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Jul 5th 2007 | From the print edition

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Management

Piecing things togetherWhat companies can learn from playing with Lego

WHEN recruiting at British universities, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy,presents candidates with an unusual exercise. They are asked to build a tall and sturdytower using the smallest possible number of snap-­together Lego bricks. Similarly, atGoogle Games, a recruiting event first staged by the search-­engine giant in April,candidates are invited to build Lego bridges—the stronger the better. In each case, thecompany is trying to convey the idea that it offers a creative, fun working environment. “Itwas as much advertising as a way of trying to get recruits,” says Brett Daniel, a student atthe University of Illinois at Urbana-­Champaign who built the Google Games' weakestbridge.

The eponymous Danish firm, based in Billund, Denmark, has embraced the corporateuse of its coloured plastic bricks. As part of a scheme called “Serious Play” it is certifyinga growing number of professional Lego consultants, now present in 25 countries. Theycoach managers by getting them to build “metaphorical abstractions” of such things ascorporate strategy, says Lego's Jesper Jensen, who runs the scheme. Hisham El-­Gamalof Quest, a management consultancy based in Cairo that offers Serious Play workshops,says demand for the two-­day, $7,000 courses is booming.

Firms in crisis, such as those besmirched by scandal or in the throes of a takeover, tendto be most receptive to the idea of Lego workshops, says François de Boissezon ofImagics, a consultancy based in Brussels. The results can be embarrassing, particularlyfor senior managers. Tsai Yu-­Chen of UGene Mentor, a Serious Play consultancy basedin Taipei, says a common exercise is modelling, but not naming, “the people you hatemost”. One chief executive was modelled as a figure so fat that he blocked a hallway,suggesting he was clogging up the company.

Lego workshops are effective because child-­like play is aform of instinctive behaviour not regulated by consciousthought, says Lucio Margulis of Juego Serio, a consultancyin Buenos Aires. This produces “Eureka” moments: aperfectionist who realises the absurdity of frustration over animperfect Lego construction;; the owner of a firm with dismalcustomer relations who models headquarters as a fort undersiege;; or an overbearing boss who depicts his staff assoldiers headed into battle. Even in the office, it seems,Lego has a part to play.

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