Episode 149: Anyone can use Lego® Serious Play® in their workshops (and here’s how you do it) with Michael Fearne
This week, we're talking about the value of tactile objects in your workshop and how they can help unlock great ideas, real conversations and so much more (oh and yes, this can work virtually, too).
I’m talking about Lego® Serious Play®. Today's guest, Michael Fearne is all about sharing the Lego® Serious Play® love with the world, and he’s even written a book about it - a book that makes it more accessible for all of us to start digging into the world of LSP.
Michael helps clients to break out of the “business as usual” dynamic and be more innovative using the awesome power of Lego® Serious Play®. That’s right Lego + Work = A More Innovative Business.
As the founder of Pivotal Play, Michael uses his experience as a professional facilitator and expertise with LEGO Serious Play to help teams to think more creatively, communicate more effectively and deliver more innovative results.
He also empowers people to use this technique themselves by coaching and guiding them, giving them the tools and the benefit of his experience so they can get the most out of their meetings.
In this conversation, Michael shares how all of us can use lego effectively during our workshops and awesome ideas on how to do so. He describes how using something tactical can really help boost the use of metaphor, and story-sharing, and the value of having a solid routine to start each workshop.
His book, The LSP Method is also out right now! I love the practicality of the book, and how Michael even shares how you should setup the room, how to open up using the six bricks activity, so good.
About our Guest: Michael Fearne
Michael Fearne helps clients to break out of the “business as usual” dynamic and be more innovative using the awesome power of Lego® Serious Play®. That’s right Lego + Work = A More Innovative Business.
A child of the 70s & 80s, a dreamer. How could I not be, he was born in the same year as the first Star Wars movie… Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia were his babysitters. He grew up on imagination and possibilities.
Fast forward to his early career, a young graduate at a Big 4 Accounting firm. From the vantage point of inexperience I saw the battle lines being drawn.
On one side the oppressive forces of rigid corporate structure. Decades, even centuries of oppression through outdated cultural norms, archaic systems, convoluted processes, apathy, frustration, constraints.
On the other side a small band of rebels. A handful of visionaries that knew the only way for these businesses to succeed was to fight the rigid corporate structure and innovate.
He faced a pivotal question. A question we all face at some point in our careers.
Which side are you on? Do you accept the system or look to change it?
He chose to be a rebel, an innovator. He left the confines of the rigid corporate world and started his own business. He felt the best way to impact the business world was not from within one company. But by finding those rebels, those innovators in each company and helping them.
In recent years, he discovered the amazing Lego® Serious Play® method. It’s exactly the weapon our rebellion needs. It’s innovative and playful, creating new ideas, new perspectives and renewed engagement. I've seen it change conversations and reshape businesses.
So armed with a humble Lego brick, Michael is on a mission to connect with other rebels. Those who don't accept the way it is and want to change their businesses for the better.
In this episode you will learn how to:
Use lego to enable metaphors and story-sharing within your workshops
Overcome objections from workshop participants
Be less self-conscious as a first time facilitator
Create reliable and robust workshop design
Here’s a sample of questions I asked Michael during the interview:
What is the difference with LEGO® Serious Play® sessions and Lego activity?
How do you deal and overcome rejections?
What important tips you can share for facilitators in the context of LEGO® Serious Play®?
How are you running your session virtually?
Tell us about a time that something had not gone well in your workshop?
How do you get yourself into the zone before a workshop?
Resources
Visit Michael Fearne’s new website and grab his book: LSPmethod.com
Watch the video!
About your host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
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The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
