Workshop Title
Company leaders across the country coming together to talk about identity, leadership, and their future, amidst change.
client
Engineering company for the resources sector
Group
Extended leadership team of 30. 24 in Perth, 6 remotely from Brisbane
Duration
Half Day
The objective was to reunite and recharge their leadership team to learn from each other align themselves following the initial disruption of COVID-19.
Approach & Format
Late 2020 in Perth offered a unique-in-the-world opportunity to experiment with hybrid LEGO Serious Play – partly in person (due to WA’s firm border control), and partly online. The company’s Brisbane office was also able to gather (due to Australia’s firm border control) and call in via videoconference, and leaders from offices around the world were able to join remotely as individuals.
The session focused on their individual capacity and character as leaders, and how that came together to lead the company as a strong collective.
Identity as a leader – self awareness and perception by colleagues
X-factor & distinctiveness
Late 2020 in Perth offered a unique-in-the-world opportunity to experiment with hybrid LEGO Serious Play – partly in person (due to WA’s firm border control), and partly online. The company’s Brisbane office was also able to gather (due to Australia’s firm border control) and call in via videoconference, and leaders from offices around the world were able to join remotely as individuals.
The session focused on their individual capacity and character as leaders, and how that came together to lead the company.
Identity as a leader – self awareness and perception by colleagues
X-factor & disrtinctiveness
Highlights
Two big highlights in this session.
The first came reasonably early. I anticipated that it might be a little bit challenging to manage the hybrid nature of the workshop with some variables out of my control in the Brisbane office, and a lot of variables outside my control with the individuals calling in from Central Asia (think places with reputations for cold air and big birds of prey). Watching Brisbane build and annotate their shared model, I saw a big dinosaur find its way to the top of a tree, with a cow in its mouth by the head. It was labelled “EAT THE WEAK.” I sighed a little bit, bracing myself to graciously deal with the rowdy kids at the back of the classroom. When it came time to share their story, they spoke about the fact that it’s easy to get to the top of the tree with empty promises, the real strength is in staying there based on excellence. That’ll teach me to judge before I’ve heard them out!
The other big highlight was at the end of the session. The CEO sat back in his chair, casting his eye over everything they’d built and laid out, and said “we could not have got that conversation out in any other way.”
Outcomes
This session gave the group a clear shared understanding of their role, impact, and presence as leaders in the company, with a strong, cohesive picture of where they wanted to lead it to. To keep it grounded and to keep the sugar-coating at bay, they had built in a practical, reasonable array of the supports and obstacles they might encounter in putting their leadership into practice.
At the conclusion of the session, the CEO sat back in his chair, surveying all that they had built and commented to his group “we could not have got this conversation out in any other way.”
