In shared model building we teach our students to: “Lead the discussion through the brick” or “Mediate the conversation through the model”.

At last weeks LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator training in Stuttgart, this idea all-of-a-sudden developed to the next level!

While practicing facilitating the first round of Build Level 2 Shared Model Building, a participant forgot to talk as they were touching or moving the model.

Without words, the other participants pushed and grabbed the pointy stick (you can see a pointy stick being used the photo above – it’s the beige and white one being held and pointed at the model) and made it a magic stick… All-of-a-sudden… only the person holding the stick was allowed to speak! This spur-of-the-moment idea really helped the group mediate the conversation through the model… and as a result the shared model building experience was better.

It was great to see what group dynamics can do as a team suddenly starts to agree to new rules of communication. The process kept on for the following day and it worked very well and helped the participants understand the this key idea in shared model building.

Even as trainer you never stop learning! – Jens Dröge is SeriousWork Training Partner in Germany