It was the first time I had ever seen myself with five heads—five yellow mini-figure heads connected, one on top of the other. Alastair McGregor, a skilled LEGO® Serious Play® workshop leader from the UK, was showing our MAPP students how his LEGO® build represented his positive view of me: an effective multi-tasker standing on top of a bridge.
He then asked me what I thought it meant. I took a moment to think about it, but he advised me not to take too long, not to edit. So I said the bridge reminded me of my role as the director of PCOM's Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program where I help students cross a bridge of sorts from the present into exciting future possibilities in positive psychology.
Al’s message was clear and in three dimensions: building LEGO® is not just child’s play. McGregor regularly runs LEGO® workshops in the UK’s correctional system to promote self-understanding, positive self-regard, and more empathic connections among a population you might least expect to be building LEGO® models.
McGregor explained how building LEGO® with a supportive facilitator creates psychological safety, an environment conducive to examining and talking about deeper emotions, beliefs, challenges, and aspirations. The process of building itself can also quiet the mind, like a subtle form of meditation. It also became apparent how connecting bricks reflectively could set the stage for resolving conflicts more peacefully, internally and interpersonally, especially in conflict-prone restrictive environments.
In addition to his work in the field of corrections, McGregor has brought LEGO® Serious Play® to NATO, police departments, and the Royal Marines. The MAPP students immediately recognized the role of reflective listening and open-ended questions in these high intensity settings. McGregor uses active listening to guide safe exploration of models’ meanings and encourage productive communication, very similar to the goals of motivational interviewing taught in MAPP.
LEGO® enthusiasts would probably be the first to tell you, at least anecdotally, that building contributes to their well-being, healthy relationships, and self-reflection. As one of them, I’m sure the many hours I spent building with my son when he was younger bolstered his natural curiosity, fueled his creativity, and brought us closer through moments of joy and imaginative discovery.
I wasn’t surprised to learn that the roots of flourishing run deep in LEGO®’s history. Company founder Ole Kirk Christiansen set out to make toys that merged learning, creativity, and play to enhance development. To highlight that mission, Christiansen came up with the name LEGO® by combining the Danish words “leg godt” which mean “play well.”
In the 1990s, researchers Johan Roos and Bart Victor designed new ways of working with LEGO® that became the basis for collaboration, team-building, problem-solving, and storytelling. In their LEGO® Serious Play (LSP) approach, participants build models in response to thought-provoking questions. These models come to represent aspects of self, personal experiences, and visions for the future. LSP facilitators like McGregor learn how to create safe, nonjudgmental spaces for participants to share their life through spontaneously constructed models. Open-ended questions help deepen the significance of builds, opening the door to additional metaphors, story, and insights.
The initial LEGO® build prompts are intended to start a process of positive envisioning, team cohesion, or strength-based self-exploration. Examples include:
LSP applications have appeared in the fields of business, education, healthcare, and criminal justice. They have served as a vehicle for strategic planning, creative thinking, conflict resolution, leadership training, and positive psychology coaching.
In one LSP case study, a 21-year-old business student’s LEGO® model represented a jetpack, reminding him of resources he could use to navigate challenges. He was struggling with a high-stakes project that he felt would have major implications for his career. The student described the effects of translating his thoughts into physical form, saying he felt empowered in turning “abstract big ideas and problems into outcomes, into solutions.” He associated his increased feelings of self-efficacy and resilience with the model, which he kept as a visual reminder of his new growth mindset.
Building with LEGO® seems naturally aligned with mindfulness, the art of compassionately paying closer attention in the present moment to whatever is occurring. In the context of building, this involves focusing one’s attention on the micro-tasks of construction. For example, the mindful builder may become more highly attuned to the shape, color, texture, and size of each brick. They may also experience an amplified feeling of satisfaction with each “clutch,” the sensation of synchrony, solidity, and sound of snapping two bricks together. With the LEGO® company in full support, Abbie Headon has written a book called Build Yourself Happy that turns the entire experience of LEGO ® play into a series of mindfulness exercises.
Since the LEGO® company has made LSP Open Source, MAPP graduates and other practitioners interested in using and adapting its techniques can do so freely. There are certainly many unexplored horizons related to using LEGO® in mindfulness, representational thought, collaborative learning, therapeutic growth, and resilience-building through strengths-based exploration. Specialized LSP kits are available which provide a carefully curated selection of bricks. However, getting your old box of dusty LEGO® out of the attic may be a more economical and accessible option. Sometimes it only takes a single LEGO® piece for an insightful moment, as when Al held up a LEGO® lion and asked who in the MAPP cohort it represented and why.
To learn more about Alastair McGregor’s work, visit the Lego® Serious Play® Conflict Resolution website.
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