ARTICLE
WELLNESS
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
In today's fast-paced organizational environment, teams often struggle to effectively process and express complex emotions, particularly during periods of change or stress. At Play Seriously Consulting, we've discovered that LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) offers a uniquely powerful approach to helping teams navigate their emotional landscape while maintaining professional boundaries.
The Power of Emotional Expression Through Building
Traditional approaches to managing team emotions often rely heavily on verbal expression, which can be challenging in professional settings. Research in emotional intelligence suggests that "the ability to recognize and effectively communicate emotions is fundamental to workplace success" (Goleman, 2020). However, finding appropriate ways to express these emotions in professional contexts remains a significant challenge.
LEGO SERIOUS PLAY bridges this gap by providing a structured, professional method for emotional expression. The physical act of building creates what Gestalt practitioners call a "safe experiment" - a contained way to explore emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them.
From Individual Insight to Collective Understanding
In our Wellness Play workshop series, we witnessed the transformative power of this approach. Participants built models representing their experiences of work stress, creating physical manifestations of their emotional challenges. As one participant noted, "Expressing myself through LEGO and articulating those thoughts help to pinpoint the exact feelings." This concrete representation enabled more precise identification and communication of complex emotional states.
The process of building and sharing creates what Daniel Stern terms "moments of meeting" - opportunities for genuine emotional connection within professional boundaries. These moments are particularly powerful because they occur within a structured, purposeful context that maintains psychological safety.
Building Emotional Awareness
Research shows that "emotional granularity, or the ability to construct precise emotional experiences, is associated with better emotional coping" (Barrett, 2017). LSP naturally facilitates this process. When team members build models representing their emotional experiences, they engage in a form of emotional differentiation - distinguishing between similar but distinct emotional states.
The physical nature of the models helps teams move beyond vague emotional descriptions to more nuanced understanding. A model showing intersecting structures might represent the complexity of competing priorities, while elevated elements could symbolize aspirational goals. These tangible representations enable teams to discuss emotional content with greater precision and professional distance.
Creating Sustainable Emotional Intelligence
The impact of this work extends beyond the workshop setting. As teams develop their capacity for emotional expression through LSP, they build what Peter Salovey terms "emotional scaffolding" - sustainable structures for ongoing emotional awareness and communication. This development of team emotional intelligence creates lasting patterns of healthy emotional expression and management.
Most remarkably, as one participant observed, "I am amazed that a group of people who don't know each other could open up so quickly. The concept of 'play' helps to bypass people's usual defenses and makes them less guarded." This natural bypassing of defensive barriers allows for authentic emotional exploration while maintaining professional composure.
The ability to navigate complex team emotions is increasingly recognized as crucial for organizational success. LSP provides a structured, professional approach to this challenge, allowing teams to develop emotional intelligence through concrete, hands-on experiences. Through this work, we've seen teams transform their emotional awareness and communication, creating more resilient and emotionally intelligent workplace cultures.
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Ready to help your team develop more effective ways of managing complex emotions? Contact us to learn how our unique approach using LEGO SERIOUS PLAY can transform your team's emotional intelligence.
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Sources and Further Reading
Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Goleman, D. (2020). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books.
Stern, D. N. (2004). The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life. Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology.
Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185-211.
Perls, F., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P. (1951). Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality.
