Ever sat in a faculty meeting where the only thing being built was frustration? Yeah, me too.
Turns out, there's a weirdly effective fix that started with plastic bricks. Shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education isn't just a mouthful of buzzwords — it's a real shift in how campuses can stop talking past each other and start building something together.
And if you're picturing kindergarten vibes, hold that thought. This goes deeper than playtime.
What Is Shared Leadership Lessons Adapting Lego Serious Play Higher Education
Here's the thing — most people hear "Lego" and mentally check out. But not prototype a product. But Lego Serious Play (often shortened to LSP) is a facilitated method where people use bricks to model their thoughts. That said, not decorate. Model their thinking It's one of those things that adds up..
We're talking about where a lot of people lose the thread Most people skip this — try not to..
So when we talk about shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education, we mean taking that hands-on, everyone-builds approach and using it to teach and practice leadership across a university or college. Not top-down. Shared Simple, but easy to overlook..
In practice, it looks like this: a cohort of students, lecturers, and maybe admin staff sit down. Everyone gets the same brick set. A question gets asked — "What does good collaboration look like in our department?Here's the thing — " — and everyone builds an answer silently. Then they tell the story of their model.
Not obvious, but once you see it — you'll see it everywhere.
Not Just a Workshop Toy
The core idea is that hands-on building accesses parts of your brain that slides and spreadsheets don't. Even so, you're constructing one. Still, you're not performing an answer. That matters in higher ed, where so much "leadership development" is someone reading a framework at you Simple as that..
Shared, Not Distributed
Quick distinction. "Distributed leadership" often means tasks get spread around. Shared leadership means influence, voice, and meaning-making are genuinely collective. Adapting LSP to higher education pushes toward the second one. Everyone in the room has a model. Everyone's model counts.
Why It Matters / Why People Care
Why does this matter? Because most universities are drowning in hierarchy and starved for trust.
Real talk: students rarely feel like leaders. On the flip side, junior lecturers feel even less so. On the flip side, when a campus tries to "develop leaders," it usually means sending a few people to a course. And senior staff are often too buried in strategy docs to notice. The rest absorb nothing Not complicated — just consistent..
Shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education flips that. It makes leadership a group muscle, not a title. That's not soft. A first-year student's brick tower about "feeling heard" can reshape how a program director thinks about office hours. That's structural That's the part that actually makes a difference..
And here's what most people miss — the method surfaces quiet voices. In an LSP session, the person who struggles to speak in meetings builds a model and suddenly has a clear story. So in a normal meeting, the loudest person wins. The room listens differently Worth knowing..
How It Works (or How to Do It)
The short version is: you don't just hand out bricks and hope. You design the session Simple, but easy to overlook..
Start With a Safe Question
Don't open with "How do we fix the department?Practically speaking, "Build a model of a time you felt part of a team. Too loaded. " Or "Show me what gets in the way of your learning.But start smaller. That's why " Too big. " People ease in through metaphor Simple, but easy to overlook..
Build Individually, Then Share
It's non-negotiable. But silent building first. Still, no whispering, no copying. In real terms, then each person presents their model in under two minutes. The facilitator asks one follow-up: "What's the strongest part of your model?Still, " Not "Why did you do that? " — that puts people on defense.
Connect the Models
After everyone shares, the group looks for links. "Three of us built walls. Two built bridges.But " That's data. Now, not survey data — lived data. In real terms, in shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education, this moment is where the "shared" part actually happens. You're not agreeing on a answer. You're seeing the system.
Move to a Shared Build
Now the room builds one model together. A "vision of shared leadership in our course" or "our ideal research group." They negotiate with bricks. Someone wants a tall tower; someone else wants a wide base. They talk it out. That argument? That's the lesson.
Debrief Like Adults
Close by naming what shifted. "I didn't know you felt that way about group work." "I see now why the timetable stresses people." The bricks are gone, but the insight sticks.
Common Mistakes / What Most People Get Wrong
Honestly, this is the part most guides get wrong. Which means they treat LSP like a fun icebreaker. It isn't.
One mistake: letting the senior person present first. And that sets the tone and everyone else aligns to it. Facilitators should mix the order or go random And that's really what it comes down to..
Another: too many bricks or too few. Practically speaking, a standard LSP set has range. Which means if you give people a tiny box, they can't express. If you give a bin of 5,000 pieces, they freeze. Get the right kit Turns out it matters..
And look — some lecturers think this is beneath their students. "They're adults, not children." But the method isn't childish. It's cognitive. Using bricks removes the pressure of saying the "right" academic thing. That's why it works in higher ed specifically.
Also, don't skip the debrief. I've seen sessions where people build, share, and leave. Pointless. The reflection is where leadership gets rehearsed.
Practical Tips / What Actually Works
Here's what actually works if you're trying this on a campus.
Run it in a neutral space. Not the seminar room with the terrible chairs. Book a common room or library studio. Environment shapes honesty.
Train a student facilitator. Seriously. A lecturer-led session can feel assessed. A trained peer with an LSP kit gets different answers. Shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education works best when the power imbalance shrinks Small thing, real impact..
Use it for real decisions. Think about it: don't just "explore values. " Use it before a new module launch. "Build how this course should feel at week six." Then actually read those models when you design the schedule.
Keep groups small. Four to six people. Any bigger and the shared build turns into a spectator sport.
And one more — document the models. In real terms, for memory. Photo them. And not for grading. A brick model of "our research culture" pinned on the virtual board keeps the conversation alive next term But it adds up..
FAQ
Can Lego Serious Play work with postgrads and staff together? Yes. That's where it's strongest. The bricks level the room. A PhD student and a dean both look slightly silly — and that's the point. They meet as builders, not ranks Surprisingly effective..
Do we need certified Lego Serious Play facilitators? Not strictly. The method has a license, but many educators adapt it unofficially. Learn the core rules (silent build, equal voice, metaphor first) and you'll be fine. Certification helps for big institutional work.
Isn't this just arts and crafts? No. It's structured sense-making. The difference is the questioning and the debrief. Cut those and yes, it's crafts. Keep them and it's leadership practice.
How long should a session be? Ninety minutes is the floor. Two hours is better. Anything under an hour becomes a gimmick That's the part that actually makes a difference. No workaround needed..
What if someone refuses to engage? Don't force it. Usually they watch, then build something small by session two. The method wins quiet skeptics through peers, not pressure.
The weird thing about shared leadership lessons adapting Lego Serious Play higher education is how fast the room changes. Practically speaking, that's not nothing on a campus that runs on misunderstanding. Which means people walk in expecting a gimmick and walk out with a clearer picture of each other. Grab some bricks, ask a real question, and let the quiet people build Easy to understand, harder to ignore. And it works..
