… and then there was this sound in my mailbox…
I got an email from Othmara Glas, who has been working at FAZ since March 2021. She wanted to write for her newspaper a “FAZ article” since she shortly took part in an introductory workshop and now wanted to do an interview on LEGO SERIOUS PLAY with me. Of course I was delighted and we met in the Chinese Garden for the interview.
Here is a short summary of the article she wrote. I definitely recommend reading the whole article, it’s worth it!
From the FAZ article: What managers can learn from playing with LEGO
The article is about the use of LEGO bricks in adult play and how they can help with problem solving and strategy development. Matthias Renner is a facilitator who runs workshops for companies where he gets managers to play with LEGO bricks using a method called LEGO SERIOUS PLAY.
LEGO SERIOUS PLAY was developed by Per Kristiansen and Robert Rasmussen in the late 1990s when they worked at LEGO. The aim of the workshops is to use the creativity and imagination of the participants. They are given a set of LEGO bricks to build models and answer questions posed by the facilitator. The method is designed to bring out the best in everyone, as each participant has to talk about their model, which promotes equal participation and a deeper understanding of the problem.
The workshops can be useful for team building or strategy development, for example, as playing with LEGO bricks can help individuals escape the real world, stimulate their imagination and unleash their creativity. The LSP method is also designed to focus on the model, thus avoiding personal confrontations.
According to Renner, only about 20% of the available knowledge is used in conventional meetings, mainly because the same people always speak. In LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshops, on the other hand, all participants are heard and everyone is invited to talk about their model. Renner, who is a trained computer scientist, coach and mediator, became a self-employed facilitator in Frankfurt in 2017 after completing a four-day training seminar in Odense.
In summary, the use of LEGO bricks in adult play has many benefits, including stimulating imagination and creativity, encouraging equal participation and deeper understanding of problems, and avoiding personal confrontation. The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method has been developed and improved over the years and is now used by many facilitators around the world to help individuals and organisations solve problems and develop new strategies.
Link to the FAZ article: “What managers can learn from playing with LEGO”You want more? Sure, we’ve got something for you:
👉 Come along and have a look…