Lego team building ideas?

[dmc]

Hi,

Been challenged with coming up with a team building exercise for work. As my desk is covered in Lego, this seems an obvious idea to combine the two :-)

So, any one got any ideas? I've seen the Serious play stuff, but that's a bit large scale (at least a day, maybe more). I've got a couple of hours to do something. Group is fairly large - maybe 50 people so would need to be several teams.

• Tower building? How to get team building ideas into that? Seen something fairly complex around profit etc that might work, but sounds difficult to explain to a large group!
  
• Different sets, with different teams having missing bits?
  
• No instructions, one team telling another team how to build a set by describing pieces and where to place them?
  

Any ideas? Or even better, any experience of doing this sort of thing? Failing that, has anyone actually done the Lego Serious play stuff? Looks interesting, but they don't seem to have anything small scale that would work for a couple of hour slot that I can see...

Cheers!

Darren

[Off the wall]

I know one guy who bought several of the architecture studio 21050 sets, gave one to each 'team' in his group and gave out awards based on design and complexity. I know it's out of fashion in many American institutions, but he had winners and losers. He gave them some time to look at the very informative book that's included with 21050.

[legoman19892]

You can also expand Off the Wall's idea to the big creator brick box.

Edited June 22, 2015 by legoman19892

[Peppermint_M]

Building a set from only the pictures is also a good one. On a similar vein, plain 2x4 bricks and a request for the teams to build a certain thing from those bricks. Like a Dog, or a head or something. They have to work together in turning small rectangles into something that is not known to be rectangular. It does need plenty of plain bricks though.

[dmc]

hmmm... interesting idea. Something like the Lego game where you have to build something and get others to guess maybe. Could be fun, although need to think about the "team building" bit I guess. Good thinking though.

[xx69]

Hi !

I'm a agile coach and I use lego a lot in helping people understand issue about there organization.

Lego Serious play is not for the type of activities you want to to has it's more a tool to enhance creativity and help solving complex problems.

For more fun/group activity with purpose to amuse people you could consider the following games using lego. They are part of trainings for agile method but can be use as standalone activities.

Lego 4 scrum a simulation of Scrum with lego (see agile scrum method)

http://www.lego4scrum.com

Lego Flow game (demonstrate the use of a Kanban to monitor a flow).

http://availagility....lego-flow-game/

Lego Cynefin (show how management reacts on various situation)

http://www.agile42.c...efin-lego-game/

Birdie Birdie, game about expressing needs and how they are understand.

http://www.cyment.co...-Birdie.0.1.pdf

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions

maxime

Edited June 22, 2015 by xx69

[dmc]

Oooooo, Lego Scrum is interesting... something parts of the dept use, so that might be great. Will have a look at the other ideas, thanks!

[xx69]

you're welcome. Please tell me how goes your animation, I'm interested in feedback.

maxime

[Legocity2713]

Building a set from only the pictures is also a good one. On a similar vein, plain 2x4 bricks and a request for the teams to build a certain thing from those bricks. Like a Dog, or a head or something. They have to work together in turning small rectangles into something that is not known to be rectangular. It does need plenty of plain bricks though.

Yeah. Well, its a good time to head out to the PaB wall.

But seriously...

These other ideas are great.

I was gonna say to maybe check out activities from Lego conventions, such as Philly Brick Fest, and use some of those.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Legocity2713

[SERVATOR]

I was gonna say to maybe check out activities from Lego conventions, such as Philly Brick Fest, and use some of those.

For example?

[legoman19892]

Assign them an object to build. Each person in the group rotates adding one piece.

[Legocity2713]

For example?

Have teams build a car using Lego then slide them down a ramp from a table and see which is fastest. Construct and reconstruct time and time again, enhancing the car and learning from your mistakes.

See who can build a set fastest. Either each person builds their own or the way that strengthens a team more is to have teams of a few people in a line and each person switches between building a certain part of a set.

For example: one person builds for two minutes, and after his/her allotted time is over the next person goes, picking up where their teammate left off. This continues until the build is finished.

Polybags!!! Buy 2 kinds of polybags, for example, the Joker Bumper Cart and the Halloween Pumpkin, and have teams combine them into something creative. This activity takes some cues from the Lego Movie, inspiring creativity and team work. Maybe have each person on a team build their own combo and have members vote as to which is the best one. The best build from each team moves on and competes with the others. The most creative or best looking one wins.

I'm sure more activity ideas could be found on the Brick Fest Live website or reviews from attendees.

[SERVATOR]

In this sense classic MOD of one set made by few groups would also be good excercise. :)

[Tariq j]

Interesting thread, I have two ideas you could use. The first one is a sort of survival game with a Lego twist, basically the teams are put in survival scenarios and using a given amount of bricks, build 12 objects they think will help them.

The second is the teams have to build a bridge that can support at least one human.

[dmc]

love the idea of building a bridge strong enough to stand on, but pretty sure I'll not have the budget for that scale!

I'm thinking something around the idea of communication - people trying to build a set without knowing what it is, only building based on instructions passed from other team members. Person building never sees the intstructions etc.

Maybe to encourage the idea of commucation, instruction, listening etc. Need to think of suitable sets (cheapish, won't take 2 mins to build, but won't take hours!). Dunno, feels like there might be possibilities there though :-)

Some great ideas here so far, keep them coming :-)

[legoman19892]

Doesn't the enforce peoples position of leaders and followers? It that not bad?

Edited June 23, 2015 by legoman19892

[dmc]

Doesn't the enforce peoples position of leaders and followers? It that not bad?

Yep, possibly. As I say, would need to think about how it could actually work.

Maybe have the managers being the followers, and have more junior staff telling them what to do for once

[Waniciala]

When I did virtual team building, I did the basic tower challenge with lego. The rules are simple. Divide your group into equal teams of three to five people and give each team the same number and sizes of Lego pieces. Whichever team can build the tallest freestanding structure in a set time, like 10 or 20 minutes, wins the challenge. The towers must stand on their own for 60 seconds. To make the challenge more entertaining, have them accomplish the task without speaking or specify that the building must be built on an inverted object like a coffee cup or water glass. I hope you enjoy it!