Building Brilliance for Creative Problem Solving (video)

In today’s fast-moving business landscape, abstract and complex challenges demand more than stale conference room brainstorming. True innovation requires methodologies that engage the whole brain, level the playing field, and transform intangible problems into concrete, workable models.

Recently, John Golden’s Expert Inside Interview featured Jolynn Ledgerwood, a learning and development guru with over 25 years of experience in organizational transformation. Her specialty? The globally recognized, powerful methodology known as LEGO Serious Play (LSP).

Jolynn’s insights, honed across diverse sectors from automotive to hospitality, reveal LSP’s profound ability to enhance team collaboration, spark creative problem-solving, and drive effective business strategy. Here is an expert deep-dive into this hands-on, highly effective approach.

What Makes LEGO Serious Play a Game-Changer?

At its core, LSP is a carefully facilitated process where individuals and teams use specially curated LEGO kits to construct physical, metaphorical models. This is far beyond casual play; it is a structured, purposeful endeavor designed to surface deep, often subconscious, ideas.

LSP is particularly effective for:

• Strategic Planning: Visualizing abstract visions and complex roadmaps.
• Organizational Development: Breaking down stubborn internal silos.
• Solving Ambiguous Problems: Making fuzzy concepts tangible and discussable.
• Boosting Employee Engagement: Ensuring every voice is heard and valued.

Jolynn emphasizes that while the bricks are familiar, the structured method is the secret sauce for unlocking genuine, meaningful dialogue.

The Four Pillars of the LSP Method

The entire process hinges on a four-step framework that ensures maximum participation and insight:

1. Pose a Powerful Question: The facilitator sets the stage with an open-ended, thought-provoking prompt—for example, “What does the biggest obstacle to our market growth look like?” The key is encouraging metaphorical thinking.
2. b>Build – Active Participation is Mandatory: Every person, regardless of title or background, constructs a model representing their answer. This intentional, physical engagement—the “hard play”—activates a significantly larger portion of the brain, a crucial factor for deeper learning and memory retention.
3. Share and Explain: Participants articulate the meaning of their models. This step is non-judgmental; the builder owns the interpretation. A good facilitator uses questions like, “Tell us the story of this piece,” to encourage deeper reflection.
4. Reflect and Deepen: The group discusses the shared models, seeking connections, asking respectful questions, and uncovering hidden assumptions. This is where the true strategic “Aha!” moments emerge.

Key Benefits for Modern Teams

Jolynn’s experience highlights the transformative, nuanced advantages of using LSP:

• Engaging All Personality Types: LSP is the ultimate leveler. Introverts can articulate complex ideas visually, reducing the pressure of spontaneous speech, while extroverts channel their energy into detailed storytelling.
• Unlocking Subconscious Insights: The act of building physically accesses thoughts and emotions that may be difficult to put into words. Jolynn recalls how a simple element like a colored brick or a minifigure’s stance often sparks a major realization about leadership or team collaboration.
• Fostering Mutual Respect: When teams merge individual models into a shared construct, they practice negotiation, compromise, and alignment on priorities. They must literally build a shared future together, fostering respect for diverse viewpoints.
• Reducing Distraction: Using hands-on tools like LEGO or even simple Play-Doh (as Jolynn suggests) keeps participants engaged and reduces the ubiquitous distraction of phones, allowing content to “stick” more effectively.

Actionable Advice for Leaders

Leaders interested in implementing LSP should heed Jolynn’s practical recommendations:

• Participate Fully: A leader’s willingness to build and share signals vulnerability and trust, reinforcing the idea that every voice matters.
• Embrace Skepticism: Many adults are initially wary. Encourage them to simply try the first few building exercises; the methodology’s power quickly wins them over.
• Focus on Dialogue, Not Artifacts: The insights are the value, not the physical models. Take photos, but remember the goal is to spark conversations, not create permanent sculptures.

LEGO Serious Play is a powerful, research-backed tool that moves teams beyond surface-level talk into deep, creative problem-solving. By making the abstract concrete, it fundamentally changes how organizations approach their most complex challenges.