Model your ideas with the Lego Serious Play method

The Lego Serious Play method enables participants to tell stories through Lego models. Facilitators ask open-ended, complex questions with no single answer, encouraging each participant to express his or her point of view in a tangible way, through a story. Once the ideas are on the table, the other participants can interact with the models and explain their point of view. Julie Solbreux, pedagogical coordinator at the EMCP Faculty (Economics, Management, Communication and Political Science), emphasizes that this methodology enables participants to take a step back and reflect collectively on shared ideas, and encourages the construction and modeling of thought, by offering a space to speak free of judgment. "It's a point of view that existed at a given time, but it's not the absolute truth or the person from whom the idea emanates that is stigmatized.", she points out.

François-Xavier Fievez adds that this method is part of a wider variety of methods known as "floating objects", tools that facilitate the embodiment of ideas in concrete objects. "Rather than confronting people through simple language, however abstract, we'll go through an object that lends itself to construction, deconstruction and modification. With the Lego method, the idea is to go much further in search of each person's conceptions and buried ideas: it's a question of bringing the mind down into the hands and building one's thoughts at the same time as building something.", he explains. In this way, the Lego models enable thoughts to be clarified for oneself and for others, while remaining available on the table for later modification. This enables continuous, collective reflection. "In short, we're learning on several levels: we're learning to work together, to discover each other, and at the same time, we're working on a problem.", adds Julie Solbreux.

Although students are often skeptical of the Lego method at the start of class sessions, Julie Solbreux and François-Xavier Fievez insist that they come to appreciate the richness of the exercise. This method reveals the creativity of the participants and reinforces group cohesion.

"During my thesis, I observed that generally, a group of friends will get together to work together and only then agree on the subject to be analyzed. Right from the start, the group has very divergent ideas and ends up voting on which topic to tackle. But, inevitably, only a few people in the group are interested. This means that, at the slightest obstacle, those who didn't choose the topic are absolved of all responsibility for the problem, and the person who came up with the idea quickly becomes the leader. To counter this problem, I decided to apply the Lego Serious Play method during my seminars. This means I first ask the students what interests them, then group them by theme and get them to work together. By constructing the problem in this way, I have teams that function better over time: they are more cohesive and actively defend the ideas developed at the start of the seminar.", illustrates Julie Solbreux.

François-Xavier Fievez, too, believes that the Lego Serious Play method bears fruit during his sessions. "In the method, there are different processes including the warm-up. The very first instruction is to build a tower. What I like about this stage is taking time to show students that it never happens that two people build the same thing. For example, person A will have a building criterion based on height, while for another person, it will be based on solidity, or beauty, etc. This helps explain that we've got a lot to learn. This helps to explain that we all have a totally different grid of reality, and that otherness is always present. As a result, when we tackle extremely complex subjects, the reasons why we disagree don't mean that it's because our ideas are good or bad, but because we don't enter through the same doors. And so, we have to do some work to understand which door a person enters through, and bring some thought to it. Each time, everyone is astonished by this observation. As if, in disagreement, we can't finally clash".

Working as facilitators allows Francois- Xavier Fievez and Julie Solbreux to continually discuss and explore the possibilities offered by the Lego method. They find that this approach fosters collective intelligence, exemplified by idea modeling and team dynamics. Combining individual models into a coherent whole highlights the power of collaboration. What's more, the Lego method allows students to demonstrate creativity, something they feel they don't have in academia. "Bringing these toys also allows them to disconnect with what we usually do and reconnect with what they think, who they are etc. It's ultimately a small detour to have something much richer", adds Julie Solbreux.

The Lego Serious Play method offers a playful and engaging way of reconnecting learners with their ideas and with others. It challenges traditional notions of success and failure by offering a collaborative learning space that respects different perspectives. François-Xavier Fievez and Julie Solbreux demonstrate the potential of this method to enrich the educational experience and foster deep, collective reflection.