Building a Better Business Using the Lego Serious Play Method

Chapter 12LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® at Work in the LEGO Company

In this chapter we look at how, where, and when LEGO SERIOUS PLAY has been used in the LEGO Company as a tool for building a better business. The general assumption we have met has been that the LEGO Company naturally must be a super-user on all levels—and that this method might even have played a key role in the amazing turnaround of the company. It would have been nice if this was the true story. That is, however, not the case. That being said, though, the LEGO Company has been and still is a fairly frequent user of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and is probably one of the companies in the world that has used and uses it most broadly.

In this chapter we will give multiple examples of how the company has used the methodology across the organization. But before we do that, let us elaborate on four reasons why the LEGO Company has not been a super-user from day one.

1. During the early days of LEGO SERIOUS PLAY, the LEGO Company was going through a very difficult period and had its first CEO who was not a member of the founding family. This CEO had an approach to management and strategy making that was less coherent with LEGO SERIOUS PLAY than the approach Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen stands for. We did in fact use the method with this CEO's executive team a couple of years before he was replaced by the current CEO. The workshop already then gave a clear picture of the challenges the company was facing which later almost cost it its life as ...