Using Lego to train adults

Imagine senior executives of a gambling concessionaire joining and transforming Lego bricks into various forms and structures: they might actually be doing so for a reason other than amusement.

In fact, they may be doing this under the supervision of a certified instructor, with the aim of discovering and exploring their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, according to Brian Tang, licensed trainer of Lego Serious Play Methods and play-based learning specialist.

Tang spent a lunch last week with human resources professionals and other interested parties discussing his strategies and experiences training senior executives of enterprises of various sizes.

The lunch session was hosted by the France Macao Chamber of Commerce (FMCC) and The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Macao (CanCham Macao).

During his seminar, Tang highlighted that one training workshop he had previously given revolved around the Johari Window. With four quadrants, the Window categorizes a person’s character traits or qualities into open, blind, hidden and unknown, signifying their natures.

Characteristics that a person knows they possess but does not want to disclose to others fall into the “hidden” quadrant.

Tang’s workshop aimed at moving the boundaries of each quadrant to achieve different goals, such as better communication between teams and team members.

Through this workshop – and his many other workshops – Tang used Lego bricks to prompt self-examination and inspiration among participants, so as to nurture changes in behavior.

After the seminar, a member of the audience asked whether Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), an index used to evaluate the impact of an activity on achieving positive results in an organization, were used.

KPIs are used to evaluate business results in a quantified manner. Different enterprises or entities have different KPIs.

“However, this training workshop that I did was not subject to KPI rating,” Tang pointed out. “My objective was to connect one participant with another, as well as open up their team’s Johari Window.”

“[However], during the third session, which concerned achieving specific goals, KPI evaluation was introduced,” added Tang.

He stressed that he mostly uses his Lego certified skills to conduct team building and to facilitate team communications. Nonetheless, the skills can also be applied to form business strategies and conduct business coaching, for example.

“There are other scenarios in which KPI can be induced to evaluate effects,” Tang said.

Another audience member followed up by asking whether further intervention is needed, and asked whether any participant experienced internal complications.

Tang admitted that in the course of the workshop the facilitator or the participants may be able to see problems that were previously obscure to the person. Therefore, if professional intervention is necessary, it is actually encouraged.

Having accumulated experience in the field, Tang is confident that workshops can be tailor-made. In fact, the workshop that he used as an example at the lunch seminar was tailor-made for the client.

He recalled that the Lego Serious Play methodology was invented at the headquarters of the Lego Group in Denmark. Two professors in business studies did so in the 1990s to guide the Lego Group out of a severe financial trough.

The trough swept the toy brick manufacturer when computers became more personal and accessible. Meanwhile, parents were convinced that their children should learn computer skills, according to Tang.

Commissioned to rescue the nearly bankrupt corporation, the two academics managed to “upgrade” the use of the toy bricks and make it applicable in business scenarios.

“By business I mean all trades: whether it’s construction, gaming or law. As long as there is a team, there is a possibility of team issues arising,” Tang explained. “The methodology is indeed universal now.”

He added that a Google search will easily demonstrate that Lego Serious Play is practiced in all parts of the world.

A quick workshop was offered to the lunch-goers, who were told to make ducks with the Lego bricks under certain restrictions and instructions.