Most executives dread the drill: gather the leadership team in a boardroom, cover the walls with sticky notes, and begin the torturous march toward articulating a vision and mission. What should be inspiring often turns into wordsmithing marathons. Discussions stall, debates over semantics flare, and the resulting plan can feel like a compromised consensus rather than a bold statement of purpose. For many leaders, the process feels less like creativity and more like a chore. Which raises the question: is there a smarter way to do this critical work?

The Osborne Group knows how. As one of its many approaches to strategic planning it offers an out-of-the-box, facilitation method using LEGO bricks called LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP). Literally out-of-the-box come hundreds of LEGO pieces to build future possibilities, a roadmap to get there or solutions to problems.

At a recent strategic planning day using LSP an Osborne client used LEGO bricks to describe team tensions. Each team then built a model of the organization’s future. As they shared their stories behind the models, they were surprised at the similarities. From those models, the groups moved to language to produce new vision and mission statements. The alignment on meaning had already been achieved. The words become the last step, not the stumbling block. By the end of the day, LSP delivered a greater sense of cohesion and a strategic vision and mission built by everyone.

LSP levels the playing field. Every voice – and not just the loudest – gets heard. It accelerates alignment. The challenge to be creative engages everyone – unlocking a sense of play long lost since childhood. And most important, people remember the work because it uses storytelling, metaphors and images and not just talk.

It’s not just child’s play. LSP is grounded in neuroscience, systems thinking and organizational development practice. Our hands are deeply wired into the brain, so using them activates networks for thinking, memory, and language. By turning abstract ideas into physical models, we make concepts easier to see, share, remember, modify and articulate more quickly.

LSP has been serious business for businesses like NASA. NASA’s Science Activation (SciAct) program — which funds dozens of projects to translate NASA research into tools for educators, classrooms and the public — included LSP in its 2023 annual team meeting to help participants improve communication and collaboration. LSP helped bridge communication gaps between groups who don’t always “speak the same language.”

Besides everyone speaking the same language, the Return on Investment can include fewer follow-up meetings, faster consensus, and stronger buy-in from the workers who need to champion the result. This isn’t about playing with toys. It’s about giving your team a structured, proven method to solve problems faster and better. LEGO is just the medium — the real value is in how it gets people thinking, talking, and aligning in ways traditional workshops often fall short. Intrigued with the serious value of play?

Contact The Osborne Group principals Judy Fantham or Fred Pitt to discuss how we can help your organization with better defining its vision and mission.

Watch our video to learn more: https://youtu.be/cIjEg3zwVGM?si=o8K9JnmFHtzC0Ig0