“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than you can from a lifetime of conversation” – Plato
Why are the little bricks so powerful for innovation and business performance? I couldn’t figure out the power until I participated the Lego serious play meetup given by Michael Tarnowski.
I would like to take my experience as a case study to share my shallow understanding of the power.
Most time when I share an idea to a group, I feel uncertain or unsure whether I have explained myself clear, always wondering how much the others understand me. The language seems so weak at that moment. It would be even worse if speaking a non-mother language. In such a situation, the little bricks help me to transfer my virtual thought into something real which can be seen. I guess brain processes faster with both hearing and seeing.
Additionally when I am constructing my thoughts into bricks, I am thinking carefully about some metaphors to explain the thoughts. As we know, good teachers when they explain a complex concept, they will always begin with some simple metaphors which are easy to understand and then they will extend them as to finally make clear of this concept. I think it’s the same principle.
The most amazing thing is that by now it has been 40 hours since I finished the play, I still remember clearly every team member’s thoughts about team values they expected, by recalling the bricks they built. For example, different shape bricks represent Diversity; small window brick means Open-mind; fences brick implies Boundary and Privacy etc. It is to a large degree making the work of memory easier.
I believe there are a lot more scientific studies to prove why LSP works so well. If you are interested in it, you can read more from the official LSP website or a good blog I found out for using LSP in Agile.
Have fun!
