LEGO Serious Play for Teams: Hands-On Strategy, Team Building, and Leadership Development

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - LEGO Serious Play for Teams: Hands-On Strategy, Team Building, and Leadership Development | #220

Episode - #220
Host: Shannon Russell
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)
Turning Creativity into Cash Flow: How I Added LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® To My Business As a Revenue Stream.

[00:00:00] Today's episode is a short but powerful one, especially if you are a leader, a manager, work in hr, or you're a business owner looking for a new way to support your team's growth, communication, and collaboration.
I'm talking about a hands-on brains on method that taps into your creativity and strategy using Lego bricks.

Welcome back to the second Act Success podcast. I'm your host Shannon Russell, business coach and certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator. I don't know if I've talked about this aspect of my business here on the podcast before,
But yes, I am certified in something called LEGO Serious Play, and that means that I am equipped to go into corporations and companies and facilitate. Team building exercises, events,
it is a unique way to see a team actually come together, form ideas, overcome issues or [00:01:00] problems within them, and start making plans for the future to do it through something fun like building with Lego bricks.
If you have spent any amount of time here on the Second Act Success Podcast, you know that we talk about ways of reinventing yourself, starting a second act, taking your skills and experience and building something of your own so that you can have that time freedom flexible schedule and that creativity that you might be desiring.
I thought about it and I decided I wanted to share this aspect of myself and my business here on the show to just give yet another example of something that you may be interested in, a talent that you might have, a skill that you have really mastered, and how you can use that maybe not as your sole business that you want to start,
but as an arm of it, as another revenue stream that you can take advantage of
For me, I began my career in [00:02:00] television. And then I ventured into entrepreneurship my first business was a franchise business called Snapology, at Snapology we taught children STEM education, so science, technology, engineering, and math, all through building with Lego bricks.
Through doing robotics, coding, learning, engineering skills. And so for me, at the time, back in 2016, when I first opened that franchise business, I had two little ones at home.
So the idea of starting this franchise that focused on kids was really enticing to me I ran that business for over eight years, sold it successfully, that business was a fantastic venture for me. It got me into entrepreneurship. I saw the growth.
I saw what it takes to build a team, scale a business, make partnerships really impact your community, and it led me to starting my coaching business. So I'm forever grateful to that franchise.
[00:03:00] Now, I explain all of that to let you know how I got into the world of LEGO Serious Play, I wanted to learn how to. Really take what I was seeing in the classroom with our students and make similar impact on adults and corporations and companies and businesses.
I'm talking about a hands-on brains on method that taps into your creativity and strategy using Yep. Lego bricks.
It's called the LEGO Serious Play Method, and yes, it's as fun as it sounds, but even more impactful. This method of team building and strategic planning was actually developed by the Lego group themselves.
They created this, and now they facilitate people to actually lead these events and workshops all over the world. I wanted so badly to get certified in LEGO Serious Play, and I went to training and got certified back in [00:04:00] 2018.
as I said, this is just one aspect of my business, but it's one that I truly love. And What I love most about it is going into an organization or a corporate event, or a boardroom and coming in with my bags of Lego bricks to people, adults just rolling their eyes, like, Ugh,
what kind of activity is this? Once I go through my spiel and they start actually putting their hands on the bricks, putting them together and building a creation of their own design, using their thoughts, It is the magic of the collaboration, the laughter, and really the ideas that stem from building.
It's just as incredible as seeing a child build something for themselves as it is to see an adult build something and then know that that idea is now going to be taken into the work that they do day in, day out for their team and for their company.
So what [00:05:00] is LEGO Serious Play? , Let me explain. It's a facilitated thinking, communication and problem solving method that uses Lego bricks, and it's a medium for teams to really come together, explore individual ideas, share their insights, and develop a plan for the future of business or come up with solutions to problems that they might be having.
And they do this all together. I always say that we can accomplish more in one Lego series play session than you can with your team over six months of meetings. Boring meetings because there's nothing boring about building with Lego bricks with your coworkers and getting to share ideas in a different way.
Another really incredible thing about LEGO Serious Play is that it's 100% participation.
If you've worked any amount of time in a corporate environment or any kind of, structured workplace, you [00:06:00] know that you can go to meetings and there's always the same people who speak up and it's really easy a lot of times to just sit in the back and sit quietly with this when I go into an organization, every person who is participating truly participates. They are building, they are sharing, and then they're also listening and giving feedback. 100% of the people, 100% of the time, and that's where new ideas really flourish.
So that is a really cool part of it.
To mention, Lego Series Play is not just about building like a perfect Lego tower. It's about really visually thinking about what you need to accomplish and how you can achieve a goal in your day-to-day work. It's about storytelling, what your company wants to bring to the public. To its clients, to its customers to the world, and it's about unlocking that knowledge that each team member holds, but [00:07:00] might not feel comfortable enough to bring to the forefront again, in a boring meeting or an individual conversation.
But when people are building together and they're building with their hands, they're actually thinking differently. They engage differently. Their ideas go from their brains down to their hands and actually creating whatever kind of Lego model they are creating. And that's where the real transformation for any workplace team begins.
Now I have partnered with large hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, with nonprofits, with small individual teams, I have incorporated LEGO Serious Play into keynotes and talks that I've given. It really depends on what the end goal is of the organizer and how we can really customize a workshop or event or team building activity to get the results that you want for your team.
Okay, let's talk [00:08:00] about why it works in the corporate world ,
I facilitated sessions for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, nonprofits, mortgage companies, school districts, tech teams, and even small individual groups from business masterminds to individual teams in larger companies and across all of these industries, the outcomes are always the same.
Lego series play really levels the playing field because in a traditional meeting, like I mentioned, there are people who just stay quiet and there's other people who are really loud, but here, every participant builds and contributes. There's no right or wrong answer, and everyone begins to see the vision because it's tangible.
it's in their hands, and that sparks new conversations.
There's a deeper understanding of each other. There's a stronger alignment about what you're working towards, and there's breakthroughs in thinking. For me as a [00:09:00] business coach, I can go into corporations and partner with them to facilitate LEGO Serious Play workshops and events, and I see it from the business side.
I have been in corporate, I have run several of my own businesses, and then to get to partner. With companies and businesses bringing my business coach hat with me. It's a very cool experience for me. And selfishly, it's something that I just love, love, love, love to do. And again, just to bring it back to you and really what you are planning on building with your business,
consider that little something extra that maybe is a separate passion or it's something different that you might not have been considering as a mainstay in your business, but maybe it's something that you consult on, on the side, or something that you can pepper in that aligns with your business model, maybe just in a different way.
Don't. discard that. Don't throw that away. [00:10:00] You can find a way to bring those extra streams of revenue and give yourself those extra opportunities in creating your business. Just think a little bit outside of the box. I get a lot of inquiries about facilitating Lego series play, and the first question I get asked is. How does this work? What I'll do is meet with the organizer of the workshop, the event, , the person who is hiring me essentially, and we talk about what they want to get out of LEGO Serious Play.
some teams just want it to be a fun team building activity. Others have issues or problems or you know, different strategic planning. Outcomes that they want to get to the bottom of. So based on our conversations, I can create an event or a workshop that really is customized to that organization.
When I arrive, I give my presentation and what we're planning on doing and how it's going to achieve the goal of this event. [00:11:00] And then each person builds a model based on the prompt that I give.
They all get the same Lego bricks they have to build this model that really represents their answer to my question or their perspective on a situation. 100% participation. As each person explains the meaning behind their model, and from there other people can give feedback, they can ask questions.
That conversation just evolves. It's structured and it's intentional, but it can uncover a lot of insights that typical brainstorming or boring PowerPoint presentations really can never get to.
Whether it's a small team of six people or a large ballroom of 150 my team and I really engage with the builds, with the participants, and we walk around and we talk about what they created and their ideas behind it and and their goals and how they can really come [00:12:00] together.
We take notes, we give reports back to the organizer later about what they've discovered and how they can utilize. This feedback to really help their team and plan for the year or years ahead in a really strategic way.
Let's talk about the three main areas where LEGO Serious Play really is effective. I'd say it's team building because teams can build trust through being vulnerable and having to go outside of their comfort zone and put these bricks together and create something that's in their head, but actually make it 3D.
And then it creates that open dialogue. Even if it's just for an hour or two, these colleagues really get to know each other on a different level, deeper, , beyond titles, beyond their job roles. They get to understand who they are, why they show up at work,
and how they want to contribute to the team as a whole. these workshops and events also really dive [00:13:00] into problem solving. So I once had a client who said, listen, we have. Offices all over the world in several countries, and we're actually closing a few offices and making people relocate to the US and when they're here, there's just going to be a lot of emotions and people being fearful of their jobs and fearful of.
Meeting new people and having to incorporate and work with new people in person. So we created this workshop where everyone came together, they all built, they talked about their fears. They talked about their vision for three months, six months from now, and it was a really effective workshop
Where everyone was laughing by the end, and it made them more excited about the future of how work would be in this company than they were prior to the event. They were able to express themselves they got to really get to know the other people that they were going to have to be working with day in and [00:14:00] day out.
At the end of the day, this method of working together, problem solving it helps reveal any challenges, and at the same time, it opens doors to solutions.
Another way I have incorporated Lego series play into different companies and organizations who have hired me is really project planning. Deciding, okay, we have this new goal, this new big project we're working in and taking their ideas, taking a timeline. Taking the necessary, end results and reverse engineering it, really trying to build a plan for that project through building with our bricks.
So whether it's launching a brand new initiative or reviewing a current strategy, teams can really build out their ideas. there's different ways, there's different kits I use and different ways that we, can get to these results, but the process really makes these kind of abstract concepts a lot more visible.
They can see them, they can see [00:15:00] them in front of them. And then again, if you think about it, just like anything in life, when you see it. You can believe it more so you see it, and then that idea, that visual idea is in your head and it's a little bit longer lasting than just a verbal conversation.
I know this is a podcast, but if you want to see actual pictures of events that I've run for Lego Series play, I will post some in the blog version of this podcast and you'll be able to go to www.secondactsuccess.co/blog and check that out.
You can also go to my Lego series play page on my website. That is second act success.co/corporate. There you'll see lots of photos from past events and a lot more information if you just wanna get a better visual, , idea of what this looks like. Basically picture me walking into a conference room and there's a pile or several bags usually of different colorful Lego bricks at every seat.[00:16:00]
People are skeptical, others are curious, but within minutes. Everyone's building and it's quiet, guys. It's very silent. It's very quiet. It's because people are thinking in new ways and then they start talking and sharing their ideas and there's laughter and there's aha moments, and really there's lots of genuine breakthroughs.
And that's when the room really feels alive, and that's where I just light up and I'm getting into it. By the end of the day, usually wanting to join that team because I've gotten to know them so well. And it's just a really fun. Energy and at the end of the day, really a stronger team, if I'm honest.
It's very, very cool.
All right. That is it. That is what I wanted to share with you. I've had people ask me about this portion of my business. I wanted to share it. And again, if you want to learn more about LEGO Serious Play and how maybe it can support you at your current role, or if you know someone who is looking for something that's a little bit out there and unique and collaborative, I invite you to visit [00:17:00] www.secondactsuccess.co/corporate to learn more, and feel free to contact me. I'll link to everything in the show notes
let this also be yet another reminder that you can think of something that you love, something that's different and incorporate it into your business. Your business does not have to be one track minded because we're not, right. We have so many ideas and different avenues and facets to us as humans that our business can be the same way.
You can offer jewelry. You can also offer jewelry making classes or you can offer art classes and talk about how that art incorporates to the art of your jewelry. There are so many ways to collaborate and bring together everything that you love and appreciate and want to share with the world under one umbrella of your business.
So keep that in mind. Keep your eyes and heart and mind open to so many of the possibilities that [00:18:00] are available to you. I believe that business can be strategic and it can be playful, and that's exactly what Lego Series play delivers and what I encourage you to try to incorporate in the business that you are building or the business that you are growing.
Thank you for playing with me today. Thank you for listening along, and I will be back for the next episode of the second Act Success podcast very soon. Take care of my friend.
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