MASTERING THE ® ® LEGO SERIOUS PLAY METHOD 44 Facilitation Techniques

FOR TRAINED LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® FACILITATORS Written & designed by SEAN BLAIR

Copyright Information Copyright © 2020 by Sean Blair. All rights reserved. Self Published by ProMeet, an independent imprint. Edition 1.0 March 2020 LEGO® Copyright LEGO® and LEGO® Serious Play® are trademarks of the LEGO Group 2020. This book is not approved, authorised or endorsed by the LEGO Group. LEGO®, the LEGO® logo, the Brick®, Knob® configuration and the Minifigure® are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2020. LEGO® Serious Play® Trademark Guidelines This book uses and builds on the LEGO® Serious Play® Open Source Guide made available by the LEGO Group under a Creative Commons licence (‘Attribution Share Alike’ see creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for licence details). This book follows the naming convention set out on page six LEGO® Serious Play® trademark guidelines: See page 170 for a copy of the Trademark Guidelines. Disclaimer Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at the time of going to print, the author does not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

ISBN Information 978-0-9956647-4-6 Connect

@SeriousWrk | [email protected]

MASTERING THE LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® METHOD 44 Facilitation Techniques

FOR TRAINED LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® FACILITATORS

Written & designed by SEAN BLAIR

"Everything that happens to you is a form of instruction, if you pay attention." "The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways." Robert Greene. From his book, Mastery.

“What we think or understand is shaped by, made possible by, and limited by our bodies and our embodied interactions in the world. The very act of constructing things with our hands, and doing this together, is particularly beneficial for our imagination.” LEGO® Serious Play® co-inventor, Professor Johan Roos. From his book, Thinking from Within.

Contents

50.

Part 4: Master techniques for facilitating the build

51.

#16. Frame the build with the reflection questions

53.

#17. Play music

55.

#18. Managing build time

56.

Part 5: Master techniques for facilitating the individual model share

8.

Foreword

10.

Preface

12.

Acknowledgements

13.

Meet Sean & thanks

17.

Introduction

18.

Part 1: Master techniques for preparation

59.

#19. Who‘s first? Curiosity from the very start!

21.

#1. Success. By design, during preparation

61.

#20. Repeat the build question

23.

#2. Write and test clear build questions

63.

#21. Facilitate questions about the model

25.

#3. Build questions - Evoke, emote or describe?

65.

#22. Facilitate the recap, don’t DO the recap

27.

#4. Always prepare reflections in advance

67.

#23. Facilitating (and asking) clean questions

29

#5. Align your components! Test your design

68.

31.

#6. Planning with time constraints

Part 6: Master techniques for facilitating shared model building

33.

#7. Group sizes & meta models

73.

#24. Facilitator presence

35.

Part 2: Master techniques for the skills build

75.

#25. Setting up a shared model build

37.

#8. Technical skills build - focus on connections

77.

39.

#9. Teach technical skills via hacks

#26. Increase energy and reach for shared model building

#10. Play single brick metaphor

79.

#27. Recap for shared understanding

41.

#11. Norm the group to a higher level of listening

81.

#28. Facilitate clear and simple meaning

43.

#12. Tap-&-Tell: Use a pointer stick

83.

#29. Identifying the most important ideas

45.

#13. Maintain share and reflect stage discipline

85.

#30. Getting hands on bricks - So show me!

47.

Part 3: Master techniques for setting the challenge

87.

48.

#31. The unexpected benefits of LEGO Cam

89.

#32. Sharing questions, concerns, reservations

49.

#14. Use the build questions you prepared

91.

#33. Stay on topic

49.

#15. Ask if anyone has questions about the task

93.

#34. Getting to an agreed shared model

95.

#35. Post agreement refinement

95.

#36. No agreement is better than fake agreement

97.

#37. Shared models as inputs for further work

98.

Part 7: Other LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation techniques

99.

#38. Get the name right!

101.

#39. No-video switching hack

103.

#40. Body language and group energy

103.

#41. Clearing up afterwards

105.

#42. Recording outputs

107.

#43. Reflective practice

109.

#44. Be authentically you

110.

Part 8: Graduate stories and tips

122.

Part 9: Now what? Learn more!

125.

Build Level 3: System models

128.

We need to talk about certification

129.

Gain your competency based certification

130.

Further reading

131.

Contact details

134.

Part 10: Appendices

136.

#A1. Outcomes not meetings

150.

#A2. Sample workshop plan

160.

#A3. A one hour workshop plan

164.

#A4. Skills build facilitation notes

168.

#A5. LEGO® Serious Play® Etiquette

170.

#A6. LEGO® Serious Play® Trademark Guidelines

Foreword Marko is the founder of SeriousPlayPro. com, the global community of LEGO® Serious Play® facilitators. I have used LEGO Serious Play since 2005. First, as a university lecturer to encourage unconventional thinking among students, then as a consultant to help accelerate innovation projects towards better outcomes. Finally, as a coach and a facilitator to help people open up, using a playful medium. Given the diversity of projects I was working on, I thought it would be good to share knowledge about LEGO Serious Play best practice. So in 2009, I founded SeriousPlayPro.com as an open source community. About five years ago, via SeriousPlayPro.com, Sean reached out asking for help on a workshop challenge he faced. He was already a very experienced and acclaimed facilitator who had recently added LEGO Serious Play to his toolset. Sean said in our first Skype conversation: “I have this important workshop coming up with 300 people where I want to use LEGO Serious Play, but I am not sure it would work out, as I only have an hour...” Sean had completed a full 4-day training on LEGO Serious Play and while he had witnessed a master trainer talking about facilitation, he did not get an opportunity to practise.

8

We discussed his upcoming workshop, I made some suggestions and I told him to go for it, I knew it would be great! Sean did, and indeed - the event delivered great outcomes. Since then we became friends and exchanged our professional experience on various LEGO Serious Play projects. About a year later this ping-pong of ideas resulted in a book titled “SERIOUSWORK, How to Facilitate Meetings & Workshops Using the LEGO Serious Play Method.” I am glad to see that while LEGO Serious Play methodology is already two decades old - to date, the SERIOUSWORK book has remained the only hands-on publication to help the newcomer get started with the LEGO Serious Play method. SERIOUSWORK would not have been possible without Sean’s great ideas, relentless enthusiasm to write handful of pages every day and his good eye for design. In addition to his daily work as a facilitator and trainer, Sean has constantly been an avid community builder. He was the first person to initiated the LEGO Serious Play MeetUps where he started sharing his experience. I admire his ability to produce case studies of previous workshops in blogs and social media. It is lovely to see that no more than four years since our first book, he has topped up his energy to summarize a batch of clever lessons to kindly share his wisdom in another volume that you are holding in your hands.

The first book, SERIOUSWORK, focused on simple LEGO Serious Play workshops. However, the life of a facilitator is never simple. Every facilitation situation is new. Facilitators need to be mindful about updating their skills, about reflecting their personality and about adapting their presence. Therefore, the journey towards facilitation mastery never ends. Sean has now untangled some of those complexities in the book that you are holding in your hands. There are three things that fascinate me about “Mastering the LEGO Serious Play Method” book. First, the attention to the consistency of workshop design. In an age where bad meetings are commonplace, it is truly refreshing that Sean emphasizes the need to build strong internal logic and linkages between workshop objectives, build questions, reflection questions and workshop outputs. Tying all four elements closely together is a way of ensuring that meetings will be productive. Second, I like the section in this book where he explains LEGO Serious Play Build Level 2: Shared Model building. Working on shared model creation is a messy process. Or as facilitation guru Sam Kaner has called it: facilitating through “the groan zone”. Part of shared model building is where participants attempt to understand each other to find common ground. Part of it is where they generate new ideas.

frustrating for the participants and challenging for the facilitator. Sean has suggested several practical ideas on how to make the process more manageable. Third, facilitators are often recruited for results. This may create a role conflict where they become too forceful to get to results. This is a good reminder for most facilitators - to facilitate people rather than to facilitate the process. Sean has listed several useful tips on how to take it easy and stay “clean” as a facilitator by acting more like a conductor of the orchestra, who is not attempting to play all the instruments. I love the passion for facilitation that Sean shows throughout this book. I am certain that by reviewing his tips from time to time, every seasoned LEGO Serious Play professional can remind themselves on how to truly progress towards mastery of their skill. Marko Rillo SeriousPlayPro.com founder Tallinn, Estonia March 2020

Given the conflicting goals in this part of the workshop, shared model building is frequently

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Preface - Mastering the LEGO® Serious Play® method This book is about mastery of LEGO® Serious Play®. Mastery though attending to tiny techniques, the small things that LEGO Serious Play facilitators can do to plan, facilitate and deliver outcomes from professional workshops.

This book arose through the combination of these two activities, that together, brought my attention to the tiny details of workshop design and delivery.

Details matter. For instance, an extra 0 on your turnover could have a profound effect. It’s only a 0 though. A single digit. Not £100,000 but £1,000,000.

When it’s time for workshop participants to take turns sharing, it’s common for a facilitator to ask a group, "Who wants to go first?"

One incorrect character in a line of computer code will break an app. Turn up for your train 1 second after the doors have shut, oops! An extra ’s’ can change the meaning of an idea. I’ve come to believe that changing one word could result in a different workshop outcome. So details matter! The techniques in this book will help trained LEGO Serious Play facilitators design and run professional workshops that create desired outcomes. How did this book come about? I have two jobs, my main work is as a facilitator, I have designed, facilitated or co-facilitated well over a thousand workshops. I work globally as an award winning IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator. First and foremost, I'm a practitioner. In my second job, I’m a learning designer and practiced based trainer, I deliver the gold standard of LEGO Serious Play facilitator training and have trained hundreds of facilitators.

10

Let me give you an example...

I used to asked this question myself, maybe you have too? As a trainer, when I see my students ask this question I usually see and feel a ‘tumble weed’ moment… a slightly awkward silence as we sit and wait for a volunteer to speak up.

These days I encourage trainee facilitators to use a tiny technique. #19 to be precise: To be curious and select the model that they would like to hear about first. This tiny difference has a number of effects. Firstly it helps imbue the workshop process with curiosity. The facilitator wants the group to be interested in and curious about each others build, and so modelling the behaviour the facilitator wants to see helps validate curiosity.

Next, there is no awkward moment, when people are self conscious, and it feels like no one is in charge. And after the first person has shared, if the facilitator asks them to decide who shares next, she gives the group a sense of autonomy and control. Finally by having participants follow their curiosity and decide who will be the next person to share, the facilitator doesn't need to think about whether everyone has shared… the group has done that, leaving the facilitator head space to focus on something else. A tiny technique I first saw one of my students, Will Sudworth use in our practice-based training. A tiny technique I would not be without, and one I’d encourage all LEGO Serious Play facilitators to use. The gift of practise-based learning Our approach to teaching LEGO Serious Play is quite different to the original, four day approach initially taught by LEGO, that is now the template for most training organisations. When you stop and think about it, in a facilitation training the teacher should know a lot, especially about LEGO Serious Play, but the 'students' have decades of experience working with and facilitating groups, so this book, and the wisdom in it, is a gift of our unique practice-based learning. As pioneers of LEGO Serious Play practice-based training, where learners take turns to facilitate during training, we believe we have created a more effective, more client and participant centric way of facilitating and teaching LEGO Serious Play.

We also combine LEGO Serious Play with other tried and tested facilitation methods. As such, the techniques in this book will be a useful additional resource for those people we did not train. Why did this book come about? This book's 'why' comes from my desire to improve the standard of LEGO Serious Play facilitation practice. Why is that important? Because I have seen poor practice in the market and that gives LEGO Serious Play a bad reputation.

I want this book to help you achieve excellence in your workshops and deliver gold standard facilitation. So that together, you, I and every other LEGO Serious Play facilitator will drive the standard up and further legitimise this brilliant method. I have encountered a generous mindset in the LEGO Serious Play community. I first experienced LEGO Serious Play at a conference thanks to Camilla Jensen. Since then I've been helped and coached especially by Sergey Dmitriev and Marko Rillo. An abundance mindset always surpasses a less generous outlook. So let's share and help each other be better, as the enemy out there is not each other, but poor practice. My hope is that this book helps feed the generous spirit amongst us, in service of outcomes greater than anyone of us alone might create. Sean Blair Written in London and Morocco

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Acknowledgements Photo thanks As you will see, I believe photos tell stories, so I’m grateful to all who appear in this book, especially Stephanie Ho, who let me put her on the cover. LEGO® thanks for permission Thanks to Jette Orduna at the LEGO® Idea House for clearing this with the LEGO® Group Legal team. Team SeriousWork A big thanks to my training associates, Jens, Mirjami and Marko. Special thanks to Jens who reviewed drafts of the book, and made suggestions for some of these techniques. Helen and Caroline have and do run our business, and most of our students will have enjoyed dealing with them in pre-training logistics. Thank you both for all your hard work and shared values both in the past and in the future. To my brilliant proof readers Thanks so much Dr Tammy Watchorn & Helen Batt. Helen in particular bought a final polish to the book. Finally A huge thanks to Marko Rillo, Marko has had a huge impact on my facilitation practise and career, he helped improve this book and has been a mentor, coach and friend. Without Marko, I would not have written any books on LEGO® Serious Play®.

12

Meet Sean, the author First and foremost I‘m a professional facilitator I founded ProMeet an international facilitation business in 2007 where I work with organisations including HSBC, Google, Cisco, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Denso Automotive, UKTI, the InterAmerican Development Bank and many many more! See my work at http://www.meeting-facilitation.co.uk/ I‘m also a practice-based learning designer I founded SeriousWork, now a global training business, and I designed the SERIOUSWORK method of LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation training. I’ve trained professionals from Microsoft, Starbucks, Salesforce, Spotify, Cathay Pacific, LEGO Group, the Royal Air Force, Sanofi, the NHS, the US Army Center for Strategic Leadership and many more. We offer the best LEGO Serious Play training in the world: https://www.serious.global. He‘s old and wrinkled wise I have 30 years experience leading and supporting organisations to innovate, learn and change. I have sat on the other side of the table in senior positions including being a board member at the Royal Society of Arts and the Design Council. I was a commissioner on the Mayor for London’s Creative Industry Commission and an Honorary Fellow in Enterprise at Durham University.

I have made TV programmes with the BBC and have been on radio mostly to talk about design, innovation and creativity. I occasionally lecture and speak. Award winning professional facilitator I‘m proud to be an International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Certified™ Professional Facilitator and I have been awarded an IAF "Facilitation Impact Award”. Knows about LEGO Serious Play I’m an experienced practitioner of LEGO Serious Play. I was the lead author of the book ‘SERIOUSWORK, How To Facilitate Meetings & Workshops Using the LEGO Serious Play Method’ that was the brainchild of my friend Marko Rillo. LEGO is a great tool, when it’s the right tool Some clients rightly treat facilitators who use LEGO with suspicion. A few years ago I was interviewed by a cautious senior civil servant in a UK government department. Worried that I was going to force LEGO Serious Play on his team, he asked if I favoured any approach, I said, “No, I favour outcome driven workshops. I’m process neutral and will use the right tool for the job” (to his evident relief). LEGO Serious Play is a fantastic tool when it is the right tool, but it’s not right for every job. When it is, I hope the ideas in this book will help you deliver excellent outcomes :)

13

Thanks to our teachers The main people that need huge thanks are the students we have trained. In 2016 we published SERIOUSWORK and afterwards we challenged the traditional training model by turning the master/ trainee model on its head. Our practice-centric approach to teaching LEGO® Serious Play® has taught us a huge amount about what works and what does not, as we watch our students facilitate LEGO Serious Play for the first time. Now it’s 2020 and we have run public and in house training courses all over the world. As I said in the preface, in a facilitation training the teacher knows a lot, especially about LEGO Serious Play, but the students also know a lot about working with groups... so this book and the wisdom in it, really has been co-created. We wish to thank the following graduates for believing in our approach and for teaching us and each other so much. Paul Brown, Parag Gogate, Kevin Sefton, Tom Currie, James Lloyd, Mireia Montaine, Euan Turner, Caroline Jessop, Will Sudworth, Silvio Moser, Liza Eberle, Oliver Morris, Coral Movasseli, Dominick McGrath, Francesca Carevale, John Lynch, Jennifer Sheahan, Patrick Hegarty, John King, Bruce Perry, Julian King, Mash Nabi, Nadine Asmar, Hibo Osman, Rasha Mardam Bay, Rana Bassir, Laura Paola Finsterbusch, Edward Mackle, Vincent Doyle, Fiona Smith, Trevor Ray,

14

Abdullah Aydin, Daniel Freedman, Camilla Gordon, Evelyn Wolf, Victoria Storey, Tammy Watchorn, Gary Semple, Dian Small, Raj Jani, Pippa Hugill, James Yarlett, Lee Button, Kunjnita Patel, Jessica Ball, Marcus Hoyle, Lorena Rodriguez Bu, Valeria Pacheco, Adela Barrio, Pablo Bachelet, Carolina Aclan, Monica Otsuka, Janaina Goulart, Anna Nill, Luz Angela, Carolina Oh, Elba Luna, Luis Manuel Espinoza Colmenares, Jose Yitani, Maria Alejandra Martinez Lima, Angela Funez, Maria Fernanda Polini Rodriguez, Valentina Sequi, Duval Llaguno, Agustin Caceres Padron, Gador Manzano, Anamaria Nuñez, Kyle Strand, Ana Lucia Escudero, Atsuko Horiguchi, Shamsa Almessabi, Saif Rahman Shamsa Lootah, Mariam Fozan, Kristen Herde, Andreas Herde, Johannes Geske, Marc Mauerman, Liz Jenkins, Claus-Peter Seichter, Robert Gaertner, Ali Asl, Torsten Kruger, Rebecca Godfrey, Nick Richmond, Louise Palfreyman, Daniel Ruch Gaemperle, Sonja Gibson, Cathy Pearson, Bob Pearson, Laura Mitchell, Arief Abraham, Tosin Adebisi, Bärbel Boy, Jenny Bliefert-Bansemir, Dominik Gajerski, Mathieu Dietrich, Kersti Peenema, Gregory Nguyen, Thomas Sumandio, Rick Morton, Jesse Lui, Christina Reis, Phillipp Rosenthal, Nel Mathams, Pam Burnard, Helen Gough, Mark Pattenden, Ella Cronin, Chris Dowdall, Praba Kugathasan, Anna Craig, Dominic Demolder, Alexander Harding, Mia Eng, Robin Gustafsson, Pam Seanor, Vanessa Harbar, Douglas Idle, Laure Felix-Bower, Fan Li, Alexandra Luxton,

Alastair Friend, Maddy Woodman, Ola Odumosu, Anne-Lyse Raoul, Ayman Mahana, Sean Craig, Anthony Walkley, Arran Haj-Najafi, Eddie Lang, Adolfo Gonzalez, Alexandre Krstic, Stuart Hobley, Aimee Blackledge, Catherine Stagg-Macey, Robyn Llewellyn, Emma Jelley, Ian Winston, Lynn Zhu, Taina Vuorela, Päivi Aro, Saara Tiri, Liisa-Maija Malinen, Rudi Bringtown, Horst Haring, Eric Ferrot, Yannic Langlois, Paris Connolly, Phil Bowker, Magali Dickes, Hilarious De Jesus, Jamie Reed, Jaime Martins, Kirsty Marson, Chris Chapman, Holly Henderson, Tim Casson, Loreto De Funes, Elizabeth Paterson, Hanifa Shah, Max Klugerman, Marilyn Fogg, Oliver Kopp, Maryam Rottweiler, Bernd Kollmann, Chantal Caraci, Sonja Diekmann, Torsten Fuchs, Frank Oschmann, Michel Laubscher, Catharina Kloß, Luise Weißflog, Jan Schauenberg, Fabian Kiss, Thorsten Schiffer, Paul Marks, Martin Spraggon, Zoe Brown, Liz Box, Paweena Aramrattana, Colin Quayle, Viola Wontor, Sonia Johnson, Phil Cain, Lauri Murphy, Fran Ward, Taru Uhrman, Neil Melvin, Debbie Kinsey, Deb Evans, Maria Kütt, Eeva Kenttäkumpu, Hanna Jaakola, Kersti Peenema, Angeliki Barakli, Dimitris Stathis, Christina Skoumpridou, Sharon Cox, Dimitris Kampoukos, Paulo Cesar Velasquez, Glaudia Califano, Poppy Oikonomou, Emma Owen, Gerald Feldman, Vahid Javidroozi, Chris Maguire, Tracey Smart, Stephen Crane, Lynda Farmer, Sarah Scott, Steph Crewe, Peter Welch, Ivo Haase, Owen James, Jeremy Gwee, Pri Desta Yudha, Saiful Hidayat, Samuel Leung, Jongse Park,

Steve Te, Stephanie Ho, Desmond Lee, Mike Lewis, Diederik Mutsaerts, Chia-Yen Gschwend, Helen Batt, Neil Crespin, Sybille Kuwert, Gillian Thomson, Nathalie Britten, Rochelle Dancel, Stephen Smith, Sara Hasani, Hussan Aslam, Nick Defty, Liz Oseland, Philippe Duvivier, Charlotte Edwards, Aine Mulloy, Giulia Cappelletti, Kate McAvoy, Sibeal Conway, Michala Davey-Borresen, Conor McAndrew, Gavin Redmond, James Maxwell, Maeve McErlean, Mick Torrans, Rob Crowe, Jeanine Brockhoff, Minna Onnela, Harri Hämäläinen, Jyri Naarmala, Angelina Zaronina-Nedashkovsky, Mima Ahmad, Patty Lau, Jerome San, Carmen Li, Meiting Lin, Yvette Sim, James Piper, Suzanne Trew, Leo Sayer, Marilyn Kronenberg, Janine Hegarty, Joe Pearson, Gemma McNulty, , Thomas Leymann, Ingolf Speer, Doris Pusch, Alexander Beckmann, Katrin Dreyer, Rolf Bielser, Susanne Heiss, Kersten Staat, Petra Ott, Matthias Bastian, Heike Reitz, Nicole Führing, Martin Talmeier, Christian Hoffer, Katalin Faix, Katrin Schneider, Friederike Exter, David Henshaw, Richard Moss, Roberto Cortese, Belinda Wych, Neil Davies, Ryan Behrman, James Reeve, Anne Domain, David Tapp, Christian Miles, Wayne Rogers, Nathalie Foehr, Simon McCaskill, Marie-Christine Messier, Colleen Quinn, Amy Cole, Edurne Lago, Thomas Schiestl, Marlies Butterworth, Matt Rodda, Bettina Rose, Eva Maria Möseneder, Christian Huebner, Wolfgang Strober, Doug Baldwin, Thorsten Maul, Marko Dankert, Alexander Herzner, Alexandra Götzfried, Ann Armstrong, Lisa Witzler, Lauren Thomas, Joe Campbell & Jamie Muskopf.

15

16

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR AND WHAT DOES IT COVER?

Introduction This book was written for facilitators who already use LEGO® Serious Play®. The book is not intended for total newbies - if you want a ‘beginners book’ please start with, "SERIOUSWORK - How to Facilitate Meetings & Workshops using the LEGO Serious Play Method1" which focuses on designing and facilitating simple, low risk Build Level 1 workshops with individual model building only.

This book covers the facilitation of Build Level 1: Individual Model Building and Build Level 2: Shared Model Building. It does not cover Build Level 3: System Models, if you want to learn more about facilitating that level, see advice on page 125. I think of this book as a follow up for people who have recently trained (or trained ages ago and have forgotten some of what was taught) and who now want to design and deliver masterful workshops, where every detail works brilliantly. The book is broadly chronological - it progresses through the through stages of a workshop, from the vital planning stage, the skills build and individual model building, through shared model building to recording outputs and clearing up afterwards. The biggest section of the book is part 6, Shared Model building, so this section has turned out to be a ‘how-to’ facilitate shared models, and therefore picks up nicely from our first book. In part 8 the graduate stories show a wide range of applications and part 9 covers learning more, and how to get a higher level of certification.

Available at https://serious.global/seriouswork-how-to-facilitate-lego-serious-play-book/ or https://www.amazon.co.uk/ Facilitate-Meetings-Workshops-Serious-Method/ dp/0995664706

1.

Some of the techniques are covered in detail, others just a pointer or reminder - usually the things I see those who are new to the process, forgetting. The advice here really works, I hope you will add some of these techniques to your toolbox in order to create great outcomes for your clients. 17

Part 1

Master techniques for preparation

18

#1. Success. By design, during preparation #2. Write and test clear build questions #3. Build questions - Evoke, emote or describe? #4. Always prepare reflections in advance #5. Align your components! Test your design #6. Planning with time constraints #7. Group sizes & meta models

19

Part 2

Master techniques for the skills build

34

#8. Technical skills build - focus on connections #9. Teach technical skills via hacks #10. Play single brick metaphor #11. Norm the group to a higher level of listening #12. Tap-&-Tell. Use a ‘pointy’ stick #13. Maintain share and reflect stage discipline

35

38

TEACH HACKS! LEARN HACKS!

#9. Teach technical skills via hacks Some of the really useful kinds of connections, like how to connect a ladder to a base plate, are usually not learnt during a short technical skills build or ‘build from instructions.' So here are three other ways to help groups learn about technical skills or kinds of connection they can make. Build hacks live Using whatever bricks are to hand, either ‘brick soup’ (mixed bricks in the centre of the table) or an Identity and Landscape kit, I build some of the common hacks that participants might find useful.

photo, then ask them to recreate the build. During the share you ask each of them to describe the hack. Learn technical skills from participants If a participant makes a new kind of connection I have not seen before I’ll photograph it and upload it to our graduate-only Slack channel. For instance the skeleton legs are brilliant for connecting all sorts of bricks like this red flexible connector to a single stud. Who knew?! :)

It takes about 5 minutes and if you are using organised bricks, you can talk through what each tray contains at the same time. Share slides of hacks With larger groups it’s not easy to demonstrate live, so showing common hacks on screen is an alternative. You can invite the participants to recreate the hacks with the bricks on their tables. Set a ‘build a hack’ task A final way is to print off photos of hacks, such as the photos opposite, and give each participant a

39

Part 4

Master techniques for facilitating the build #16. Frame the build with the reflection questions #17. Play music #18. Managing build time

50

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

#16. Frame the build with the reflection questions! An American academic called Bill Torbert1 created a model of communication called the four parts of speech. The four parts are: Framing is stating what the purpose is (for the present occasion). Advocating is asserting an option, perception, feeling, or proposal. Illustrating is telling a story to bring the idea being advocated to life. Inquiring is asking others what they think. Good communication balances these four parts, poor communication is when a person or group gets stuck in one or two positions. In meetings, if framing is poor or missing, then people don’t know what the purpose of a task or conversation is. This can be confusing or unsettling. Masterful LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation is aware of the importance of all parts of this model, and we can help lead a group to a useful outcome if we begin or frame the share with the reflection questions we have already prepared (see #4) . This way the group has a context for the share, they know what the purpose of the discussion is and where it will lead to.

Example This example is taken from the same build question shown in technique #2. Before I shared the build question, I said to participants,

“After you have built models that explore what worklife could be like if you had high NPS score, we’ll discuss three questions, Q1. Which ideas do you like the look of? Q2. What might it feel like to work in a high-performing NPS Score team? Q3. What changes are being implied here? What key thing might you have to do to deliver better customer service?” So participants knew the purpose of the build. It was to enable a focussed discussion (that used three parts of the ORID model described in technique #4) on what they might see, feel and do to improve their NPS score.

1. Torbert’s 4 Parts of Speech from Personal and Organizational Transformation by Fisher, Rooke, & Torbert (2000).

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Part 5

Master techniques for facilitating the individual model share

56

#19. Who‘s first? Curiosity from the very start! #20. Repeat the build question #21. Facilitate questions about the model #22. Facilitate the recap, don’t DO the recap #23. Facilitating (and asking) clean questions

57

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BE A FACILITATOR, NOT A TRAINER

#22. Facilitate the recap, don’t DO the recap Recapping helps ensure everyone understands what each others' models mean. It’s an especially important step before shared model building. The trainer-as-facilitator recap A quick story. I was running a training in Abu Dhabi at a large hospital. Our training is practice-based which means after demonstrations from the trainer, the trainees take it in turns to facilitate the group. It was Mike’s turn and he had just facilitated an excellent build> share> reflect process. To conclude he did a recap of what every model meant, and to his credit he got about 85% of it right, though he mumbled over a few parts of some models he could not recall. As he did this, I saw one or two participants zone out. This was the first time I thought about the difference between a trainer and a facilitator. Mike was a highly respected and accomplished trainer and he had ‘taken centre stage’ to show the group how much he had recalled. This was a ‘light bulb moment’ for me, because in seeing him present a recap of the models, forgetting some parts, while others in the group tuned out, made me see the difference in how a facilitator guides a recap process.

The better, facilitator-as-facilitator recap After everyone has shared the stories of their models, you can recap (for shared understanding) by selecting a part of an individual model, tapping a part (perhaps one you can’t remember) and asking someone, who was not the builder, to say what it means... check back in with the builder if the description is right. Next ask, ‘Do we see this idea in anyone else’s model?’ Ask people to point to where the ideas are and physically tap them with a pointy stick. Then repeat this with another part of someone else’s model. In facilitating this recap you will be helping the group identify, through the models, the common themes. Next ask, ‘Are there any ideas that only show up once?' Again, tap each part as it is named. If any description of an idea is unclear, then use technique #27. Finally you might ask if there are any parts of anyone’s model that are unclear. Aim to have everyone understanding every part of every model.

A facilitator is there to facilitate a group's conversation, understanding and insight, not to demonstrate their cleverness.

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Part 6

Master techniques for facilitating shared model building

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#24. Facilitator presence #25. Setting up a shared model build #26. Increase energy for shared model building #27. Recap for shared understanding #28. Facilitate clear and simple meaning #29. Identifying the most important ideas #30. Getting hands on bricks - So show me! #31. The unexpected benefits of LEGO Cam #32. Sharing questions, concerns, reservations #33. Stay on topic #34. Getting to an agreed shared model #35. Post agreement refinement #36. No agreement is better than fake agreement #37. Shared models as inputs for further work

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BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

An introduction to shared model building Facilitating shared model building is harder than facilitating individual model building. It’s a skill a group needs to learn: the ability to construct shared meaning through a simultaneous process of building a physical (and mental) model, as well as talking with each other at the same time. People have to get comfortable with moving parts of each others' models around or in / out of the build, and it requires high levels of concentration to remember what all the bits of each others' models mean. A common behaviour during shared model building is to hear someone suggest a change to the model... but not actually make it. When we facilitate shared models we are constantly giving permission to make changes or edits, especially to those who are not the activists! Our first book, SERIOUSWORK focused mainly on the facilitation of Build Level 1. It was not the intent of this book to be a ‘how-to’ guide for Build Level 2, but the detailed techniques outlined have turned out to be a guide for facilitating shared model building. You’ll recall from the introduction, I make the assumption that readers have been trained in LEGO® Serious Play® so this part is not intended to be an exhaustive ‘how-to’ facilitate shared models. More of a guide to fine-tune, or sharpen skills you already have.

Beware the common mistake... Individual model building always precedes shared model building, and after a recap of what all the parts of individual models mean, people usually flag or highlight their most important idea. The mistake I have seen even trained facilitators make is to begin a shared model by asking everyone to simultaneously place their most important ideas on the big baseplate with no discussion. This is a poor way to begin a shared model, as once things get firmly placed on a baseplate often people are reluctant to move them. Shared model building should always be a verbal and physical process. Shared model mastery - a process overview 1. Ensure the group understands the individual models before beginning (#27 & #28). 2. Establish the rules of shared model building (#25). 3. Try to leave them to it... yet intervene if it becomes too conversational (#24 & #30). 4. Keep them on topic (#33). 5. Mediate the conversation via the model (#25). 6. Legitimise dissent/questions/concerns (#32). 7. Refine the model to address the concerns. 8. Aim for HONEST agreement (#34, #35 & #36).

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KNOWING WHEN TO BE DOMINANT & WHEN TO DISAPPEAR

#24. Facilitator presence As this book gets into the shared model building phase, it’s a good time to think about facilitator presence. Some dictionaries say presence is the “impressive manner or appearance of a person”

Masters of any kind of facilitation know when to ‘show up’ as a dominant presence, and know when to be invisible in a groups' process or work. There are times in a workshop when a facilitator should be centre stage, a commanding presence who has the full attention of every soul in the room, typically when giving instructions or gathering after breaks :) Equally, there are times in a workshop when the best thing a facilitator can do is stand at the back of the room, say and do nothing. Leaving the group to its own conversation or process, typically when the group is making progress in achieving the workshop objectives. In the training courses I run, I have seen trainee facilitators be too dominant and too passive. Overly dominant facilitation In overly dominant facilitation, the facilitator presence is too much, talking over participants, over-facilitating with too many instructions, and

even being the dominant builder in shared model building. When this shows up, it is usually because the facilitator lacks self awareness, they are not aware of their voice, actions and presence and seem not to see the impact they have on a group. Overly passive facilitation In overly passive facilitation a group feels lost, not sure what is happening or where they are in a process, energy dips, and some people ‘check-out’ When this shows up, it's usually because the facilitator lacks self-confidence, not sure if intervening is a good idea or not. It’s a journey of being honest with yourself There is no quick fix to suddenly master presence. Reflective practice (#44), inquiry and feedback help expand self-awareness and build confidence. Paying attention to your own presence, observe the impact you have on a group, and intervene in service of a groups' energy and needs rather than your own needs or insecurities. Overly dominant or passive facilitation can show up in individual model building, but the effects of either of these modes is greater in shared model building. Be honest with yourself about your insecurities or needs. Write them down before an important assignment. This act will help you expand your own self-awareness before and during workshops. 73

Part 7

Other LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation techniques and tips #38. Get the name right! #39. No-Video switching hack #40. Body language and group energy #41. Clearing up afterwards #42. Recording outputs #43. Reflective practice #44. Be authentically you

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HEY, LET'S DO SOME LEGO PLAY!

#38. Get the name right! A real basic. But a surprisingly common thing I hear in almost every training I run, is trainees who get the method's name wrong, I mainly hear:

LEGO® Play

Let’s clarify some terms: LEGO Play: is what children do. Serious Play: is a category of inquiry and innovation methods that includes LEGO Serious Play. Serious LEGO: play not included :(

Serious Play

Serious LEGO Play: is what children do, but really seriously.

Serious LEGO

Serious Work: is the title of the book and the name of a training provider.

Serious LEGO Play

The method is called LEGO® Serious Play®. If we get it wrong it will confuse the living daylights out of the marketplace.

Serious Work

This is what the LEGO Group call it on their website. By the way, the author Sean built that model and took that photo :)

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Part 8

After training: Graduate stories & tips Next, stories of where some of our graduates have used LEGO® Serious Play® after training and the facilitation tips they'd like to share

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DOCUMENT WORKSHOP OUTPUTS & PREPARATION IS KEY!

Taru Uhrman

Kristen Herde

CEO ProStories LOCATION: FINLAND

Founder & CEO YeaHR! LOCATION: GERMANY

I attended LEGO® Serious Play® training in London 2019. Since my training I have facilitated 15 workshops dealing with organizational change, strategy and organizational culture.

As an intervention at a leadership strategy retreat, we facilitated a LEGO® Serious Play® workshop. This was designed to support the leaders of a growing international business define new leadership principles and identify the behaviors that needed to stop in order to deliver on their new strategy. It was amazing to observe how an initially skeptical group quickly embraced the method. It helped break down language and cultural barriers, it enabled open and honest conversations, it ensured every voice was heard and it helped us achieve the session‘s desired outcomes.

In addition to getting people involved and enthusiastic about the topics, the best outcomes are where the participants were able to see how their plans affected other parts of the organization and stakeholders in a systemic process. The absolutely best feedback I have received from my workshops was from a CEO, who at first was hesitant and reluctant towards the whole workshop but in the end said: “These were the best conversations I have had during my entire career. Before this event I had never known the true feelings and thoughts of my staff. You taught me how to conduct a genuine and equal dialogue.” My tip: Document well what the group is talking about. Use different color sticky notes in each part of the build session and write down keywords. Also, take pictures, a lot of pictures. In the end combine the sticky notes and pictures to create a document of the workshop. @TaruUhrman

As an Employer Brand agency, we are now preparing to use the method to find out what it‘s really like to work at a particular company, what makes it truly unique, and what needs to change in order to attract and retain the best employees. Our key learning has been the importance of workshop preparation, particularly in developing exactly the right build questions. An unclear build question confuses builders and often leads to unintended discussions that do not support the original goals of the intervention. linkedin.com/in/kristen-herde-7361352

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SHARE WORKSHOP OUTPUTS & PREPARATION IS KEY

Dr. Praba Kugathasan

Suzanne Trew

Global Head of Digital Services Roche LOCATION: UK

Consulting Director Fx1 Ltd LOCATION: UK

Using LEGO® Serious Play® has helped my team to establish a coherent future state resulting from a strategy that we had previously developed.

I attended a SeriousWork LEGO® Serious Play® training in London in November 2019. Whilst I knew the training was wonderful, the proof has been in the practical application. I’ve facilitated five LEGO Serious Play workshops in the last two months and have been totally blown away by the profound power of the method.

The team gained a strong understanding how their individual contributions and team contributions could support in achieving this end vision. The LEGO Serious Play method has also created quite a buzz across the team, resulting in very high energy levels to implement our strategy. My tip: Take lots of photos and start videoing as early as possible. Capture these into a shareable medium (website or other) soon after the session. We are aiming to share these with the wider company as part of a communications campaign. linkedin.com/in/praba-kugathasan-1354581

Each of these workshops has been a significant catalyst for the team or organisation in question. I’ve helped two charities define strategies, both with a wide range of stakeholders. I’ve used it twice to define visions for Innovation process in large organisations and I’ve used it for team building in a newly formed team. My key learning: As taught, I’ve prepared extensively for each workshop to ensure appropriate outcomes. The feedback has been exceptional, and the outcomes, delivered in limited time frames, almost magical. In a nutshell, the results achieved would not have been possible without the world-class quality of Sean’s training and his generosity in sharing these tools, tips and techniques. linkedin.com/in/suzannetrew

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TRANSFORMING WORK & OVERCOMING SCEPTICS

Holly Henderson

Carmen Li

Senior Lecturer University of Exeter Business School LOCATION: UK

CSM APAC at AMT Training Wilmington Plc LOCATION: Hong Kong

LEGO® Serious Play® transforms my working week and has reimagined and enhanced the learning experience. Since I qualified in April 2019, I have run 48 sessions with groups of 6 to 75 people.

I attended the LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator course on Level 1 & 2 with Sean in Singapore in October 2019.

I have run sessions for students with build questions around leadership, culture, team building, innovation, entrepreneurship, circular economy, operations management, tax avoidance and With Industrial Experience skills. For my colleagues, I have delivered a session to the whole Department creating a vision and run personal tutoring academic skills sessions. I now also teach at the University of Exeter Medical School on the Medical Humanities Special Study Unit and run sessions in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for patients to help improve care. It is really exciting to look at the opportunities that arise and work out how LEGO Serious Play could be used effectively. Key Learning: Don’t be frightened of designing build questions out of your comfort zone, learn from the subject matter experts and embrace it. Pilot new build questions and reflection questions, use the feedback and keep going until you get the clarity and integration to get the desired outcome for the session.

Since then I have facilitated five workshops, three of which were made part of our company's pre-offsite workshop. As I work in a financial training company, my workshops had many of our senior trainers attending and some of them were sceptical about LEGO Serious Play at the beginning of the session however at the end, they came up to me and commented that the method was a surprise to them and they are fascinated about it which made my day. So the impact and outcome that the LEGO Serious Play method had was that even when you come across people that may not think in line with us, by using the LEGO Serious Play method, you can still sync with them. This method gives you a communication channel! linkedin.com/in/carmen-li-a931a135

linkedin.com/in/hollyhendersonphd 113

The best moment, among many moments with LEGO® Serious Play® was, when a quite tough guy opened up, in front of the group, sharing very private events and emotions.

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DEEPER LISTENING & GETTING TO THE CORE ISSUE

Lee Button

Liisa-Maija Malinen

Senior Partner We Are BPG LLP LOCATION: UK

Facilitator Mukamas Learning Design Oy LOCATION: Finland

Since attending the training I've had opportunity to use LEGO® Serious Play® with a variety of clients. In a lot of cases I was getting involved to facilitate workshops where teams had got stuck.

I've found LEGO® Serious Play® to be efficient and good value for invested time for participants. The only challenge has been to convince some clients to give it a try as they "don't want any song and play stuff". However, no one that has tried it has ever been disappointed.

This is where LEGO Serious Play comes into its own! Thanks to expert training from Sean, and community input from other graduates, I've been able to serve these 'stuck' teams well and help them discover options that may have otherwise remained hidden. Beyond the immediate outcomes of a workshop the true impact is seeing teams perform better as a result of the skills they learn. The primary thing being that participants truly begin to listen, and hear one another. As a result, where there may have been tensions and/or misunderstanding the conversations become a lot smoother and progress towards an outcome in less time. My tip: I've found that the keys to a successful workshop are to prepare well and not rush the process. @leebutton

The feedback I most often receive is that participants are amazed by the short time it took to get to the core of the issue. And the fact that working together with the help of the LSP method is fun, is just a great bonus! LSP has proved to be especially valuable at team building workshops and somehow creates a safe environment and encourages openness unlike any other method I have used as a facilitator. Clients often tend to have tight resources when it comes to time. I often get asked if I can hold a (meaningful) goal oriented workshop in 1-2 hours on which occasions I have to decline. My tip: Even though it may be tempting to skip the skills build 1-2 (3) to save time - don't do it. It is important as a warm up to get the group's creativity flowing, in assuring the method's efficiency and partaker's enhanced memory of the discussion. linkedIn.com/in/lmalinen

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UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER BETTER & CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Alexandre Krstic

Paul Brown

A Training Consultant LOCATION: Switzerland

Enterprise Coach LOCATION: UK

Railroad maintenance is a tough business: heavy steel, night shifts, loud noise and flying metal sparks – would they be able or even willing to have a LEGO® Serious Play® experience? The leadership wanted to get the staff to expand their management skills: those tough guys should not only be technical experts, they should also be able to communicate with their staff, contractors, clients and headquarters. When meeting with this client, I suggested using LEGO Serious Play where the staff would tell us what they needed to do, instead of us “pouring ideas” onto them. During the workshops, these blue-collar maintenance workers played along and shared amazing and fun stories. When they built their shared model, they all put emphasis on security, communication and relationship building. The magic was when they gave feedback to the leadership team as well. We used a blended approach where the models served as triggers for best practices we captured and shared on flipcharts. Ultimately, both the staff and the leadership team understood each other better and left with models that act now as reminders of those workshops. linkedin.com/in/alexandrekrstic

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I ran a LEGO® Serious Play® ‘intervention’ with two project teams who had collaborated on a huge project which had failed completely. The business wanted to kick off the project again, but when they put the teams together to re-plan the project, there was open conflict. The senior leadership team were very worried about running a retrospective as they felt it would turn into a very difficult session with more harm than good. I suggested we use LEGO Serious Play to surface the issues in a blame independent way, then build a shared model for how the two teams would work together going forward based on what they learned the first time around. I couldn’t have got this intervention to work without LEGO Serious Play, the level of abstraction between the model and the persons feeling helped the participants have the conversation they needed to have. WOW the project was a huge success, which LEGO Serious Play set them up for :) My learning. LEGO Serious Play is a great tool for conflict resolution! linkedIn.com/in/paulbrowncoach

CREATIVE THINKING & TEAM BUILDING

Alexandra Götzfried

Matthias Bastian

Creactive Development LOCATION: Germany

Deutsche Telekom LOCATION: Germany

I did a lot of research on trainers of the LEGO® Serious Play® method as the market is flooded with all sorts of different providers. What striked me most about Sean's training delivery was the clear focus on immediate application of the learnt knowledge on the course. So this was like jumping in at the deep end, which is the only way to leave your comfort zone and to transform your inert knowledge into experience. And it worked - we swam!

Right after the training I have been able to quickly and easily get people in a LEGO® Serious Play® workshop to share their thoughts on how their team works together, and identify the obstacles that had not been obvious to everyone in the team up to that moment.

When applying the 2 days concentrated know-how in a workshop with payroll accountants, the power of the LEGO Serious Play method fully unfolded, contrary to all my biased concerns on applying the method to accountants. On asking, how giving the lego bricks metaphorical meaning worked out for the employees, I got the answer that it was easier than they thought. I felt relieved and was happy that I had paid special attention on skills building during our course - one of the keys to a successful LEGO Serious Play workshop. The day was a huge success and the team found new ways of collaboration. What made me happiest was the feedback of one of the participants: "I had never thought in my life that there is so much creativity in accountants!"

The training helped me to plan the session in detail and with the right objectives, so I could really concentrate on the participants and help them to "let their models talk". My key learning is about asking the right reflection questions, the training helped me a lot, not only for LEGO Serious Play workshops but also in facilitating meetings in general. I got quite some confidence so I could spontaneously provide a Barcamp Session on LEGO Serious Play during an Agile Coaching Curriculum and thereby "spread the word". I would encourage everyone who is interested in using LEGO Serious Play to attend one of your trainings because it's hands on and really prepares you for the job as facilitator rather than only giving you the theory behind it. linkedin.com/in/matthias-bastian

linkedin.com/in/alexandra-götzfried-0abb35175

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Part 9

Now what? Learn more! Build Level 3: System models We need to talk about certification Gain your competency based certification Further reading Contact

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BEYOND THE FOUNDATION BUILD LEVELS...

Now what? Learn more! At the outset of this book my aim was to give trained facilitators of LEGO® Serious Play® techniques to deliver masterful Build Level 1: Individual models and Build Level 2: Shared models workshops. I hope you’ll use some or all of these techniques and get terrific feedback from successful facilitated workshops. This last part seeks to give you further resources for learning more. Build Level 3: Facilitation of system models Part 9 briefly covers our way of teaching Build Level 3, System Models. Our approach is to gain insight during the build of a system model, then to use the system model for what Johan Roos calls the "Transformation phase, when people change their views and discover aha and wow experiences1". We need to talk about certification and higher levels of certification In this part I offer honest reflection on what short-course certification means and introduce you to a way to gain a higher level of LEGO Serious Play certification. 1.

From “How It All Began: The Origins Of LEGO® Serious Play®” by Johan Roos and Bart Victor 2018

Returning to the wellspring of original research If you have got this far in the book, you're probably interested in being a gold-standard, professional facilitator, in which case we’d suggest it's good to return to the original research and writing by the clever people who invented LEGO Serious Play. The thinking and research underpinning LEGO Serious Play is vast, and I offer you links to access the original research materials. A recent 2018 paper “How it all began - The origins of LEGO® Serious Play®” written by Johan Roos and Bart Victor, helps clarify the ‘conflicting stories about the origins of the theory, development, and applications of LEGO Serious Play.' In this paper they rightly say:

As the originators of the idea, concept, and initial product more than two decades ago, we have seen the LEGO Serious Play method evolve beyond our wildest imagination. Yet, I'm sure the LEGO Serious Play journey has only just begun, in the ever more uncertain times we live in the power and potential of LEGO Serious Play combined with other frameworks, has to my mind, huge untapped potential. Let the learning continue!

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FACILITATING SMALL GROUPS IN COMPLEX WORKSHOPS

Build Level 3: Facilitating system model workshops Build Level 3 workshops allows LEGLEGO® Serious Play® facilitators to take small groups through multi-day workshops to explore systemic issues.

Build Level 3 has many benefits, usually for senior executives on certain kinds of project. But it has two limits. 1. The group size has to be small, 2. The duration really needs to be longer than one day.

These limits mean most LEGO Serious Play workshops that take place all over the world, everyday are build levels 1 and 2. As covered in the introduction, it's not the aim of this book to cover the facilitation of considerably more complex, build level 3 system workshops. How can I learn to facilitate Build Level 3? If you're an untrained facilitator, and are asking this, let me suggest it might not be the right first question. A better first question is: Do I have the need or opportunity to facilitate Build Level 3? When prospective students come to us and ask if they need a four day training, we always ask:

a) what will be the duration of most of the workshops you will facilitate?, and b) what group size do you intend to facilitate? IF the answer to a) is, most or all workshops will be a few hours to a day in duration, THEN, they will only ever have time to get to Build Level 2. IF the answer to b) is, over 20-30 people, THEN they will only ever have capacity to get to Build Level 2, you can’t physically get 40 people round a system model!

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LEARNING BUILD LEVEL 3 How can I learn to facilitate Build Level 3? However, if you do have the opportunity to facilitate small groups in multi-day workshops, (and if you're trained already or not), it’s useful to re-frame the original approach to teaching build level three with its main focus on an application called Real Time Strategy. Instead we find it more helpful to think of Build Level 3 as a systems thinking application. What is systems thinking? It's a way of thinking that gives us the freedom to identify root causes of problems and see new opportunities. And happily, LEGO Serious Play allows us to make that thinking visible. The next obvious question is what is a system?

BL3: INSIGHT

Use the System Model Insight, strategies, actions, learning

BL3: INTERCONNECTIONS COHERENTLY ORGANISED

Build a System

BL3: ELEMENTS

Build Agents

BL1/1 ACHIEVE SOMETHING

Establish a Shared View of a Future State

Build Level 3 application design

A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organised in a way that achieves something1 . We teach build level three facilitators to unlock insight with LEGO Serious Play by progressing through the four stages shown on the diagram opposite.

We also teach application development. We show our students our formula for going beyond the original ‘Real Time Strategy’ application, in order to use the insight stage to address the challenges the clients face, (not simply going through the Real Time Strategy process, regardless of wheather meets the clients needs).

In our practice, as professional facilitators, we focus not so much on facilitating the build stage, (that’s not so hard), but instead on facilitating what we call the insight stage2, using the system model, to understand the challenge unique to each group.

If you want to learn Build Level 3, and learn our masters techniques for facilitating this stage, as well as techniques for Build Level 1 and 2 that are not covered in this book, come on our advanced training.

1.

Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems Roos & Victor call this the "Transformation phase, when people change their views and discover aha and wow experiences" (2018)

2.

You’ll find more information about that, at this link: http://bit.ly/Advanced-LSP

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A SHORT TRAINING DOES NOT DEMONSTRATE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

We need to talk about certification... Attending a short LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation training course gives attendees a ‘certificate of completion.' This certificate proves that participants attended, but does it not demonstrate facilitation competency. When we designed our training we tried to address this ‘competency gap’ by including the requirement for our trainees to actually facilitate their first workshop during the training. This enables us to see our students put what they have learnt into practice, and it really helps them build their confidence :) As such, we believe our certificates are the highest standard in the marketplace. However, these also do not represent a competency based, client validated and peer reviewed certification, like the IAF 1 ‘Certified™ Professional Facilitator’ assessment.

Accordingly, we've developed a certification process to enable facilitators, who have gained facilitation competence through practice, to stand out. Experienced facilitators can have their skill assessed and validated. After this certification, they can then evidence a higher standard of LEGO Serious Play facilitation competency to clients. This distinction means facilitators deliver outcomes, not workshops. A professional qualification, for professionals

Many graduates of LEGO Serious Play trainings proudly state they are ‘Certified Facilitators of LEGO Serious Play Method and Materials’ on their websites, LinkedIn profiles or business cards.

This facilitation competencies framework is only for trained facilitators of LEGO Serious Play. It awards successful candidates a "Certified™ Professional Facilitator of LEGO® Serious Play® Method and Materials" designation.

But let's be honest. We all know that this certification does not represent a ‘quality or competency’ mark or endorsement, and there is a highly variable level of skill in the community of 'certified' facilitators.

This assessment is based on the IAF 6 core competencies. To qualify for this certificate it is expected that you will have considerable experience in delivering outcomes. You are likely to have been practicing for over a year, and you are likely to have delivered over 25 workshops, though these numbers alone do not demonstrate competency.

1.

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A higher standard is possible, and needed

International Association of Facilitators

GAIN A HIGHER LEVEL OF CERTIFICATION

An overview of the competency based certification The process involves an initial application to ensure you have potential to pass the assessment. Then you provide evidence through an online application. After assessors have reviewed and qualified your submission, you will be invited to attend an interview panel (online) with facilitators who are both IAF and LEGO® Serious Play® Certified™ Professional Facilitators. The application asks you for the following evidence: Section 1 asks for your contact details and date you trained in LEGO Serious Play. Section 2 asks for your facilitation experience in numbers. Section 3 asks you to provide 6 assignments. CORE to this assessment are 6 verification assignments, of which one will also include a detailed case study. Section 4 asks you to provide a detailed case study on your best assignment to date. Section 5 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency A - How you 'Create Collaborative Client Relationships.' Section 6 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency B - How you 'Plan Appropriate Group Processes.'

Section 7 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency C - How you 'Create and Sustain a Participatory Environment.' Section 8 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency D - How you 'Guide Groups to Appropriate and Useful Outcomes.' Section 9 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency E - How you 'Build and Maintain Professional Knowledge.' Section 10 asks you to provide evidence for IAF Competency F - How you 'Model a Positive Professional Attitude.' If you pass, you will then be awarded your qualification and join an exclusive community. If you still need to do work to pass, you will receive feedback in support of a later recertification. Successful candidates are listed on a professional facilitators-only website and you may use your professional designation on your own communication materials. Read more or begin your application at https:// www.serious.global/certified-professionals We aim for this certificate to carry a University accreditation by the end of 2020.

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Part 10

Appendices

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO HELP YOU MASTER LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® :)

#A1. Outcomes not meetings #A2. Sample workshop plan #A3. A one hour workshop plan #A4. Skills build facilitation notes #A5. LEGO® Serious Play® Etiquette #A6. LEGO® Serious Play® Trademark Guidelines

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#A1. Outcomes not meetings

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#A1 - Outcomes not Meetings This is a reprint of part 2, ‘Outcomes not Meetings’ from our first book, SERIOUSWORK. In training I often say this is the most important section, and it has nothing to do with LEGO. Reprinted here as a courtesy to those who have not bought our first book.

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MASTERING THE LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® METHOD 44 Facilitation Techniques FOR TRAINED LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® FACILITATORS Written & designed by SEAN BLAIR

This book is about mastery of LEGO® Serious Play®. Mastery through attending to tiny techniques, the small things that LEGO Serious Play facilitators can do to plan, facilitate and deliver professional workshops. The 44 techniques in this book will help LEGO Serious Play facilitators at every stage of a workshop, from the vital planning stage to facilitating the LEGO Serious Play skills build. From facilitating individual model building and shared model building to recording outputs and learning more about this brilliant method. The book also has 18 graduate stories that show how and where LEGO Serious Play facilitators are using the method after training and graduates share their tips for planning and running workshops. The book outlines how to gain a higher degree of competency based certification: a Certified™ Professional Facilitator of LEGO® Serious Play® Method and Materials.

The appendices have additional resources and examples to help readers prepare and deliver gold standard workshops. Sean Blair is an award winning facilitator, with 30 years experience helping organisations innovate, learn and grow. Sean founded ProMeet, and he works globally with some of the world’s best known organisations. He also leads SeriousWork, a gold standard LEGO Serious Play facilitation training business, the only one designed with practice-based learning as a core idea or simple guiding principle. This is his second book about facilitating with the LEGO Serious Play method

PUBLISHED BY PROMEET