Why LEGO® Serious Play® works: Building belonging through authenticity and psychological safety
This is part 3 of a four-part series on why LEGO® Serious Play® works.
Read Part 1 here: The cognitive foundations.
Read Part 2 here: The power of metaphor and equal voice.
In Parts 1 and 2, we explored the cognitive science that makes LEGO® Serious Play® effective for individual learning, and the communication mechanisms (metaphor and equal voice) that transform how groups interact. But something even more fundamental happens when these elements combine: they create the cultural conditions for genuine belonging.
This is where the methodology moves beyond being a facilitation technique and becomes a way of building the relational foundation that organizations need for sustainable change. Two elements are particularly critical: the authenticity that emerges through play, and the psychological safety that the process actively builds.
Play, authenticity, and belonging: Bringing out the best self
The playful nature of LEGO® Serious Play® serves a critical function: it creates conditions for authenticity, which is foundational to a sense of belonging. Research on organizational play has identified authenticity and belongingness as core perspectives of how play functions in workplace settings (Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006). When people engage in play, they are more likely to express their true selves rather than conforming to perceived expectations.
Authenticity at work, the degree to which individuals express their true selves, values, and beliefs in professional settings, has emerged as a critical contributor to employee well-being, organizational culture, and productivity. When employees feel safe to express their authentic selves, they experience reduced psychological stress, increased job satisfaction, and greater alignment between their personal and work values (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Research consistently shows that authenticity is linked to higher engagement, better performance, and lower turnover.
However, authenticity requires more than just individual courage. It requires environmental conditions that make it safe and acceptable to be oneself. This is where belonging becomes crucial. My research on internal communication and belonging at work found that authenticity is a fundamental building block of belonging, one of the core elements that enables people to feel they truly belong in their workplace (Verschuur, 2021). As other research demonstrates, belonging is what allows employees to feel like they can be their authentic selves without fear of different treatment or punishment (Shore et al., 2011). The relationship is bidirectional: when people feel they belong, they are more likely to show up authentically, and when they show up authentically, their sense of belonging deepens.
This relationship between play, authenticity, and belonging is what I call “authentic teaming”, the phenomenon where playful engagement enables team members to show up as their true selves, creating the foundation for genuine collaboration and shared purpose. In authentic teaming, the barriers between professional persona and personal authenticity dissolve, allowing teams to access their full collective intelligence and humanity.
LEGO® Serious Play® creates this virtuous cycle through the power of play. The playful, hands-on nature of building with LEGO® bricks lowers defenses and reduces the anxiety associated with self-disclosure. Participants often report feeling surprised by how quickly they open up and share personal insights during workshops. One participant in a diversity and inclusion workshop I facilitated noted, “I am surprised that I can be creative so quickly and share more than usual” (Verschuur, 2024).
This rapid movement toward authenticity happens because play creates a different emotional context, one that feels safer, more exploratory, and less judgmental. There’s something disarming about sitting at a table with LEGO® bricks. The usual workplace posturing falls away. People smile, they get curious, they take risks they wouldn’t normally take.
The use of metaphor further supports authentic expression. By building symbolic representations rather than speaking directly about sensitive topics, participants can explore their true thoughts and feelings with a layer of psychological distance. This allows them to express what matters most without feeling overly vulnerable. As they share the stories behind their models, they reveal not a carefully curated professional persona, but their genuine perspectives, values, and experiences.
Research on belonging in the workplace consistently identifies the ability to be authentic as one of the top drivers of belonging. Studies show that feeling free to be oneself at work is a fundamental component of belonging, and when this authenticity is fostered, organisations see improvements in retention, engagement, creativity, and overall wellbeing (Shore et al., 2011). Moreover, authenticity is particularly important for individuals from marginalised or underrepresented groups, for whom the pressure to conform or suppress aspects of identity can be especially taxing.
Through its combination of play, equal participation, and metaphorical expression, LEGO® Serious Play® creates rare conditions where authenticity can flourish across all participants. The methodology brings out what researchers call the “best self”, not a perfect self, but an authentic one that can contribute fully, connect genuinely, and belong completely.
Creating psychological safety: The foundation for fearless collaboration
Authenticity needs psychological safety to thrive. Psychological safety, what Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson defines as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking” (Edmondson, 1999, p. 354), has emerged as one of the most critical factors in team effectiveness, innovation, and organisational learning.
Psychological safety matters because it determines whether people feel comfortable speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without fear of being punished or humiliated (Edmondson, 2018). In teams lacking psychological safety, valuable knowledge remains hidden, errors go unreported, and innovation stalls. Research has shown that better teams don’t necessarily make fewer mistakes. They’re simply more willing and able to discuss them (Edmondson, 1999).
LEGO® Serious Play® creates psychological safety through three key mechanisms:
Focus on models, not people: The methodology shifts focus from the person to the model. When discussing a LEGO® construction rather than directly challenging someone’s opinion, conversations become less personal and more exploratory (Wheeler, Passmore, & Gold, 2020). I’ve seen heated topics become productive conversations because people can say “I notice this model shows tension here” rather than “You’re creating tension.”
Play reduces perceived stakes: The playful nature of building with LEGO® bricks reduces the perceived stakes of contribution. Research on LSP has found that participants experience a sense of emotional security during workshops, reporting that they feel safe to express thoughts they might otherwise hesitate to share (Dijks, 2018).
Built-in reflection time: The structured process ensures that everyone builds before anyone shares, eliminating the anxiety of having to respond spontaneously or compete for airtime. This creates what participants describe as a “brave space” where vulnerability and authenticity are not only possible but expected.
Research examining the impact of LSP on team dynamics has documented significant improvements in psychological safety following workshops. One study found that participants reported tangible changes in how they collaborate and engage with colleagues, with effects sustained six weeks after the intervention (Wheeler et al., 2020). Participants described developing empathy for others, gaining new perspectives, and experiencing a deeper sense of trust within their teams.
The connection between LEGO® Serious Play® and psychological safety also supports inclusion. As research has demonstrated, psychological safety is particularly important for individuals who have been historically marginalized or underrepresented in workplace settings (Edmondson & Bransby, 2023).
By creating conditions where every voice is heard and valued, LSP helps organisations move beyond tokenistic inclusion toward genuine belonging.
The foundation for co-creation
In my research on belonging in the virtual workplace, I’ve found that internal communication can design for belonging when it prioritises activities that help people learn about their organisation, their colleagues, and their shared culture. LEGO® Serious Play® does exactly this. It creates intensive moments of learning about each other, surfacing what we care about, how we see challenges, and what we bring to the collective endeavor.
When authenticity and psychological safety are present, something transformative becomes possible: genuine co-creation. Not just collaborative work or group brainstorming, but the deep, relational work of building something together: solutions, strategies, and most importantly, the trust and belonging that make implementation possible.
In Part 4, we’ll explore what co-creation really means, why it matters for positive change, and how LEGO® Serious Play® creates the conditions for co-creation that builds lasting impact.
- Dijks, W. (2018). Play well: Constructing creative confidence with LEGO® Serious Play® [Doctoral dissertation].
- Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
- Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
- Edmondson, A. C., & Bransby, D. P. (2023). Psychological safety comes of age: Observed themes in an established literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10, 55-78.
- Mainemelis, C., & Ronson, S. (2006). Ideas are born in fields of play: Towards a theory of play and creativity in organizational settings. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27, 81-131.
- Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press.
- Shore, L. M., Randel, A. E., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., Holcombe Ehrhart, K., & Singh, G. (2011). Inclusion and diversity in work groups: A review and model for future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1262-1289.
- Verschuur, C. (2021). Internal communication and belonging at work [Master’s thesis]. RSM Erasmus University.
- Verschuur, C. (2024). Building an inclusive workplace with LEGO® Serious Play®. Good Comms. https://goodcomms.nl/bouwen-aan-een-inclusieve-werkplek-met-lego-serious-play/
- Wheeler, S., Passmore, J., & Gold, R. (2020). All to play for: LEGO® Serious Play® and its impact on team cohesion, collaboration and psychological safety in organisational settings using a coaching approach. Journal of Work-Applied Management, 12(2), 141-157.
