Resolving Team Conflict with LEGO® Serious Play® Method

Resolving team conflict with LEGO® Serious Play® Method is a game-changing approach that enables teams to surface tensions, share perspectives, and rebuild collaboration. As teams navigate the pressures of the 21st century business landscape, conflict becomes an inevitable challenge. This powerful tool empowers organizations to transform tension into clarity through a structured, visual, and story-driven process grounded in problem-based learning.

Why Conflict Happens and What to Do About It

Conflict often stems from miscommunication, unclear roles, or mismatched expectations within organisational structures. In fast-paced environments—especially global and hybrid teams—tensions can be compounded by cultural, external environment, or structural barriers. LEGO® Serious Play® addresses these challenges through hands-on experiences and building challenges that invite participants to create physical models and engage in effective communication to find common ground.

How LEGO® Serious Play® Method Facilitates Conflict Resolution

The process promotes active listening and cultivates collective intelligence by externalizing ideas through tangible representations. Participants build individual models that capture their personal experience, encouraging clarity and empathy. These conceptual models make abstract challenges more approachable, fostering critical thinking and driving forward a range of ideas that can be used in both organizational contexts and academic contexts.

Trust Through Metaphors and Creativity

In moments of potential conflict, team members may struggle with vulnerability. LEGO® Serious Play® offers an outlet for creative imagination and descriptive imagination, helping teams visualize root issues using metaphorical models built with kits like the Identity and Landscape Kit. This technique enhances communication skills, builds emotional intelligence, and reinforces a culture of engagement.

Transforming Tension into Opportunity

Through an iterative process, teams engage in reflection and co-construction using a new model in response. This hands-on cycle reveals innovative ideas, allowing for deep insight and the cultivation of problem-solving skills. It becomes a valuable tool for bridging differences and aligning toward learning objectives and mutual respect.

Moving Forward with Strategic Clarity

LEGO® Serious Play® Method aligns teams around strategy development and long-term goals by mapping visual models to actionable goals. Whether working with a customer team, marketing students, or internal stakeholders, this method sharpens focus and creates realignment in an ever-shifting contemporary business environment.

The Role of the Facilitator

Facilitators play a pivotal role in workshop design, ensuring sessions address key dynamics while encouraging feedback and participation. With tools like high-res images, facilitators help document reflections and support decision-making. Many incorporate insights from student reflections, student feedback, and methodologies from leading publications like the International Journal of Management and Applied Research or Blair & Rillo’s contributions to creative facilitation.

Ideal Moments to Use LEGO® Serious Play® for Conflict

This method is highly effective when:

• Teams are impacted by unresolved tension or unhealthy team habits
• Communication in meetings becomes disruptive
• Groups need to reestablish trust following restructuring
• Language skills or cultural barriers affect collaboration
• You need to re-engage student engagement or reflect on subject learning in a classroom environment

Conclusion

LEGO® Serious Play® Method is a powerful and effective tool for navigating interpersonal conflict. It enables teams to visualize their experiences, improve dialogue, and reconnect through co-creation. Whether in education interventions, leadership teams, or Speaker & Workshop engagements, this method supports lasting transformation through creative problem-solving.

Want to help your team move past conflict? Discover how LEGO® Serious Play® Method can bring clarity and cohesion to your organization.

Disclaimer: We are moving to a new website! Visit us at Serious Play Business for the latest workshops and resources.