Why LEGO® Serious Play® is the Future of Coaching and Facilitation
Coaching and facilitation are rapidly evolving fields, with increasing demand for engaging, immersive, and results-driven approaches. Traditional coaching conversations—while effective—often struggle to tap into the deeper, unspoken insights that clients and teams need to unlock breakthroughs.
Enter LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP)—a game-changing methodology that is transforming the way executive and team coaches engage their clients. By integrating hands-on, experiential learning with metaphorical storytelling, LSP fosters deep reflection, collaboration, and creative problem-solving in ways that traditional coaching simply cannot.
In this article, we’ll explore why LEGO® Serious Play® is becoming a must-have skill for coaches and facilitatorsand how it enhances leadership, team dynamics, and strategic thinking.
What is LEGO® Serious Play®?
LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) is an innovative, facilitated coaching and problem-solving method that uses LEGO bricks as a medium for expression. Through guided exercises, participants build models that represent their thoughts, challenges, and aspirations—enabling them to explore complex ideas with greater clarity and creativity.
Originally developed by LEGO in collaboration with researchers and business strategists, LSP has gained global recognition as a powerful tool for coaching, team facilitation, and leadership development.
Why LEGO® Serious Play® is Transforming Coaching & Facilitation
1. Unlocks Deeper Self-Reflection and Insight
Many coaching clients struggle to articulate their emotions, thoughts, and barriers through words alone. LEGO® Serious Play® bypasses cognitive filters by allowing clients to externalise their thoughts through model-building. This leads to profound insights that often go unnoticed in traditional conversations.
For example, an executive coach working with a leader on decision-making challenges might ask them to build a model of their ideal leadership style. The physical representation of their leadership approach provides new perspectives, allowing for a richer coaching conversation.
2. Enhances Engagement and Participation
One of the biggest challenges in team coaching and facilitation is ensuring that all voices are heard. LSP creates an inclusive environment where every participant contributes by building and explaining their models.
For team coaches, this method ensures that even the quietest participants engage actively, leading to richer discussions and a more collaborative atmosphere.
3. Makes the Abstract Tangible
Coaching often deals with abstract concepts—values, leadership identity, team alignment, and strategy. LSP provides a visual and tangible representation of these concepts, making them easier to explore and refine.
For example, a team facilitator helping a group navigate a period of organisational change can use LSP to visualise the “before” and “after” states, making challenges and opportunities more concrete and actionable.
4. Stimulates Creativity & Breakthrough Thinking
LSP engages both left and right brain functions, unlocking creative problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking. This is particularly valuable in coaching leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams who need to navigate uncertainty and innovation.
For instance, a leadership coach guiding a startup founder through strategic decision-making might use LSP to help them prototype different business models, leading to insights they wouldn’t have arrived at through traditional brainstorming.
5. Creates Psychological Safety & Reduces Resistance
Clients often hesitate to open up in coaching sessions, especially in corporate environments. LSP fosters psychological safety by shifting the focus from the individual to their built models. This allows clients to explore sensitive topics with less self-consciousness and greater honesty.
For example, a team coach facilitating a conflict resolution session can use LSP to encourage participants to build representations of how they experience team dynamics. This reduces defensiveness and creates a neutral starting point for discussion.
How LEGO® Serious Play® is Being Used in Coaching Today
LSP is being widely adopted by coaches and facilitators across various domains, including:
Executive Coaching – Helping leaders develop strategic vision, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving skills.
Team Coaching – Strengthening communication, collaboration, and psychological safety in teams.
Leadership Development – Enhancing self-awareness, resilience, and adaptive leadership skills.
Career Coaching – Assisting individuals in visualising career paths, goals, and professional growth.
Organisational Change & Strategy – Helping teams and leaders navigate transformation in a hands-on, interactive way.
How to Get Started with LEGO® Serious Play® as a Coach or Facilitator
If you’re a coach, facilitator, or L&D professional looking to integrate LEGO® Serious Play® into your practice, here’s how to begin:
Get Trained & Certified – Learning the facilitation techniques behind LSP is crucial for running impactful sessions.
Start Small – Introduce simple LSP exercises in your coaching conversations before scaling up to larger workshops.
Experiment with Different Prompts – Adapt LSP exercises to leadership development, team alignment, and innovation challenges.
Blend with Other Coaching Frameworks – Combine LSP with methodologies like systemic coaching, agile facilitation, and design thinking for a comprehensive approach.
At The Brick Coach, we offer an online LEGO® Serious Play® training specifically designed for executive and team coaches, facilitators, and leadership development professionals. Learn how to use this innovative methodology to create transformational coaching experiences from anywhere in the world.
As coaching and facilitation continue to evolve, LEGO® Serious Play® is emerging as a must-have tool for leaders, teams, and organisations seeking deeper engagement, fresh perspectives, and breakthrough insights.
By integrating this hands-on, experiential approach into your practice, you can enhance self-awareness, unlock creativity, and facilitate powerful transformations—whether you're working with individual leaders, teams, or organisations.
If you’re ready to future-proof your coaching practice and add an innovative, high-impact tool to your skillset, it’s time to explore LEGO® Serious Play®.
Sign up for our online LEGO® Serious Play® training today! →
