I haven’t wanted to advertise that I’m a certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator. It’s not because I’m modest, it’s because I didn’t want it to be a focal point to talk about when I tell people what I do. However, I’ve been learning that once I do mention this particular tool I use in my coaching practice, I always hear “Wow, that’s amazing! Tell me more about that!”

As an Empowerment Coach, I use several tools in my practice, one of them being LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®.  You might well ask, “What’s LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and how in the heck does it fit into coaching for adults?”

The original definition of LSP is “The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method (LSP) is a facilitated thinking, communication and problem solving technique for use with organizations, teams and individuals. It draws on extensive research from the fields of business, organizational development, psychology and learning, and is based on the concept of “hand knowledge.”  LSP was first introduced to corporations as a team building exercise, a way to create strategies to provide answers to business problems or to generate creative ideas. When I saw how effective it was to introduce play into learning, I became a certified LSP Facilitator when I was coaching leadership and teams in my last corporate position as a Coach. When I left the corporate world, I had no idea I could use this tool anywhere else…but I found out that my work wasn’t done!

For coaching, LSP is a powerful tool that can help clients to explore their thoughts and feelings, identify their goals, and develop strategies to achieve them. In my own practice, I ask specific questions that can be answered by creating a build that becomes a metaphor for the client to either tell a story or create meaningful strategies for themselves. There’s a specific way to ask the questions and the client has a short period of time to create their build so they don’t overthink the answer. The fact that our hands are connected to our brains 70-80% of the time, we can build as fast as we think (or faster). If you’ve ever watched a child build something out of LEGO®, it may not look like what they say it is, but when they explain it, it makes perfect sense! This is because each brick can represent ANYTHING we want it to!

I love this tool because it allows my clients to open up more, be more comfortable about what they’re telling me and allows them to “see” what they want to include in their life.