Case Study
Transforming Insight, Vision, and Culture with Powerful Leadership Games
- Client: Leadership team of a charity organisation.
- Industry: Third Sector (not-for-profit).
- Products/Services used: Design and facilitation of a virtual leadership workshop, using the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®
- Impact/Value provided: Exploration and clarification of personal and shared concepts of leadership within the team. Understanding one another’s perspectives led to team alignment while empathy-driven insights created the path to generating an authentic, actionable “leadership blueprint.”
Case Study
Transforming Insight, Vision, and Culture with Powerful Leadership Games
- Client: Leadership team of a charity organisation.
- Industry: Third Sector (not-for-profit).
- Products/Services used: Design and facilitation of a virtual leadership workshop, using the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®
- Impact/Value provided: Exploration and clarification of personal and shared concepts of leadership within the team. Understanding one another’s perspectives led to team alignment while empathy-driven insights created the path to generating an authentic, actionable “leadership blueprint.”
Situation
Leadership team needed to meet the needs of their rapidly growing organisation. They set out to establish consistency, to create an engaging culture, and to facilitate further growth by defining a shared leadership model.
Challenges
- The pandemic accelerated several changes that leadership had planned to undertake over many years. The result was a significant and near-instant increase in the organisation’s employee base. Employees, new and old, had to adapt to a rapidly changing and growing organisational culture while also ensuring that they stay true to the organisational mission and vision.
- Employees and leaders were adjusting to working from home. This created a danger of silos and misalignment between teams. The leadership team wanted to address the issue proactively with the organisational leadership blueprint (shared leadership model).
Approach
Moving the Concept of Leadership from the Abstract to the Concrete: Creating an Experience-based Leadership Model
- Olga facilitated the workshop and started by asking each participant to build a tower with as many LEGO bricks as possible.
- Next, she guided them to reflect on a leadership experience that had impacted them throughout their careers and to add or remove blocks from their towers to represent the experience. The experience could be positive or negative.
Deepening Insight and Empathy: Storytelling that Taps Into Emotion for Meaning and Fresh Perspective
- Each participant engaged in personal storytelling to reflect on and share their model with the group – the story behind it and why this story was meaningful.
- As they told their stories, they intuitively connected with how the experience made them feel and how it had influenced their careers and leadership styles.
Generating an Inspired, Collective Vision: An Authentic Leadership Blueprint
- Shifting from personal insight to the collective vision, Olga asked them, “What does good leadership look like, not in general, but at this organisation?” The participants removed or added blocks to their tower to represent their answers.
- Again, they shared the story of their new models as they noted thoughts and adjectives about “leadership” on a whiteboard.
- Each participant’s notes collectively offered a working model of good leadership that was individual and team-built.
- From this, Olga helped them streamline their model and identify core actions and behaviours to bring it to life.
Outcomes
- Aligned and authentic leadership matched to the needs of the organisation. An organisational “leadership blueprint” was developed, based on meaningful experiences, insight, vision, and empathy.
- Deepened trust and collaboration. The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology facilitated authenticity and provided fertile ground for team building, trust, communication, and collaboration.
- Actionable and practical implementation. The leadership team developed and committed to a set of actionable behaviours to implement their blueprint.
- Culture alignment: Each leader agreed to share the blueprint with their own teams to learn what their teams expected from them. This move broadened alignment between leaders and their teams.
Disclaimer: LEGO, SERIOUS PLAY, IMAGINOPEDIA, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorise or endorse this website.
