El Capitan also known as El Cap, is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park.

The
granite monolith is about 3,000 feet (914 m) from base to summit along
its tallest face. It is one big, big rock face. I know, I have tried to climb it twice, and failed both times.

Can El Cap be climbed?

In the early 1960’s,
if you had asked if it was possible to climb El Cap, the
answer would be likely be no, as back then, no human had ascended this mighty wall.

If you upped the ante, and asked it it could be climbed in less than
a day, most people would have thought that a crazy question. If
you had asked could it be climbing in under two hours or without ropes,
the leaders of the climbing community would have surely asked if you had
smoked something hallucinogenic, and met such questions with by saying “no, that simply is not possible!”

Too much no in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® community?

The question “Can you
facilitate LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® online” was recently put to one of the
elders of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method. His answer was, “No, it is not possible”.

This
‘no’ is on video, on the internet. But as we know, there are lots of
spurious videos on the web, of leaders saying things that are untrue.
You might have recently heard a President saying bleach is a good cure
for Covid-19.

Not possible is possible

The
job of innovators or the new generation is to confront orthodoxy,
challenge established norms, and show that what not might have seemed
possible is, in fact, quite possible. History is
littered with examples of leaders saying ‘this, that or another is not
possible’, only to be comprehensively proven wrong.

In
1964, El Cap was climbed by Warren Harding. It took him 47 days, using
what is know as ‘siege’ tactics: climbing in an expedition style using
fixed ropes along the length of the route, linking established camps
along the way.

Lynn Hill was the first to ‘free climb’ (using no points of aid) the
most iconic route on El Cap, ‘The Nose’ over 4 days in 1993.

Photo: Heinz Zak

And
as I’m sure some of you know, in June,
2017, a remarkable young man called Alex Honnold completed the first
free solo climb of El Capitan. He climbed the whole route free, with no
rope. And he did it in 3 hours and 56 minutes. The climb was
filmed for the amazing 2018 documentary Free Solo.

And
whilst the first ascent of El Cap took 47 days, in 2018, Alex Honnold
and Tommy Caldwell climbed El Cap in 1 hour 58 minutes.

Online LEGO Serious Play is possible – and in some ways better

Business
guru Gary Hamel famously said that ‘complacent incumbents’ in any industry have a vested
interest in things staying the same, but Covid-19 and environmental pressures have changed traditional ways of working, so has LEGO® SERIOUS
PLAY® reached a limit, or become useless just because we are now online?

The
clear answer is no. We have made the what we believe is first ascent of
shared model building online, and more importantly we have trail blazed a new
route to teaching others how to facilitate LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® shared model building online. So this is just another of many moments where the old guard said “no, not possible” only to be proven wrong.

One has to wonder why such negative assertions are proffered, when innovation is needed?

20 years ago, the clever people (Professors Johan Roos and Bart Victor) had the imagination and vision to ask, ‘can we use LEGO bricks for business strategy’.

This
was a radicle and bold idea, and if they were still actively pioneering
and advancing the LEGO Serious Play method today, surely they would
have the imagination and ability to invent additional new techniques
make the LEGO Serious Play method work-online? SeriousWork are not the
inventors of LEGO Serious Play, but we have met the new challenges on
online and have added new techniques to make online work, and work well.

It
makes you wonder if organisations that claim to be guardians of the
method are actually motivated by protecting their own self-interest?

A pioneering method needed online more than ever

In
the world we now live in, more than ever, people need tools and methods
to imagine new possibilities, design new models, and find ways to get
the economy moving again. The LEGO Serious Play method needs new skills
and mindsets to operate effectively online, but it is not only possible
but much needed.

So yes dear LEGO Serious Play facilitator you can facilitate online 🙂