What does it mean to be a facilitator of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method?

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator isn't bringing a solution to a problem but rather makes it possible for the solution to arise from the interactions of workshops participants. The facilitator achieves this by designing the specific workshop which enables the participants to find the solution of their problem. This approach empowers the participants by giving a sense of ownership on the solution, and a deeper and more sustainable commitment. The facilitator role isn't that of a consultant, or a coach, who already knows the answer.

To bring the full value of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method, the facilitator first has to create a clean and safe space in order to ensure that everybody in the room has a voice and an opinion worth being heard and understood by all others. The facilitator ensures this space is respected and preserved by all participants throughout the whole workshop.

In the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process, everyone builds an individual model, shares its meaning, and expresses one's own insights. When all the participants then build a shared model, they have to ensure that no important facet of each personal contribution is forgotten, unless there is some redundancy. This contributes to each one identifying oneself more with the result and, when decisions are taken, this leads to a longer-lasting and more sincere commitment from everyone. In these steps of the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY process, the facilitator is going to adopt several facilitating styles to ensure the objectives are reached.

The questions asked by the facilitator during the workshop are both open, so that there is no one obvious unique answer, and challenging, so that new insights can emerge from the individual models built as answers by the participants. The art and quality of the facilitator lies in crafting the most appropriate questions to guide the participants and in being ready to explore new tracks resulting from the revealing of new insights.