How Complex Business Challenges Can Be Met with Lego

In an increasingly tech-driven world, efactory takes the opposite approach, helping organizations solve complex problems with Lego bricks. It’s not a gimmick—it’s Lego Serious Play, a research-backed methodology that uses hands-on building to unlock creativity and strengthen connections.

The idea is simple: Hands-on building and creating engages the brain differently than reading slides or writing notes on a whiteboard. “You’re creating and moving, generating so many more ideas than you would writing something down,” says Lance Coffman, efactory’s Senior Program Manager for Strategic Initiatives.

Lego Serious Play shines in that shift from abstract to tangible. “It’s a creative environment, but one that’s open without criticism,” Coffman says. “As a team, you build out this whole ecosystem of metaphors, and from there, you start building solutions.”

While the method has countless applications, efactory tailors its program for strategic planning, team building and leadership development. During sessions, teams may build an entire model of their organization: Lego bricks representing departments, supply chains and goals. From there, they identify bottlenecks and test solutions by literally rebuilding the system.

The Lego Serious Play method originated in Denmark in the 1970s and has been used worldwide since the ‘90s. efactory brought it to southwest Missouri in late 2024, with Coffman and two colleagues completing an intense week-long training to become trained facilitators. Pilot programs showed tremendous promise, and efactory began offering more sessions this fall.