Nice to see you!

We did some LEGO® Serious Play® together, right?

Thanks for taking the time to follow up and find out more following my LEGO Serious Play workshops at an education event recently. Here you’ll find more info about me, how I can help you out, and how to get in touch with me.

tl;dr

(too long, didn’t read)

I know you’re busy, so here’s the whole page in brief.

I used to teach kids, then I taught adults, now I help people have more creative, authentic conversations that matter. I do this with a big bag of LEGO and a method called LEGO Serious Play.

LEGO Serious Play (or “LSP” for short) is a facilitated method for conducting big conversations amongst adults (it can work on young people too, but I recommend getting the hang of it on its intended audience first). It has deep roots in play based, constructivist, and constructionist learning, and in the neuroscience of the hand-brain connection. It is designed to overcome the conventional barriers to communication, and is excellent at getting people thinking more broadly and deeply, sharing their insight more authentically, and finding solutions to the actual challenges in the room, rather than just the surface interpretation of them with their potentially detrimental assumptions intact.

The LEGO becomes the common language as participants use the bricks as metaphors for their ideas as they build models to respond to some big, open ended questions designed to steer the group towards the solutions they’ve come looking for.

  • I can train and certify people in your school to run LSP workshops themselves.
  • I can consult, collaborate, and co-design with people I’ve trained to take it in new directions.
  • I can come to your school and run LSP workshops for you.

Or I could do a combination of all 3 things.

You can reach me by:

Introductions

Hi! I’m Joel Birch.

I’m a longtime K-12 educator, and I spent a long time as an instructional coach with a focus on the creative and critical use of  learning technologies. These days I work with school leaders to help them conduct the big, important conversations that help them to steer their schools towards their preferred vision of the future. Conversations that invite the unique perspective of everyone at the table, graciously facilitated to help the contributions that connect find their right place. 

(I’m also a conscientious objector to ever fully growing up.)

As a Certified Facilitator and Pro Trainer of LEGO Serious Play, I rely wholeheartedly upon the power of play, stories, and solving problems by thinking with our hands. In doing this I help individuals, teams, and communities to begin from an honest and authentic place to craft deep understanding, rich communication, and creative solutions. I also train and certify others to design and facilitate those conversations by themselves.

Why work on a challenge when you could play with it instead?

Building on a successful career enabling and developing the creativity of children and their teachers in schools in Perth and internationally, I now work across a wide range of industries, with groups ranging from youth to senior leadership.

Before we get into details from the event…

what is LEGO Serious Play?

LEGO Serious Play is a powerful, world-renowned method for facilitating important meetings, workshops, and conversations. It leverages the power of play-based learning to get the people at the table thinking at their best and most creative, and it is designed to overcome the conventional barriers to communication. The LEGO bricks become metaphors for the ideas in participants’ heads, helping them to make connections (figuratively and literally) that might otherwise slip through the cracks. It is this alchemy of the hand-brain connection and a collection of unique-looking LEGO models that makes it an intensely collaborative experience that gives consensus and dissent an appreciative place to coexist and balance each other in nuance.

The result is a far more honest, authentic conversation that gives each participant the time they need to convey their perspective in full, having first deeply understood it for themselves. The outcomes are as diverse as the intentions we begin with. What makes them shine is a complex topic of conversation, the curiosity to hear and appreciate every voice at the table, and the sense that there’s no single “right answer.”

here’s how I can help.

Facilitation

If your school has a big conversation coming up that really needs the best of everyone at the table, you can do better than talk and sticky notes.

Think leaders’ retreats, strategic planning, recruitment (yes!), farewells and onboarding, community consultation…

Training

Make deep, authentic, creative conversations part of your culture by upskilling some people inside your school as Certified Facilitators of LEGO Serious Play.

Attend a public course, work together for a custom in-house program, or invite others for a hybrid of the two.

Co-Design

As much as I love a business model that makes me redundant (it keeps me on my toes!), it’s always a thrill to help a school continue to build on their practice.

If your ideas are bigger than the ongoing support offered to all training alumni, this is for you.

Coaching

I spent a long time working as an instructional coach across a wide range of schools in Western Australia, and I miss it.

I’m getting back in touch with those roots and offering a transition coaching program for 5 educators in 2024. Reach out to learn more.

sounds great!

I’m still curious, what next?

Send me an email

Got questions? Curious about LSP for your school? Want to see training in your city? Let’s talk more.

Schedule a Call

Want to experience the process and bring others from your team in on the conversation?

Explore Training

Want training & certification for your school? In-house, or a hybrid public course.

Attend a course

I’ve got upcoming certification courses in Perth and around Asia. Want to join?