LEGO® Serious Play: the power of bricks in companies

LEGO Serious Play is the creative answer to communication problems in companies.
How often do we misunderstand each other, even when we think we’re being clear? Words, no matter how precise, can be ambiguous, interpreted differently from person to person, culture to culture.
With LEGO Serious Play, it’s not just about talking: it’s about building.
A model made of bricks can be much more eloquent than a thousand words: you can hold it, rotate it, show it, pass it to a colleague. It’s concrete, tangible, visible.
But most importantly: it always says something more, something that words tend to simplify or hide.

Every model is also a message

Every construction made with LEGO Serious Play doesn’t just represent an idea, a process, or a problem. It’s also an implicit invitation to look from other perspectives.

In a multicultural organization, this is pure gold.
Looking at the same object from different angles shows how perception can change based on context, culture, or simply the chair you’re sitting in.

LEGO Serious Play is not just a game: it’s a three-dimensional mirror of company dynamics. It’s a way to express, without embarrassment or misunderstandings, different points of view.

Facilitating a LEGO Serious Play workshop is not like moderating a meeting.
It’s a total experience, involving thought, emotion, and manual skills. Participants build, but the facilitator builds with them – connections, paths, solutions.

The person leading a session is not a bureaucrat with a stopwatch in hand, but a passionate advocate of the method, someone who struggles not to jump in and start building themselves.
And this passion spreads to the participants, who feel involved, free to express themselves, and often surprise themselves with original ideas and brilliant solutions.

Why does LEGO Serious Play break the mold?

With LEGO Serious Play, there are no PowerPoints, no “summary slides,” but hands in motion and active brains.

It works because it puts everyone on the same level: in a workshop, the CEO and the new hire use the same bricks, and they can understand each other instantly even if they speak different languages.

It works because it makes ambiguities visible and therefore addressable.
And it works because it feels good. Really. People have fun, reflect, collaborate.
And when they have fun, they learn better.

LEGO Serious Play is not a technique to use only when there’s a problem to solve.
It’s a method that can help in many situations:

To build a shared vision within a team.
To improve communication between different departments.
To facilitate complex decision-making processes.
To stimulate innovation and the emergence of new ideas.
To manage situations of change or crisis.

And you don’t need to be “creative” to participate in a workshop.
You just need to be willing to get involved, to look at things from new perspectives, and to build together with others.

Real success stories: when the LEGO Serious Play method makes an impact

So far, we’ve talked about what LEGO Serious Play can do in companies, but the real magic is seen when the method is put to the test.
Here are three true stories that show how simple bricks can transform teams, dissolve tensions, and ignite new ideas.

Case 1 – When the boss truly turns around: the rebirth of ABC Informatica

ABC Informatica was a successful company, but after being acquired by a large publicly traded group… something broke.
The team seemed dull, detached, demotivated.
The old leader, L.M., saw his collaborators drifting further away, but couldn’t understand why.

The workshop started quietly, people were present but not very engaged.
Everything changed when, almost by chance, a simple physical shift around the table showed everyone the most powerful image of the day: the model representing the boss ended up alone, isolated, and turned away from the group.

A visual slap that no one had noticed until that moment.

That small detail sparked the ignition.
Emotions came out, the leader finally had the chance to explain himself.
Silence gave way to dialogue and, almost like in a movie, one of the participants turned the boss’s model towards the group, symbolizing a new beginning.

From that moment, the team resumed working with new energy and confidence, showing that sometimes it just takes a change of perspective (literally!) to get relationships and projects moving again.

Case 2 – A city to build: DEF Bank’s young talent program

How do you bring together young people from different cultures and countries, ready to work together but without knowing each other?
For DEF Bank, the answer was simple: start with the bricks!

The training managers decided to kick off the Young Talent program with a large LEGO Serious Play workshop.
One hundred young people divided into groups, one challenge: build your ideal city.

Everyone created their favorite building: some chose a stadium, some a school, some a mosque, some a bank.
In a few hours, ten different cities took shape, all rich in symbols and meanings.

But here’s the beauty: when the cities were compared, the complexity of cultural differences emerged.
For some, work was everything, for others, leisure time mattered more.
For some, religion was central, for others, business came first.

That day didn’t solve everything, but it left a clear message:
to build something together, you first need to learn to understand and respect differences.

Case 3 – From technicians to managers: the challenge won by GHI Energy

When you’re a great technician, moving to a managerial role can feel like a leap into the unknown.
This was the problem GHI Energy faced every year with its new managers.

How to transform engineers, technicians, and specialists into aware leaders capable of managing people?

Here too, the answer came from the bricks.
For four years, over 800 people participated in LEGO Serious Play workshops at the start of their training journey.
The result?
Concepts like leadership, delegation, relationships, and management became visible, concrete, and actionable.

By building models that represented company culture or the role of a manager, participants moved from theory to action, gaining real tools to tackle their new roles.

For many, that was the turning point that made the transition from technician to manager more natural and less daunting.

The triple check: when everyone is satisfied

In all these cases, the true success of the workshop wasn’t just seen during the workday, but also afterward, over time.

The method works when:

The facilitator perceives an authentic engagement.
Participants leave satisfied, with new insights and ideas.
The company truly applies the solutions that emerged, giving continuity to the work done.

When these three elements occur together, the workshop doesn’t remain just a pleasant memory, but becomes a real engine of change.

When bricks help build new visions

LEGO Serious Play is more than a methodology.
In a world where everything seems to move fast and meetings all look the same, LEGO Serious Play offers a different experience.
An experience that engages mind, hands, and emotions.

It’s a way to think with your hands, to unlock hidden ideas, to see problems with fresh eyes.
It’s a powerful tool for all companies that want to break out of the routine, stop going in circles in discussions, and start building concrete shared solutions.

Because in the end, in front of a model built together, the most important question always becomes:
“What do you see in it?”

Curiosities about the LEGO Serious Play method

The method was born in the ’90s, but it is still among the most effective for facilitating complex decision-making processes.
It is used in companies, universities, sports teams, and even in clinical settings.
The methodological sequence is based on three steps: building, assigning meaning, and sharing the story.
One of its strengths is its tangibility: everything discussed is physically represented in front of everyone.