Sommario
- 1 The LEGO® Serious Play® Method
- 2 The Theory Behind the LEGO® Serious Play® Method
- 3 A Structured Process in Four Phases
- 4 A Stimulating Approach
- 5 LEGO® Serious Play® and Team Building Natura® Compared
- 6 Relationships, Well-Being and Lightness
- 7 Two Similar—but Distinct—Approaches
- 8 Discover Team Building Natura®
The LEGO® Serious Play® Method
Driven by curiosity, in recent weeks we decided to explore the LEGO® Serious Play® method more deeply, with the goal of better understanding what it is, where it comes from, how it works and what strengths characterize this experiential approach.
A Brief History
The LEGO® Serious Play® method originated in the late 1990s from an insight by Johan Roos and Bart Victor, both strategy professors at IMD Business School in Lausanne at the time. In collaboration with the LEGO® Group, they developed this innovative experiential approach.
The idea was to use the iconic LEGO® bricks as a tool to stimulate creative thinking, strategic reflection and communication within teams.
Open Source
After an initial experimentation phase, the method began to spread during the early 2000s and gained significant momentum after 2010, when LEGO® decided to release it as an open-source methodology.
Today, several independent organizations offer training programs related to the LEGO® Serious Play® method. Each has developed its own specific approach while respecting the original structure.
Over time, this openness has allowed the method to evolve and adapt to many different contexts, with varying objectives and applications.
The Theory Behind the LEGO® Serious Play® Method
The LEGO® Serious Play® method is grounded in strong theoretical foundations, mainly linked to two educational approaches:
- Constructivism, developed by Jean Piaget, according to which knowledge is not passively received but actively constructed through experience.
- Constructionism, proposed by Seymour Papert, which suggests that people learn best when they build an external object that represents their internal thinking.
From this perspective, LEGO® bricks are not used simply as toys. They become a concrete tool to give visible form to ideas, thoughts and intuitions, making it easier to share perspectives and engage in meaningful dialogue.
These theoretical foundations are complemented by a systems-thinking perspective, which views individuals as part of a broader system that includes the team, the organization and the wider environment in which they operate.
The method therefore encourages reflection across multiple levels, connecting individuals, groups, environments, strategies and potential solutions.
A Structured Process in Four Phases
As far as we have learned, the strength of the LEGO® Serious Play® method lies in its clear and replicable structure, based on four fundamental phases:
- Challenge. The facilitator introduces a challenge by asking an open, stimulating question aligned with the session’s objectives.
- Build. Each participant uses LEGO® bricks to construct a possible answer to the facilitator’s question, translating abstract ideas into a tangible three-dimensional model.
- Share. Participants explain the meaning of their models to the group. The focus is not on judgment but on active listening and the exchange of perspectives.
- Reflect. The group reflects collectively on what has emerged, identifying key themes and insights. This stage helps uncover patterns, connections, ideas, solutions and possible alternatives.
Without doubt, this structure helps create an inclusive, participatory and non-judgmental space where every voice matters and every model represents an important point of view.
A Stimulating Approach
Beyond the theoretical foundations, we had the opportunity to analyze several case studies in depth and concluded that LEGO® Serious Play® represents a truly stimulating approach.
We genuinely believe it can be an effective method and it is easy to understand why it has spread so quickly.
For us, drawing a comparison with Team Building Natura® was both natural and inevitable.
When comparing the two approaches, several interesting similarities emerged, along with some significant differences that, in our view, make Team Building Natura® formats even more immersive and inclusive, thanks to a unique and innovative working methodology.
LEGO® Serious Play® and Team Building Natura® Compared
From a theoretical perspective, the affinity between the two methods is remarkable.
For example, Jean Piaget’s constructivism is also a foundation of the Team Building Natura® approach. For us, direct, authentic and unfiltered experience is essential.
Our work consists of creating an ideal experimentation field, free of judgment, where participants feel safe and encouraged to explore.
Constructionism is also present in our outdoor team building experiences. Instead of LEGO® bricks, we use natural elements and Nature itself as sources of inspiration to achieve the same result: giving visible form to ideas, thoughts and intuitions while facilitating dialogue and shared understanding.
In our approach, the body, sensory perception, emotions and inner awareness become powerful learning tools.
A Systemic Vision
One of the most interesting aspects shared by both approaches is the central role of systemic thinking.
Through direct experience, we guide teams to observe reality not as a collection of isolated elements but as an interconnected system, where each component influences—and is influenced by—others.
We encourage team members to move beyond isolated details and expand their perspective.
We stimulate reflection on the principle of interdependence and on the responsibility each individual holds in building environments of trust and psychological safety.
Together, we explore recurring patterns, hidden dynamics, mental models and cause-and-effect relationships that often remain unnoticed.
In doing so, we help teams understand the deep connection between individuals and the collective, two sides of the same coin.
Solid Foundations
Just as LEGO® Serious Play® is built on its four core pillars, each Team Building Natura® experience is designed around our five key principles, which form the foundation of our methodology.
Five factors which are interconnected and mutually reinforcing: Listening, Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Trust and Creativity.
Listening, Emotional Intelligence and Empathy
As we have explained in previous articles, everything begins with Listening.
We usually describe it across three levels: listening to oneself, listening to others and listening to the environment.
Listening is not only an innate human capability—it is also a prerequisite for developing Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence allows us to recognize, understand and manage our emotions.
This is why it becomes essential when discussing Empathy: how can we connect with the emotions of others if we have not yet learned to understand our own?
Trust and Creativity
Listening, Emotional Intelligence and Empathy are core human abilities that allow us to build authentic and meaningful relationships.
These relationships form the basis for environments grounded in trust and psychological safety—spaces where people feel free to express their creativity and uniqueness.
In such contexts, every individual becomes a valuable contributor to the organization.
A Well-Established Structure
Just like the LEGO® Serious Play® method, our outdoor team building experiences also follow a structured and proven process:
- We begin with a briefing, during which we clarify the objectives of the team building experience together with the group while stimulating engagement from the very beginning.
- Next, we introduce our experiential outdoor activities, which may take place individually, in pairs or in groups. This is our field of experimentation, where participants truly step forward and experience the key themes of the program firsthand.
- Before these activities, however, we introduce mindfulness. Cultivating a state of presence is essential to shift attention away from habitual thinking patterns and mental models, allowing the most authentic human dimension to emerge. This is the environment in which we love to work with people—and it is one of the reasons why our team building programs are so effective.
- Each activity is followed by a facilitation session, a moment dedicated to reflection and learning that helps participants integrate the experience.
- We conclude with a final debrief, often supported by photographic storytelling.
This powerful tool allows participants to revisit the experience both as protagonists and observers, creating a meaningful anchor for individual and collective commitments moving forward.
This is the structure through which we design our outdoor team building experiences—an approach we continuously refine to make it even more impactful year after year.
Relationships, Well-Being and Lightness
During our outdoor team building experiences in Nature, people naturally open up to themselves and to others, allowing new relationships to emerge and existing ones to strengthen—much like what happens in LEGO® Serious Play®.
In addition, we aim to cultivate a sense of physical and mental well-being, which further encourages openness and connection. Nature becomes a powerful ally, thanks to the positive effects it generates on our body and mind.
Learning Through Play
The element of play is also central to our methodology, just as it is within LEGO® Serious Play®.
We believe people can explore more authentically when they are immersed in a state of enjoyment and curiosity.
When participants feel free to experience something with lightness and even a touch of fun, learning becomes more natural and meaningful.
This is why we pay close attention to this dimension, which we consider essential to the success of our outdoor team building programs.
Experience has shown us that a full, authentic and transformative learning experience emerges when people reconnect with the spirit of curiosity and exploration typical of childhood.
Two Similar—but Distinct—Approaches
In conclusion, these are two approaches that are similar in spirit yet different in practice.
Both are structured, inclusive, metaphorical and experiential.
However, in our view, Team Building Natura® offers an even deeper level of immersion, because it engages the person in their entirety as the primary instrument for exploration and learning.
There is no intermediary between participants and their experience—not even the iconic LEGO® bricks. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why our outdoor corporate team building formats are so effective.
Artisans of Outdoor Team Building
Team Building Natura® is certainly less standardized and less repeatable than LEGO® Serious Play®, because it is deeply shaped by our personal and professional experience.
Each event is custom-designed down to the smallest detail. While we follow a structured framework, every experience maintains its organic and evolving nature. Our trainers must be able to remain present within the flow of the group, adapting continuously while staying aligned with the objectives of the team building program.
For this reason, we like to think of ourselves as true artisans of outdoor team building, crafting tailor-made experiences that are unique and impossible to replicate.
Discover Team Building Natura®
Every team faces its own challenges and holds its own untapped potential.
Our mission is to design experiences that help your team achieve its goals, while enabling participants to build new connections, cultivate authentic relationships and develop deeper awareness of themselves, others and the group.
Through our programs, teams learn to develop innate capabilities that represent a true asset within any organization.
If you are curious to discover whether Team Building Natura® could be the right solution for your team, get in touch with us. We would be delighted to organize an introductory call and present our approach in more detail.
