and desired outcomes.

what could your group understand by building it?

If your organisation is working with a complex question involving strategy, culture, teams or change, let’s explore whether a hands-on facilitated process could help.

Discuss a workshopExplore broader facilitation

LEGO, SERIOUS PLAY, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this website.