What happens when working mothers build what they cannot say.
A LEGO® Serious Play® workshop on work identity, professional confidence, and what it means to hold a career alongside the identity of “mother”.
Collage of three photos showing women’s hands building with LEGO bricks.
Holding two identities at once.
The women who came to this workshop were at very different stages of their careers — some freelancing, some building businesses, some in established roles, some navigating a career break or return. What linked them was not a stage, but a question: how do you hold a professional identity and a mother identity at the same time, without losing either?
For many, that question had been circling for a long time. Some had talked about it — with partners, with coaches, with colleagues. Talking, it turned out, had only taken them so far.
“I got insights I haven’t got from talking - despite having talked a lot about work”
Freelance English Teacher.
A consistent theme emerged across the feedback: participants accessed something that talk alone had not reached. This is the methodological proposition of LEGO® Serious Play® — that thinking with the hands activates a different kind of knowing.
Bypassing the social filter. Verbal communication is shaped by audience awareness. Physical building is not. Participants reported saying — through their builds — things they would have softened or withheld in conversation.
Permission to not know yet. One participant described not feeling "tethered to the meaning" — she could build before she understood, and meaning emerged from the process rather than preceding it.
Activating play-state cognition. The shift into "play mode" lowered the threshold for idea generation, reducing the activation energy needed to move from stuck to generative.
Three images of LEGO Serious Play models showing the outcomes from the workshop session
"It helped bypass fear and procrastination. By putting us into 'play mode,' my brain became more open; ideas flowed more easily, often sparked by a specific colour or a unique shape."
Senior Process Excellence Manager.
A.M. ADVISORY - LEGO SERIOUS PLAY FACILITATION
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