What to expect in a LEGO® Serious Play® workshop
If you’ve never experienced a LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) workshop, you might be wondering what actually happens. Will I need to be creative? What if I’m not good at building? What will we achieve? These are common questions I hear from participants before their first session.
Having facilitated LSP workshops across organizations – from strategy sessions and culture-building to diversity and inclusion work – I want to demystify the experience. Here’s what you can actually expect when you join a LEGO® Serious Play® workshop.
Before the workshop: Setting the stage
You don’t need any special skills. Seriously. You don’t even need to have played with LEGO® as a child. The methodology is designed to work for everyone, regardless of experience or comfort level with hands-on activities.
Come with an open mind. The most important thing you can bring is curiosity and willingness to try something different. If you’re skeptical, that’s okay too! I’ve seen many skeptics become enthusiastic advocates after experiencing the process firsthand.
Expect to be surprised. Most participants are amazed by what emerges during the workshop. Ideas you didn’t know you had. Connections you hadn’t seen before. (There’s scientific explanation for this.) Understanding of colleagues that changes how you work together.
The physical setup: Your workspace
When you arrive, you’ll find:
Table/s with LEGO® bricks: Not the sets you build from instructions, but collections of diverse pieces in various colors, shapes, and sizes. These aren’t toys. They’re sophisticated tools designed specifically for the LSP methodology.
Your personal space: Each participant has their own building area. You’ll have access to enough bricks to build whatever you need to express your thinking.
A facilitated environment: I’ll guide the entire process, providing questions, managing time, and ensuring everyone participates fully. You don’t need to worry about what to do next. The structure is clear and supportive.
The warm-up: Getting comfortable
We always start with a warm-up exercise. These serve multiple purposes:
Building confidence: Simple, playful challenges like “build the tallest tower you can in 60 seconds” help you get comfortable with the bricks and realise you can do this.
Leveling the playing field: Everyone starts together, regardless of their role or seniority. The CEO builds the same tower exercise as the intern.
Introducing metaphor: You’ll begin to see how physical models can represent abstract concepts. For instance, you might build a tower representing your strengths, then explain what each element means.
These warm-ups typically last 15-30 minutes and completely shift the energy in the room. Laughter emerges. People relax. The usual meeting dynamics start to dissolve.
The core process: The 4Cs
The heart of every LSP workshop follows a consistent rhythm that I call the 4Cs: Challenge, Construct, Connect, and Capture. This framework guides everything we do together.
*The 4Cs framework is my own creation but it is based on the same process I learned during my certification program.
I pose a question relevant to your workshop goals. This is the challenge that frames your thinking. Examples:
- “Build a model of your ideal team”
- “What does successful collaboration look like for you?”
- “What barriers are preventing you from achieving our goals?”
- “Build your vision for your organisation in three years”
The questions progress throughout the workshop, building on previous insights and going deeper into your topic.
You’ll have dedicated time (typically 3-10 minutes depending on question complexity; for the landscape process, this can last 30-45 minutes) to build your response. During this time:
Everyone builds in silence. This protected thinking time ensures introverts and those who process differently have equal opportunity to develop their thoughts.
You build with your hands, not your words. Don’t overthink it. Let your hands guide you. Many participants report their hands “know” what to build before their conscious mind does. I also add in all the workshops I lead to “not have a meeting with yourself”. It usually cracks people up.
Your model is metaphorical. You’re not building literal representations. If you build a bridge, it might represent connection. If you add a transparent brick, it might symbolise clarity. The meaning is yours to determine. I have seen participants add open doors to symbolise open communication or add a window to symbolise an exit plan.
Once everyone has built, each person shares their model. I call this part Connect because this is the part where participants share stories about their builds, and themselves, and stories connect people more than they will ever know:
You tell the story of your model. Not “I built this because…” but “This model shows…” The focus stays on the model, not you personally, which creates psychological safety.
Everyone listens actively. No interrupting, no judging, no “yes, but…” Just genuine listening to understand each person’s perspective.
Time is equitable. Everyone gets the same amount of time to share. No one dominates. No one gets overlooked.
This is where the magic happens. You hear perspectives you’ve never heard before. You see patterns and connections emerge. Understanding deepens.
After everyone shares, we capture insights and explore together:
Asking questions for clarity: “Can you say more about this yellow piece?” “What’s the significance of having this figure at the top?”
Identifying patterns: “I notice several models show distance between teams. Let’s explore that.”
Building connections: “How does your model relate to what Sarah shared?”
Co-creating insights: The group begins to synthesize understanding and identify implications.
Capturing literally: By taking pictures and asking participants to add notes to their builds, the moment is frozen and captured to last.
What it feels like: The experience
Participants consistently describe certain feelings during LSP workshops:
Initial awkwardness → Flow: The first few minutes might feel uncomfortable if you’re not used to hands-on activities. But within 15-20 minutes, most people enter a state of flow: fully engaged, time disappearing, anxieties fading.
“I didn’t know I thought that”: You’ll surprise yourself. Building with your hands accesses knowledge and intuition that purely verbal discussion doesn’t reach.
Safe to be honest: The combination of metaphor, focus on models rather than people, and equal participation creates unusual psychological safety. People share things they wouldn’t typically voice in regular meetings.
Energised, not drained: Despite being intensive, LSP workshops tend to energise rather than exhaust participants. The hands-on nature, the creativity, and the genuine connection create positive energy.
Seen and heard: Perhaps most importantly, participants consistently report feeling truly heard. Maybe for the first time in their organisation.
What you'll take away: Tangible outcomes
Different workshops have different goals, but you’ll typically leave with:
Shared understanding: A common language and framework for talking about your challenges, opportunities, or vision. This shared understanding becomes the foundation for aligned action.
Visual documentation: Photos of individual models and shared constructions that capture insights in ways words alone cannot. These become reference points for your ongoing work.
Concrete insights and actions: Not just abstract discussion, but specific, actionable insights about what needs to change, what to prioritise, or how to move forward.
Strengthened relationships: Deeper understanding of colleagues’ perspectives, values, and ways of thinking. Increased trust and connection that continues beyond the workshop.
Energy for change: Rather than leaving a meeting feeling depleted or skeptical, participants typically leave LSP workshops feeling energised and committed to next steps.
Common concerns addressed
“I’m not creative”: You don’t need to be. The methodology works precisely because it doesn’t require artistic skill. Your hands and the structure of the process do the work.
“This seems childish”: It might look playful, but the conversations that emerge are anything but childish. The play creates safety for the serious work.
“Will my ideas be taken seriously?”: Yes. The equal voice structure and focus on models rather than people ensures every perspective is valued equally, regardless of your role or seniority.
“What if I don’t want to share?”: The facilitated process makes sharing feel safe and structured. And I’ve found that even the most reluctant participants engage once they see how the process works.
“Will this actually lead to action?”: LSP workshops are designed for outcomes, not just experience. The insights generated are concrete and actionable, and the shared ownership created makes implementation more likely.
Different types of workshops
While the core process remains consistent, LSP workshops can be designed for different purposes and timeframes:
Half-day workshops (3-4 hours): Ideal for focused topics like team dynamics, specific challenges, or initial vision work.
Full-day workshops (4-6 hours): Allow for deeper exploration, more complex topics, or multiple related questions. Often used for strategic planning or significant change initiatives.
Multi-session programs: Some topics benefit from multiple shorter sessions over time, allowing for reflection and action between sessions.
Virtual/hybrid adaptations: While LSP works best in person, I’ve also adapted the methodology for virtual and hybrid settings, particularly important for distributed teams.
Is LSP right for your team?
LEGO® Serious Play® works particularly well when:
- You’re working on topics where there’s no single “right answer”
- You need diverse perspectives to solve complex problems
- You want to build psychological safety and trust within your team
- You want everyone’s voice to be heard, not just the usual contributors
- You’re addressing sensitive topics that need a safe framework for discussion
- Traditional meetings haven’t generated the insights or alignment you need
It’s less suitable when:
- You need quick tactical decisions that don’t require deep exploration
- The outcome is predetermined and you’re just seeking buy-in (LSP is for genuine co-creation)
- Participants aren’t willing to try something different
Ready to experience it?
The best way to understand LEGO® Serious Play® is to experience it. Reading about it only takes you so far. The methodology reveals its power in the doing.
If you’re curious about how LSP could work for your team, challenge, or organisation, I’d love to talk. We can explore whether it’s the right fit for your needs and design a workshop that serves your specific goals.
Curious about bringing LEGO® Serious Play® to your organization? Book an exploratory call to discuss how we can design a workshop that meets your team’s needs.
Want to learn more about why LSP works? Read my four-part series:
