Robert Cenek at The Cenek Report points out some enduring wisdom from OD guru Roger Harris.

An organization development intervention should occur at a level no deeper than that required to produce enduring solutions to the problems at hand; and

The intervention should be at a level no deeper than that at which the energy and resources of the client can be committed to problem solving and to change.

The quotes are from an article, Choosing the Depth of Organizational Intervention, written by Harris in 1970, but no less true 38 years later.

Dozens of big companies have started running “serious play” workshops, in which participants construct Lego models to represent business challenges or opportunities. From an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the other day, “Lego Facilitator” Lewis Pinault says:

“We use Lego as a tool that enhances psychological flow. Lego takes people out of their usual comfort zones.”

Psychological flow: good. Lego-free workshop: bad.

Seriously though, it does make sense. Any activity that results in participants setting aside their conscious egos seems likely to produce more creative ideas more quickly.

Another Lego Facilitator, Robert Rasmussen, says the program is effective because it results in 100 percent participation from 100 percent of the group 100 percent of the time.

In general, Rasmussen said Lego is rare in that it functions as a universal language understood by people regardless of their age, race, gender, or culture.

Again, sounds like a cool idea, but I didn’t think it was new. In fact, during the 10 years or so that I worked for a big company, I attended three or four training events in which Legos played a prominent role.

Today, Lego facilitators like Pinault help clients in two-day training sessions at a cost of $7,000.

I guess it was only a matter of time before some consultants got hold of a Good Idea and turned it into a Good and Billable Idea.

Photo from Digger Digger Dogstar.