<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Lego Serious Play - Ludogogy</title>
	<atom:link href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/tag/lego-serious-play/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com</link>
	<description>Games-based learning. Gamification. Playful Design</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2025 10:11:57 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-GB</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>
	hourly	</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>
	1	</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-Ludo_512x512white-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Lego Serious Play - Ludogogy</title>
	<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
	<item>
		<title>Unlocking Creativity through Learning without &#8216;Content&#8217;</title>
		<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content</link>
					<comments>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ludogogy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:55:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thinking skills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Game Mechanisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Play]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace Learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lego Serious Play]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ludogogy.co.uk/?p=8091</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The need to find meaning has given us religious beliefs, creation myths and the scientific method, and many other staggering examples of creative imagination. <a class="mh-excerpt-more" href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/" title="Unlocking Creativity through Learning without &#8216;Content&#8217;">[...]</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/">Unlocking Creativity through Learning without ‘Content’</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Traditionally, over centuries of formal education systems, and workplace learning, the learner has come under the tutelage of a ‘master’ of some kind, either as a pupil or as an apprentice, or similar. This master was seen as having all the answers, and even before learning became a knowledge domain in its own right, and was defined as a change in knowledge, skills or attitudes, the master would have been responsible for schooling a pupil in all of these.</p>



<p>Such learning is necessarily very loaded with content. If a master is to be able to pass down all they know and are able to do, and to ensure that pupils become upstanding citizens with no undesirable ideas or behaviours, then there need to be artefacts for them to teach from. This would certainly have been imparted verbally (lectures), or in writing, if the pupil could read; from examples of work, which should be copied to learn skills; and through commandments, and rewards and punishments.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" src="http://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_medieval_blacksmith_teaching_his_apprentice_db4dde96-6322-493b-b8e8-a095827c123b.png" alt="A blacksmith and his apprentice" class="wp-image-8098" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_medieval_blacksmith_teaching_his_apprentice_db4dde96-6322-493b-b8e8-a095827c123b.png 600w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_medieval_blacksmith_teaching_his_apprentice_db4dde96-6322-493b-b8e8-a095827c123b-300x200.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure>
</div>


<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What is content free learning?</h3>



<p>Increasingly however, there has been a shift towards learning models and pedagogies which shift the focus away from the ‘Sage on the Stage’ and onto the role of the learner. Terms such as ‘learner-centred’ and ‘facilitative learning’, have come to the fore, and techniques such as problem-based learning, social learning and, of course, <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/educational_games_vs_games_based_learning/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>games-based learning</strong></a> are now widely used.</p>



<p>If we imagine that all learning experiences are on a continuum. At one end are highly passive experiences, where the educator is responsible for ‘filling up’ the empty vessel that is the learner. The learning has little or no <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/using-games-to-sculpt-agency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>agency</strong></a>, and there is little requirement for them to exercise creativity in what or how they learn. They need to simply apply themselves to absorbing and emulating the learning content that are presented with.</p>



<p>Most learning experiences today, fall somewhere in the middle, with a mix of instruction from a ‘Sage’ and a variety of activities where the learner is encouraged to exercise some creativity and autonomy, and to take a greater degree of responsibility towards their own learning. This is a more facilitative model, where the educator is there to guide but not ‘teach’, answer questions if they arise, and point them towards resources from which they can construct their own learning.</p>



<p>In the example above, while the learner is ‘set free’ to discover and construct learning, it is still likely that there will be content, related to the domain of learning, and potentially even more of that than if they had attended a lecture from a ‘sage’ – case studies, Internet scavenger hunts, <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/why-and-why-not-to-use-simulations-in-learning/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>simulation games</strong></a>, videos to watch etc. – all of which have originated, maybe not with the sage who is in the room with them, but with some sage somewhere.</p>



<p>At the other extreme of the continuum, there is what I like to think of as ‘content-free’ learning. The learner will be given access to resources or process, but these may be generic, and have no relationship to the knowledge, skill or attitude that the learner is accessing. In this case, the learning is entirely constructed from the interaction of the individual or group with the activities and reflection which these resources facilitate.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Content-free learning &#8211; pros and cons&#8230;</h3>



<p>There is no assumption that any point on the continuum is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than any other point, simply that educators and learners are able to access the appropriate level of learner creativity and autonomy for whatever learning needs to take place. It would be inappropriate, for example, for learners to ‘discover’ for themselves the proper safety procedures and checklists for parachute jumping, just as would be inappropriate for a facilitator to ‘instruct’ a learner about the learner’s own lived experience, in a session exploring mental health issues.</p>



<p>‘Content-free’ learning is therefore most suited to situations where the learners are the ‘experts’.&nbsp; Coaching is a good example of this. A coach does not tell a coachee what to do or think, but simply facilitates the drawing out of knowledge, wisdom (new insights constructed from existing knowledge) and ideas for action, from the coachee.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image wp-image-8095 size-full">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" width="600" height="1020" src="https://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FurthActions2.png" alt="Card from Gift horse with a picture of a hedgehog and instructions to hold a question in your mind and consider through the eyes of a hedgehog" class="wp-image-8095" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FurthActions2.png 600w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FurthActions2-176x300.png 176w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Card from &#8216;The Gift Horse&#8217; deck</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p>Another excellent use-case for content-free learning is facilitative group work, where it is assumed that the group contains wisdom (and collective skills) that is greater than the sum of the individual wisdom contained within it.</p>



<p>In both these cases, there is no need for an educator to bring any ‘content’ to the situation. So, what do they bring? What does content-free learning look like?</p>



<p>At the heart it is about process, so a skilled facilitator may be needed to set that process in motion and to ensure that it stays on track. Some content-free learning is nothing but process, while in other cases there may, in fact be content. This might seem contradictory, but usually this content will be unrelated to the intended learning. It is intended as stimulus, which will be used a lens through which the learner can approach the question in hand.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&#8230;And some examples</h3>



<p>A well-known and archetypal example of content-free learning, that is all about process is <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/focus-on-lego-serious-play/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Lego®&nbsp;Serious Play®</strong></a>.&nbsp; The bricks on the table have no meaning attached to them at all until the process of putting them together in response to a stimulus begins. The stimulus is a question, and all the meaning, the ‘content’, is entirely derived from the minds of the individual model builders, and later from the interactions of the rest of the group with their own and each other’s models. Layers of process, each building on the one before can be applied, if appropriate, to facilitate everything from simple individual insights, to the extrapolation of strategic guiding principles for large complex organisations.</p>



<p>The greater the reliance on pure process, the greater the need for skilled facilitation. Content-free tools which are richer in stimuli can often be used with or without a facilitator. Because these tools do not need to transfer large quantities of knowledge or demonstrate skills, they are often very compact and portable. <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/the-versatility-of-cards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Cards</strong></a> are a popular choice of format, and pretty much any ‘<a title="Ipsodeckso Facilitation Card Decks – A Tour" href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/ipsodeckso-facilitation-card-decks-a-tour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>facilitation deck</strong></a>’ you can think of will fall into this category, with images and questions often being the go-to stimuli.</p>



<p>Two of my own decks demonstrate different approaches, and show that slight differences in process or stimulus can make for very different applications.</p>



<p><a href="https://ludogogy.itch.io/the-gift-horse" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Gift Horse is available either as a PDF</strong></a> or a <a href="https://www.deckible.com/card-decks/8M-gift-horse-a-journey-of-self-discovery-with-your-animal-companion-sarah-le-fevre" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>card deck on Deckible</strong></a>. It was inspired by <a href="https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/brave-sparrow" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Brave Sparrow</strong></a>, <a href="https://riverhousegames.itch.io/the-kiss-of-walt-whitman-still-on-my-lips" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Kiss of Walt Whitman</strong></a>, Philip Pullman’s ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>His Dark Materials</strong></a>’, and <a href="https://www.streetwisdom.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Street Wisdom</strong></a> (mentioned below). It is quite introspective in nature, and is designed to bring about (either guided by a facilitator or individually) reflection on an individual’s questions. The player navigates the question(s) with the help of an animal, which has attached itself to them. It can be used a part of a finite game session or as a daily practice. For example, an individual faced with a dilemma might as themselves ‘What would my octopus do?’ or ‘What special abilities does my animal have to help me through this?’. This approach is designed to encourage divergent thinking by viewing questions through a different lens than one’s own everyday experience.</p>



<p><strong><a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/the-museum-of-impossible-objects-educational-field-trip/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Museum of Impossible Objects</a></strong>, on the other hand, is more outward looking. It consists of a set of cards, each of which shows an image and exhibit label for an item which is held in a strange museum. Many of the objects are supernatural, or in some way extraordinary. On the backs of the cards are open-ended questions about the exhibits, supposedly placed in the museum visitors’ minds by the museum itself, which has a strong psychic field.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.deckible.com/card-decks/N0-museum-of-impossible-objects-pick-this-up-as-you-exit-via-gift-shop-sarah-le-fevre" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Museum of Impossible Objects is available on Deckible</strong></a></p>


<div class="wp-block-image wp-image-8096 size-full">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" width="800" height="680" src="http://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ghostJar_2sides.png" alt="Ghost Jar card front and back from the Museum of Impossible Objects" class="wp-image-8096" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ghostJar_2sides.png 800w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ghostJar_2sides-300x255.png 300w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ghostJar_2sides-768x653.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Both sides of the Ghost Jar card from the Museum of Impossible Objects</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p>The Museum cards can be used simple writing prompts, (probably in the weird fiction genre) but can also be used to start discussion around fundamental questions of ethics, politics and so on, and could be used in Philosophy, Critical Thinking and <a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/the-museum-of-me-paul-darvasi-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Personal and Social Development</strong></a> classrooms, among others. Speculative fiction, such as fantasy or sci-fi has always done an excellent job of allowing us to ask ourselves these difficult questions, with that one step of ‘remove’ which makes the discourse ‘safer’. For example, the Ghost Jar exhibit is a device which is used to trap ghosts carrying out ‘malicious hauntings’. It is displayed, complete with an occupant, in the museum. The questions on the reverse of the card ask visitors to think about who it is that decides that a haunting is ‘malicious’, and what rights, if any, should be accorded to the ‘sentient dead’.</p>



<p>Although the cards point learners towards certain topics, they don’t contain any ‘content’ on those topics, as such. While the questions and stimulus might lead to very deep discussions on crime and punishment; who makes the rules; the treatment of ‘the other’, including refugees, people with disabilities, or even other species; and the ethics of displaying the remains of living beings; the cards don’t provide the content on these questions. All of that must be sourced elsewhere.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.streetwisdom.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Street Wisdom</strong></a>, is another highly process-driven form of learning, where the stimulus is a personal question of concern, and the surroundings experienced on a mindful walk. First the walker goes through a series of simple exercises to tune into their surroundings. Then holding the question in mind, they walk with heightened awareness of what they can see, hear, smell and touch around them, until some particular element presents itself as a complete or partial answer.</p>



<p>This has quite a lot in common with the Gift Horse, or indeed other tools of intuition such as the Tarot. While a road-sign (Street Wisdom), the fact that an octopus has three hearts (Gift Horse), or the High Priestess card (Tarot), do have inherent attached meanings, it is not those meanings, but the individual interpretations of them, fuelled by intuition, or previous experience or feelings of coincidence, which bring the learning.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Can learning be truly &#8216;content-free&#8217;</h3>



<p>I have recently been experimenting with the idea of removing as much meaning as possible from the tools (in this case, again, cards) I am making for content-free learning. The idea behind this is to create tools that give the greatest autonomy and potential for creativity to the learner, when constructing their own meaning, and from that, their own learning.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image wp-image-8100 size-full">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" src="http://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_an_image_which_is_deliberately_without_meaning_containin_510873ae-2687-4395-94ee-34b9a81a4fde.png" alt="Asemic Writing" class="wp-image-8100" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_an_image_which_is_deliberately_without_meaning_containin_510873ae-2687-4395-94ee-34b9a81a4fde.png 600w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_an_image_which_is_deliberately_without_meaning_containin_510873ae-2687-4395-94ee-34b9a81a4fde-300x200.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Asemic Writing</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_language" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Clean Language</strong></a> is a facilitation technique designed to remove the facilitators ‘content’ input when posing questions. It does this by using a fixed structure of questions in which the only ‘content’ is the respondent’s words mirrored back to them. In this technique, metaphor is seen as important in creating meaning, so the clean language technique seeks to strip out any of the facilitator’s meanings and suggested metaphors, to enable the respondent to discover their own without contamination. To contrast the use of non-clean questioning, with clean questioning, a non-clean follow up question to a respondent’s statement of ‘I feel odd’, might be ‘Do you think you have Covid?’ or more metaphorically ‘Are you under the weather?’. A clean question might be ‘And where do you feel odd?’, or ‘And what kind of odd?’</p>



<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Clean-Language-Revealing-Metaphors-Opening/dp/1845901258?crid=2QTLEICVH5VPS&amp;keywords=clean+language+revealing+metaphors+and+opening+minds&amp;qid=1675254072&amp;sprefix=clean+lan%2Caps%2C174&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=ludogogyus-20&amp;linkId=9f094423fcd1ef3571557b027a0ff048&amp;language=en_US&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds is available on Amazon</strong></a></p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Deliberately Meaningless</h3>



<p>The primary purpose of most presented images and text is to convey meaning, so trying to use those to create stimulus, while conveying the bare minimum of meaning, calls for some level of obfuscation and manipulation. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asemic_writing" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Asemic text</strong></a> uses different character sets, and may change the text orientation, from that usually used by the person writing the text. Asemic text is different from a code, however, as it deliberately has no meaning, and cannot be decoded or translated into something which has meaning.</p>



<p>Some artificial languages are ‘codes’, in that they have meanings and can therefore be translated. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Klingon</strong></a>, for example, can be learned on Duolingo, and poems written in <a href="https://omniglot.com/conscripts/tengwar.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tolkein’s Quenya</strong></a> can also be read and enjoyed in other languages.&nbsp; Other constructed languages, are, or may be, completely asemic, like the writing in the <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2019/12/beautifully-meaningless-codex-seraphinianus.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Codex Seraphinianus</strong></a> or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Voynich Manuscript</strong></a>. In the case of the latter, we simply don’t know if it is translatable or not, and it is this ambiguity which makes asemic text so good for content-free learning.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Codex-Seraphinianus-Anniversary-Luigi-Serafini/dp/0847871045?crid=228S6S2LK1PER&amp;keywords=codex+seraphinianus&amp;qid=1675254596&amp;sprefix=codex%2Caps%2C218&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=ludogogyus-20&amp;linkId=772e0b13a4db75a08226014cf66d03d5&amp;language=en_US&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Codex Seraphinianus is available on Amazon</strong></a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Voynich-Manuscript-Complete-Mysterious-Esoteric/dp/1786780771?crid=1XTJGB3ETD6NC&amp;keywords=voynich+manuscript&amp;qid=1675254669&amp;sprefix=voy%2Caps%2C166&amp;sr=8-2&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=ludogogyus-20&amp;linkId=5d44dcdb079ef5d2f4938e27be4bfe97&amp;language=en_US&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Voynich Manuscript is available on Amazon</strong></a></p>



<p>The deck I currently have in development uses asemic text, and deliberately ‘strange’ images, to encourage learners to construct their own meanings when they interact with them. I also want to make the nature and purpose of the deck as a whole as ambiguous as possible. Is it a game, a method of divination, a set of index cards containing a knowledge base, a holy text – or something else entirely.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image wp-image-8094 size-full">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="679" src="http://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Card-full-imagex2.png" alt="Cards from the deck in development - featuring asemic text" class="wp-image-8094" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Card-full-imagex2.png 800w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Card-full-imagex2-300x255.png 300w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Card-full-imagex2-768x652.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cards from the deck in development &#8211; featuring asemic text</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p>It is this aspect of design that has been most challenging, because we recognise and associate specific formats and layouts with specific purposes. A card taken from a game looks like a card taken from a game, but I am hopeful that I can achieve an acceptable level of ambiguity.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">But why would something without meaning be useful in learning?</h3>



<p>It is precisely because human always seek meaning, even and perhaps especially, when there is none, that such ‘asemic’ tools are useful. We are pattern detecting creatures, and particularly when those patterns are important to us. This is seen most markedly in the phenomenon of ‘<a href="https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/why-our-brains-see-faces-everywhere-350616" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>face pareidolia</strong></a>’ – seeing faces, which are not really there, in everyday objects.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="400" src="http://ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_front_view_of_a_car_which_demonstrates_face_pareidolia_302c5f21-252d-4155-a629-df7f6fdfe7dc.png" alt="The front of a car which looks like a face" class="wp-image-8097" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_front_view_of_a_car_which_demonstrates_face_pareidolia_302c5f21-252d-4155-a629-df7f6fdfe7dc.png 600w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Sluffy_a_front_view_of_a_car_which_demonstrates_face_pareidolia_302c5f21-252d-4155-a629-df7f6fdfe7dc-300x200.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>The human need to find meaning in the seemingly meaningless has given us religious beliefs, creation myths and the scientific method, among many other staggering instances of creative imagination.</p>



<p>When faced with something which is without meaning, a creative impulse is sparked, and that is the intention of these cards. With no more information or instruction than ‘What are these? How do they work? You have x hours. Go!’, you free a team of people to ideate and create, to find meaning, and innovate in ways that are important and relevant to their needs and goals, without the burden of externally imposed ‘content’.</p><p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/">Unlocking Creativity through Learning without ‘Content’</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
					<wfw:commentRss>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/unlocking-creativity-through-learning-without-content/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Taking time to get it right &#8211; even if it’s three years</title>
		<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years</link>
					<comments>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lindsay Dunbar]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Sep 2021 14:32:08 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[design process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Playtesting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Play]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prototyping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Schools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lego Serious Play]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/?post_type=article&#038;p=3117</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>There is no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year for many, and for young people in particular. It impacted their learning, both academic and emotional. <a class="mh-excerpt-more" href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/" title="Taking time to get it right &#8211; even if it’s three years">[...]</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/">Taking time to get it right – even if it’s three years</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the last three years, I have been invited to a local youth group to run LEGO sessions. I must admit that after year two, I said to myself that it didn’t work, and that I would politely decline the next invitation. However this year, I accepted the invitation because I realised that after two attempts, I knew how to make this session meaningful.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>There is no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year for many, and for young people in particular. It impacted their learning, both academic and emotional. It was with this in mind that I signed up for a course with Future Learn, and naturally it was the LEGO aspect that attracted me. <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/coping-with-changes/1/todo/83467" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play</a> is a course developed by the LEGO Foundation. It&#8217;s available for free online and participants can proceed at their own pace. The LEGO Foundation was established to build a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged lifelong learners. The skills developed through the course enable participants to redefine play and reimagine learning so children develop the broad set of skills they need to thrive and succeed.</p>



<p>Knowing that I work with young people and knowing the barriers they have faced in the last few months, the idea of combining play with meaningful learning was a resource I was interested in.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3024" height="3024" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_8807.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3122"/></figure></div>



<p>A few months later, the annual email arrived &#8211; would I like to come and deliver a LEGO session for two hours with young people from the ages of 8 &#8211; 12 years? To my surprise I was delighted to accept this time &#8211; I wanted to use the new ideas to tailor a session that would be truly beneficial and FUN!</p>



<p>Firstly, I had to reflect on why the previous sessions hadn’t worked, what had gone wrong and how I had known this? Simply put, the organisers wanted the young people to have a session designed around a theme. Year 1 had been “Our Community”, Year 2 had been “Superheros” and both years had issues.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="2668184925"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>With such a wide range of ages, it can be challenging to keep everyone engaged, 12-year-olds can become immersed in a build while 8-year-olds want to show you every single stage of their build. Some children naturally levitate to teamwork while others are very happy to work on their own. While some children could have built all day long, others felt they had achieved their goal very quickly. Very often it didn’t feel fun and it didn’t feel like they had the space to learn from the session.</p>



<p>What made this year different then? No theme. When the invitation arrived I immediately explained I had participated in this course and wanted to develop a session specifically around the ideas. The organisers were delighted with the idea, understanding the impact of recent months and a need to bring young people together again.</p>



<p>The first stage of planning was to develop activities that could be done over different time scales; something quick for young ones who want to explore it all and something more complex for older children.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3024" height="3024" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_8811.jpg" alt="Child with lego model" class="wp-image-3123"/></figure></div>



<p>One of the principles covered in the Coping with Changes course is the idea of Chain Reaction, building together to achieve a result. To address this I developed a Marble Run activity, with a range of bricks to add height, textures and movement so builders could explore how to make an obstacle course with different elements and challenges.</p>



<p>Another principle covered in the course is strategies for well-being. As the parent of a young child, I know just how popular fidget toys are at the moment. To address this I developed a Fidget Spinner activity. Ideal for the young builders the challenge was to use the selected bricks to build a Fidget spinner to generate something for them to focus on, to reflect.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="7022105741"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Finally, another aspect of the course I wanted to incorporate into the session was social-emotional learning, how to communicate with others, how to respond to challenges. For this, I developed the Island activity. Each builder had a base plate and some time to design their own island. Then, when ready, there was a set of challenges for them to pick from i.e. “Zombies are invading, build some defences!”, “You are bored, make your camp more fun”, “You are running low on food, what do you do?” As a result, the builders can work together to solve the problems and share their responses with others.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3024" height="3024" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_8823.jpg" alt="Lego model of windmill house" class="wp-image-3124"/></figure></div>



<p>Another valuable lesson I took away from the course was the benefit of free build time as well, and letting them be creative. As well as the range of building activities, we had a carpet of bricks in the centre of the space where builders sat and built, when they had completed the activities at their own pace, often incorporating ideas for earlier builds, such as adding story to the Marble Run using mini-figures and props. As a result, the builds started to come alive, to have meaning and to communicate the fun they were having.</p>



<p>I’m delighted with this approach and it took me so long to understand how to make the most of these sessions with young people, however, the course enabled me to reflect on why it hadn’t worked, to place meaning on the activities and to design a session that supported the learning of young people, our builders of the future.</p>



<p>See <strong><a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/?s=lego" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="other articles focusing on Lego">other articles focusing on Lego</a></strong> including <strong><a href="https://ludogogy.co.uk/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="Lindsay's article on Lego® Serious Play®">Lindsay&#8217;s article on Lego<sup>®</sup> Serious Play<sup>®</sup></a></strong></p><p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/">Taking time to get it right – even if it’s three years</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
					<wfw:commentRss>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/taking-your-time-to-get-it-right-even-if-its-up-to-three-years/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Playful Thinkers are Enjoying 2020</title>
		<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020</link>
					<comments>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lindsay Dunbar]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Play]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace Learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lego Serious Play]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/?post_type=article&#038;p=2051</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>I think, as years go, we can all agree 2020 hasn’t been what any of us had in mind. As someone who travels internationally for work, enjoys planning events up to 6 months in advance <a class="mh-excerpt-more" href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/" title="Why Playful Thinkers are Enjoying 2020">[...]</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/">Why Playful Thinkers are Enjoying 2020</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think, as years go, we can all agree 2020 hasn’t been what any of us had in mind. As someone who travels internationally for work, enjoys planning events up to 6 months in advance and draws energy from being in a room of people it has really made me rethink about where to put my energy. What has also been interesting is the demand for playful thinking to solutions and people’s eagerness to engage.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Pre-lockdown, in a time that now resembles the Roman empire before it fell, I was looking at a busy year of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshops. By March, I was looking at my bricks and planning to disinfect them and putting them away for the foreseeable future. And yet, funnily enough 2020 had a different plan.</p>



<p>LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) is a method for exploring issues, using the famous colourful bricks. Through careful facilitation, workshops ensure everyone’s voices are heard in the room by sharing their models. The result is a deeper commitment to the outcomes, as everyone has contributed to the vision. We can create metaphors to explain complex thoughts or place ourselves into the problem to explore it.</p>



<p>As the Spring evolved into Summer, it became clear to me that actually LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® could be a very useful tool for organisations to start exploring their options for moving forward. What better way to explore barriers to development, re-imagining the future and planning how to get there. Using a playful approach, could LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® allow everyone to share their ideas and concerns in order to move forward beyond this annus horribilis?</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="2668184925"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>It didn’t take long to get the answer to my pondering as I was contacted by a creative organisation wanting to explore the future of their sector. Never one to shy away from a challenge we discussed how to approach it concluding that online was the way forward so I dusted off the bricks and posted the packets out to participants &#8211; with the strict instruction not to open them until the session! The element of fun and surprise was needed more than ever.</p>



<p>Since then, I’ve delivered LSP workshops to nearly 150 people online with many more in the pipeline. So what have I learned about playful thinkers in 2020?</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can work well online, if anything it focuses people’s attention on explaining their models and in doing so the meaning is clear to everyone else.</li><li>LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can still ensure that all the voices in the Zoom are heard!</li><li>Allowing people to think about the future, using colourful bricks is great for their well-being. Every session has so much energy and they are back in control of things.</li><li>We love to build and plan. Lockdown made that difficult and yet playful thinkers used it as an opportunity to look at things differently.</li></ul>



<p>Another takeaway for me has been that when we can’t physically be in a room together, working with the same LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® bricks means there is still a deep connection and level of understanding amongst a team. Whereas some teams might shy away from the idea of using LSP as a method to explore issues previously, now we have to re-imagine how we work at a distance, these brilliant bricks are bringing our thinking together more than ever.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="7022105741"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Maybe 2020 is like a LEGO® model we have been working on for a long time, our pride and joy until someone steps on it, or you place a brick on a precarious narrow area and suddenly it collapses. All that work, all that effort and for a while we look at it and wonder what went wrong. Then finally, we pick up the bricks again to start building again, rebuilding stronger, with improvements, accepting the model will never be the way it was, but with some playful thinking it could be even better.</p><p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/">Why Playful Thinkers are Enjoying 2020</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
					<wfw:commentRss>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/why-playful-thinkers-are-enjoying-2020/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Building Wellbeing, One Brick at a Time</title>
		<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time</link>
					<comments>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Theresa Quinn]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2020 12:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[learning topics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lego Serious Play]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/?post_type=article&#038;p=1410</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>I don’t know about you but I felt inundated with challenges during lockdown; 30 day fitness challenges, social media challenges, learn a skill, become fluent in another language. It’s been exhausting just reading them. Coping <a class="mh-excerpt-more" href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/" title="Building Wellbeing, One Brick at a Time">[...]</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/">Building Wellbeing, One Brick at a Time</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don’t know about you but I felt inundated with challenges during lockdown; 30 day fitness challenges, social media challenges, learn a skill, become fluent in another language. It’s been exhausting just reading them. Coping with coronavirus is enough of a challenge.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Challenge implies a battle, a struggle, a competition, striving or proving yourself, not that these are necessarily negative but just exhausting at a time when we are all exhausted anyway. So when someone suggested I run a lockdown Lego challenge I had to take a step back.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-would-that-look-like-how-can-we-reframe-challenge">What would that look like? How can we reframe ‘challenge’?</h3>



<p>So I decided not to ask people to join me in a Lego challenge but to join me in taking some time for themselves and see it as an opportunity to build on wellbeing, to experience something different and see how it can open up new thoughts and ideas about personal wellbeing.</p>



<p>With that in mind, participants were invited to look out some Lego, set aside some time to understand themselves a little more and how positive psychology, Lego and coaching can change how you view your wellbeing.</p>



<p>This led to a week of ‘Building Wellbeing’ online that allowed participants to explore their own current wellbeing in a unique way that combined Positive Psychology Coaching questions with Lego Serious Play. This was in response to how Covid-19 was affecting wellbeing and that all face to face workshops and coaching weren’t taking place.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="2668184925"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="was-it-possible-to-build-wellbeing-using-the-online-space">Was it possible to build wellbeing using the online space?</h3>



<p>Well-being itself is build-able. It isn’t just about the absence of negative functions such as depression, loneliness and illness but about the presence of positive attributes (such as happiness, connection and wellness) that make a person’s life fulfilling. It is about being able to thrive, as well as healing pathology.</p>



<p>In order to allow people to focus on their wellbeing building opportunities were developed based around Martin Seligman’s PERMA Model of Wellbeing. Seligman states Positive Psychology is about the concept of well-being, which he defines using 5 pillars. These 5 elements can help people reach a life of fulfilment, happiness and meaning. They are:</p>



<p><strong>P</strong> – Positive Emotions</p>



<p><strong>E</strong> – Engagement</p>



<p><strong>R </strong>– Relationships</p>



<p><strong>M</strong> – Meaning</p>



<p><strong>A </strong>– Accomplishment</p>



<p>More recently, <strong>Health</strong> has been added as a 6th pillar of well-being as eating well, good sleep and enough exercise are all essential to both our physical and mental health. Health is the corner stone the other pillars rely on. When we pay deliberate attention to these interrelated areas of well-being and take positive action towards them we have the potential to improve individual, organisational and community well-being.</p>



<p>During the Building Wellbeing week, held on LinkedIn, each building opportunity presented enabled participants to focus on one of these aspects of wellbeing. To illustrate, the first aspect of wellbeing to reflect on was Positive Emotions.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="7022105741"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Before, starting the activity it was useful for participants to familiarise themselves with Lego especially if they hadn’t used it for a while. Getting used to how the bricks fit together and thinking about how you could use the Lego to represent your thoughts helped prepare for the coaching question.</p>



<p>Giving themselves time to think whilst building was an integral part of the building opportunity.&nbsp; There were no rules, no expectations. No one to judge the models, no competition. Participants could use as many or as few bricks as needed. There was no right or wrong answer.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="the-positive-emotions-activity-was-to">The Positive Emotions activity was to:</h3>



<p>“Build a model that <strong>reflects what you hope</strong> your life will look like look when you are no longer in lockdown.” Give yourself 20 minutes to complete this task.</p>



<p>Participants were asked to keep their models or take a photo for all the building opportunities during the week and post a photo and any comments/questions they had.</p>



<p>Here is a sample of the insights that participants discovered.</p>



<blockquote><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1583" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-150x150.jpg" alt="Door" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-150x150.jpg 150w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-514x509.jpg 514w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-125x125.jpg 125w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-200x200.jpg 200w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/door-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></figure><p><br>“We have full control to choose whether we walk through the door to a new way and my hope is to walk straight through and enjoy more of the good life, love, beauty, variety and our natural world.”</p></blockquote>



<blockquote><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1582" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/hope-150x150.jpg" alt="Hope" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/hope-150x150.jpg 150w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/hope-125x125.jpg 125w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/hope-200x200.jpg 200w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/hope-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></figure><p><br>“Here is my &#8216;Hope&#8217; model. I&#8217;m probably unlike a lot of people in that I&#8217;m (really really) enjoying lockdown. There&#8217;s such a lot of it that is already good, primarily the vast reduction in road traffic and having more time with my family.&nbsp; A lot of wanting that to remain is tied up in the model &#8211; represented by the prevalence of green.”</p></blockquote>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Positive emotions are represented by feelings such as hope, joy, optimism and gratitude. Focusing on this area of well-being by broadening our experiences means we are more likely to try new things, step out of our comfort zones and engage with other people, enabling us to learn and grow. This in turn allows us to build lasting emotional resources. Focusing on positive emotions puts us on an upward spiral of being more positive and doing and learning more, increasing our levels of well-being. Exploring hope through the building of a Lego model gives participants the time to create new awareness and insights into a hopeful future in a safe environment, enabling them to set realistic and intrinsically motivating goals.</p>



<p>Participants were invited to further building opportunities on the remaining 5 pillars of wellbeing. Such wonderful moments were shared, some deep reflections and a feeling of connection, just some of the feedback on how using Lego influences coaching conversations even when carried out as online building opportunities with conversations, connections and experiences just shared on an online platform.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="678" height="381" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/models-678x381.jpg" alt="lego models" class="wp-image-1588" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/models-678x381.jpg 678w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/models-600x338.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px" /></figure></div>



<p><em>“I found that I was able to really connect to the topic I was building about, on a more emotional level than perhaps I normally would, which was interesting. Also as you can &#8216;rebuild&#8217; any part of it of the model, the process felt more organic and natural, rather than saying something to a coach, then having to say, &#8220;oh what I meant was&#8230;&#8221;.</em></p><p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/">Building Wellbeing, One Brick at a Time</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
					<wfw:commentRss>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/building-wellbeing-one-brick-at-a-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Caterpillars can fly, if they just lighten up…</title>
		<link>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up</link>
					<comments>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Scott Simmerman &#38; Solomon Salvis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Feb 2020 04:54:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace Learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lego Serious Play]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/?post_type=article&#038;p=283</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Two caterpillars were sitting on a wagon and a beautiful butterfly floats by. The one caterpillar then says to the other, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.” Please take a minute <a class="mh-excerpt-more" href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/" title="Caterpillars can fly, if they just lighten up…">[...]</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/">Caterpillars can fly, if they just lighten up…</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Two caterpillars were sitting on a wagon and a beautiful butterfly floats by. The one caterpillar then says to the other, <em>“You’ll never get me up in one of those things.”</em></p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>Please take a minute and think through some implications of those thoughts and the image above and then return here to read on.</p>



<p>Let’s start with a simple truism:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>&nbsp;&nbsp; “Caterpillars can fly if they just lighten up…”</em></p></blockquote>



<p>Now we all know that caterpillars can’t fly and that a transformation is necessary, but the kinds of caterpillars found in our workplaces actually make that choice not to transform, to never free themselves of old baggage and the weight of their decisions. Doubts, bad experiences, past failures and other things all serve to limit the willingness to change, even though change is inevitable.</p>



<p>Playing with new ideas is one way to change perceptions and generate some active involvement in the change process, because another truism is that, “Nobody ever washes a rental car.” Active involvement is essential to developing a sense of ownership and that gives rise to a sense of increased commitment to trying to do things differently.</p>



<p>So, what are some ideas for lightening up, understanding that change is difficult and that implementing improvements is challenging.</p>



<p>People generally want to make workplace improvements but they do not like the discomfort about personal change. It is a Paradox we need to address to implement change. Leadership can help decrease resistance to change by increasing clarity, understanding, perspective and involvement. Teamwork and collaboration and working toward shared goals and objectives can help to decrease resistance.</p>



<p>Peer support for change is also a powerful motivator as is clarifying the issues to better understand organizational dynamics. Feeling that you are being supported in your efforts to implement changes is important.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="2668184925"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>The play is the thing. Serious play focused on impacting issues and opportunities in the workplace can help drive improvement. So, let me share simple exercises you might try to help people better understand the issues around personal resistance to change.</p>



<p>Let’s start by returning to the wagon and discover some thoughts and ideas about change and <em>continuous</em> continuous improvement (from the Department of Redundancy Department!):</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="107" src="https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/waggon-300x107.png" alt="" class="wp-image-285" srcset="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/waggon-300x107.png 300w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/waggon-768x275.png 768w, https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/waggon.png 975w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure>



<p>Step back mentally from the above illustration and consider what it has to do with performance and change.</p>



<p>How might the above image represent some organizational realities – issues of isolation, communications, alignment, expectations, visions, motivation, involvement, commitment, etc. How does disengaging from active involvement in the above situation help one to see things differently and find different viewpoints and realities?</p>



<p>And consider how you can lead a small group discussion about how the above illustration and how it might relate to the reality of your workplace. How might you use this to generate thoughts on possibilities for improvement?</p>



<p>Getting people to consider the many Square Wheels® they perceive is a way to help generate some cognitive dissonance and motivation to change. Talking about Round Wheel possibilities is a way to get people connecting around things that might be done differently. Changing the language of performance is a solid way of generating different perspectives about issues and opportunities.</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="7022105741"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>And how might playing with such a process and using metaphors impact shared views and generate ownership of ideas? Again, the play of the thing is what generates a perceived need to change and the motivation to implement things. Discussion is the first step in generating consensus and possibly leading to teamwork focused on improvement.</p>



<p>Play can be a projective tool for looking at issues and opportunities in a less threatening way than normal discussions, something that allows people to build a base on which to engage. Different people see different aspects of a workplace reality, so play is a way to generate some consensus.</p>



<p>So, in the model above, play can be about <em>“stepping back from the wagon” </em>mentally and facilitation of a small groups working on ideas to define what things might be done to make improvements.</p>



<p>There are many ways of playing with ideas. You could just start brainstorming about ideas and impacts of those ideas and generating consensus for change, and thus building some level of commitment. You can also purchase very inexpensive toolkits around Square Wheels® from our website.</p>



<p>Here is another set of three experiential exercises designed to help people play with the issues around resistance to change. It is a behavioral change framework you can do requiring no tools or training. It is called, “The Finger, Arm and Leg Exercises” and something I have used in hundreds of workshops to help decrease resistance and generate some playfulness around change.</p>



<p>Another fun exercise works around an idea of visioning. You present people with an alternative reality by asking them to discuss the future, improved and enhanced workplace:</p>



<p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4622494880724445" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4622494880724445" data-ad-slot="3534286871"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
</p>



<p>“It’s 2025 and our team has accomplished (factor). What did we do to reach those results / successes?”</p>



<p>Framing it as already accomplished, you can lead the discussion around what needed to be accomplished to reach that success. What roadblocks were managed? What resources were available? What collaboration happened? All this simply identifies what needs to be done to generate change and success.</p>



<p>Playing with LEGO is another approach. There are a wide variety of different resources available for generating ideas. LEGO Serious Play is open-source and you can find a wide range of different tools available. “<strong>Serious Playing with LEGO – Facilitating Engagement with Play</strong>” is a Facebook page Scott operates where people can share issues and opportunities with others and get coaching suggestions about different ideas. Details can found on the Contributors’ Page:</p>



<p>Hands on involvement is subtle way to impact ownership and reduce resistance to change. The key is to generate active involvement and altered views around issues and opportunities. If you are looking to decrease resistance and increase the likelihood of implementing improvements, we suggest you remember this simple thought as an operational reality:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p>“Nobody ever washes a rental car…”</p></blockquote>



<p>Have <strong>Fun</strong> out there!</p>



<p><em>Square Wheels® is a registered trademark of Performance Management Company</em></p>



<p>© Performance Management Company, 2020</p><p>The post <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/">Caterpillars can fly, if they just lighten up…</a> first appeared on <a href="https://ludogogy.professorgame.com">Ludogogy</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
					<wfw:commentRss>https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/article/caterpillars-can-fly-if-they-just-lighten-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		
		
			</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
