All the world’s a service,
And all the men and women merely services actors
They have their operants and their operands
And one person in their time co-creates many value offers
So so many apologies. All apologies
Lego Serious Play
and Cocreation
DR STEPHEN DANN, SENIOR LECTURER, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
THAT LEGO GUY, THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS ANZMAC WEBMASTER
STEPHEN.DANN@ANU.EDU.AU | @STEPHENDANN
Who am I?
 Dr Stephen Dann
 Senior Lecturer, Marketing
 Australian National University
 Certified Lego Serious Play Facilitator
 163 Lego Serious Play Sessions
 Practitioner Mode: enabled
A tale of theory and practice
Known Areas of Theory
Constructionism
 form of learning and discovery that
occurs through building something
tangible
 (Roos and Victor 1999 in Kurkousky 2015)
 making objects in the physical world
enables building in the mind
 Rasmussen (2006 in Kurkousky 2015)
 Actualised ideas used for explanation
 Middleton 2015
#LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
Metaphor
 Each builder creates a story telling device
for their thoughts, ideas, feelings
 removes requirements of realism
 Viewers can only question to invite more
explanation of the model
 The viewer cannot reinterpret the builder’s
model
#LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
Flow
 Flow State
 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
 Optimal Stretch Process
 Challenge match skill
 Skills match the challenge
 Concentration + Joy = Motivation
#LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
Play
 Play requires a systematised approach
(Kurkousky, 2015).
 time bounded,
 structured and
 goal driven
#LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
Co-creation
Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2003). The new frontier of experience innovation. MIT Sloan management review, 44(4), 12-19.
Cross Disciplinary Language
 Elements of the LSP Process are defined in
the language of the management
literature
 Agents / Stakeholders
 Business Process / Value Chain
Practitioner Side
Unstructured Play
Lego Serious Play
 Lego Serious Play
 Industry strength protocol
 Developed in-house at Lego
 Open Sourced in 2010
 Used across a wide range of industry types,
platforms and processes.
 Survived market conditions from 1996 to 2017
 Built and described in the language of
management
Blair and Rillo’s (2016) Seven States
 seven potential states:
 framework where it enables participatory performance
 language where it communicates meaning, message and metaphor
 method which involves being systematic in application
 process which invokes a structured approach to the method
 product where it resides within the packages of bricks
 service where it provides as specific outcome from engaging in the process
 toolkit where it functions to create different applications
The Key Bits
 Participatory performance
 success requires all voices in the room to be heard;
 people want to participate in a process where they feel valued;
 shared contributions are more sustainable than individual dominated proceedings;
 untapped knowledge exists through accidental or intentional exclusion of key
informants; and
 that systematic and system thinking can reveal unexplored outcomes
Areas of Exploration
 form of learning and discovery that occurs through
building something tangible
 (Roos and Victor 1999 in Kurkousky 2015)
 making objects in the physical world enables building
in the mind
 Rasmussen (2006 in Kurkousky 2015)
 Actualised ideas used for explanation
 Middleton 2015
 Every story in Lego is a result of the actions of human
agency
 (Said et al, 2001).
Important Research Caveats
Maker owns the meaning of the model No data resides in the n count of bricks
Metaphoraghing is actively discouraged
The Challenge
 The Challenge
 Within the practice of Lego Serious Play facilitation, events that can be described in the
language of marketing are clearly transpiring
 An opportunity to explain and explore LSP actions through our marketing knowledge
 Understanding, unpacking and exploring co-creation within the LSP process.
Questions?

Lego Serious Play and Cocreation

  • 1.
    All the world’sa service, And all the men and women merely services actors They have their operants and their operands And one person in their time co-creates many value offers So so many apologies. All apologies
  • 2.
    Lego Serious Play andCocreation DR STEPHEN DANN, SENIOR LECTURER, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY THAT LEGO GUY, THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS ANZMAC WEBMASTER [email protected] | @STEPHENDANN
  • 3.
    Who am I? Dr Stephen Dann  Senior Lecturer, Marketing  Australian National University  Certified Lego Serious Play Facilitator  163 Lego Serious Play Sessions  Practitioner Mode: enabled
  • 4.
    A tale oftheory and practice
  • 5.
  • 6.
    Constructionism  form oflearning and discovery that occurs through building something tangible  (Roos and Victor 1999 in Kurkousky 2015)  making objects in the physical world enables building in the mind  Rasmussen (2006 in Kurkousky 2015)  Actualised ideas used for explanation  Middleton 2015 #LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
  • 7.
    Metaphor  Each buildercreates a story telling device for their thoughts, ideas, feelings  removes requirements of realism  Viewers can only question to invite more explanation of the model  The viewer cannot reinterpret the builder’s model #LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
  • 8.
    Flow  Flow State Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi  Optimal Stretch Process  Challenge match skill  Skills match the challenge  Concentration + Joy = Motivation #LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
  • 9.
    Play  Play requiresa systematised approach (Kurkousky, 2015).  time bounded,  structured and  goal driven #LSPBAM2017 | @stephendann
  • 10.
    Co-creation Prahalad, C. K.,& Ramaswamy, V. (2003). The new frontier of experience innovation. MIT Sloan management review, 44(4), 12-19.
  • 11.
    Cross Disciplinary Language Elements of the LSP Process are defined in the language of the management literature  Agents / Stakeholders  Business Process / Value Chain
  • 12.
  • 13.
  • 14.
    Lego Serious Play Lego Serious Play  Industry strength protocol  Developed in-house at Lego  Open Sourced in 2010  Used across a wide range of industry types, platforms and processes.  Survived market conditions from 1996 to 2017  Built and described in the language of management
  • 15.
    Blair and Rillo’s(2016) Seven States  seven potential states:  framework where it enables participatory performance  language where it communicates meaning, message and metaphor  method which involves being systematic in application  process which invokes a structured approach to the method  product where it resides within the packages of bricks  service where it provides as specific outcome from engaging in the process  toolkit where it functions to create different applications
  • 16.
    The Key Bits Participatory performance  success requires all voices in the room to be heard;  people want to participate in a process where they feel valued;  shared contributions are more sustainable than individual dominated proceedings;  untapped knowledge exists through accidental or intentional exclusion of key informants; and  that systematic and system thinking can reveal unexplored outcomes
  • 17.
    Areas of Exploration form of learning and discovery that occurs through building something tangible  (Roos and Victor 1999 in Kurkousky 2015)  making objects in the physical world enables building in the mind  Rasmussen (2006 in Kurkousky 2015)  Actualised ideas used for explanation  Middleton 2015  Every story in Lego is a result of the actions of human agency  (Said et al, 2001).
  • 18.
  • 19.
    Maker owns themeaning of the model No data resides in the n count of bricks
  • 20.
  • 21.
    The Challenge  TheChallenge  Within the practice of Lego Serious Play facilitation, events that can be described in the language of marketing are clearly transpiring  An opportunity to explain and explore LSP actions through our marketing knowledge  Understanding, unpacking and exploring co-creation within the LSP process.
  • 22.

Editor's Notes