ON FACILITATING LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®
The 4th stage of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® process is reflection. This note sets out guidance about how to use this stage effectively and offers questions you might ask when you facilitate.
The objective of reflection to make meaning from the preceding build and share stages.
Good practice
You might guide the group through the four stages of the ORID framework, by asking one of each of the following 4 kinds of question:
1. OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
What have we just seen? (in the presented models)
What ideas/messages stands out?
What really caught your attention? (from the presentation of the models)
What are the facts (about the presented topic) we have just seen?
What patterns/ themes are now visible to you?
2. REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
How do you feel about the presented facts/ models?
What was exciting in what you just heard?
What made you nervous or concerned about what you just heard?
What was inspiring about what you just heard?
What new possibilities might we now see?
3. INTERPRETIVE QUESTIONS
What can we now see that we did not see before?
What is being recommended (or implied) here?
What appears to be the central issue/idea/problem being shown by this?
What key insights are beginning to emerge here?
4. DECISIONAL QUESTIONS
What decision is implied by this?
What is the step you/we now need to take?
What does this now mean?
What have you just learned?
Get out of jail free question: If you are blank, you could ask the group: “What is the reflection question we should now be asking?”
Do Not: Ask multiple reflection questions simultaneously or mix up the SHARE stage with the REFLECT stage.
Download this as a PDF Cheatsheet
I understand there is a shortage of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® kits at the moment. If you need a Landscape and Identity kit but can't get one... you can make your own! This list of bricks costs about the same and will give you a good selection of bricks in place of the Landscape kit:
When you first un-bag these bricks - I'd suggest you assemble the windows, tyres, mini-figures, doors, hinges, turntables etc. before mixing the bricks into brick soup (see below).
You can make "brick soup"... here is the recipe!
Each of these kits gives you about 1kg of bricks, they are a bit little bit light on mini-figures, if that's important search for 'bulk mini-figures' on eBay and buy say 100 additional mini-figures.
When you unpack the bricks for the first time, assemble the window, turntables, wheels etc, then combine into one big pile. Use kitchen scales to weigh out anywhere between 100g and 200g of bricks per person. For table groups of 6-8 people put a pile of mixed bricks, say 1.2kg (like the photo above).
In many workshops participants struggle to connect LEGO bricks to Duplo bricks. They do connect. The big studs on a Duplo brick need one or more regular 4x2 stud LEGO brick (two orange bricks in the picture) to 'convert' the top of the Duplo brick into the smaller stud pitch of LEGO bricks. The bottom of Duplo bricks are such that they will connect to LEGO base plates (grey in the photo).
These hacks are intended for new facilitators of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method, so you can help participants make the connections they want. On longer duration workshops you might include these hacks in a skills build to ensure participants have the skills to make many different kinds of connection or build.
Sometimes builders want to express shared ideas, people connecting, thinking the same, being aligned etc.
The flexible axle found in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Starter Kit and the much bigger Landscape and Identity Kit can be used in many ways, this simple hack is a good way to use this brick.
Whilst training LEGO in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in Switzerland we were delighted to introduce them to a new way of connecting bricks with one of our LEGOHacks. It was a little unexpected on our part, but a great moment to share learning and build the participants repertoire.
What was it we shared?
It was our Join Thin-End plates hack
Connect a plate to a studded block by mounting it in between the studs.
Vincent Doyle (course participant) said: "I've worked at Lego for two years and I never knew you could connect bricks in that way!"
Our favourite uses include impromptu walls, diving boards or even a sail. What might you use it for?