As long as one adheres to the Creative Commons license framework, respecting the brand guidelines established by The LEGO® Company for LSP and other intellectual property and copyrights, anyone can offer facilitator training in the LSP method in the Open Source version or its derivatives.

“Trainers” authorized by the Global Serious Games Institute (GSGi) possess over 5 years of extensive experience in real-world application contexts of the methodology, as well as specific preparation in training facilitators. Thanks to the polycentric system, we offer a transparent accreditation process for new Trainers, ensuring respect for the values of the LSP method and “serious play” in general. The GSGi Technical-Scientific Committee and the international community of facilitators accredit new Trainers by evaluating not only their vast experience but also their professional and human values; in this way, we eliminate the political or commercial factors that often arise in centralized and less transparent contexts.

This is an important question. If you are thinking of training as a facilitator, we recommend carefully studying the content offered and the instructor’s experience. The most important thing is to verify that signing contracts or agreements imposed by the training entity does not limit your complete and legitimate post-training freedom (while protecting any intellectual property of the training entity). Furthermore, if possible, seek references from someone who has already participated in these training programs.

The idea of using LEGO® bricks in business matters was born in 1995. Between 1995 and 1999, Johan Roos and Bart Victor experimented with this concept. In 1999, they developed version 1.0 with the contribution of Robert Rasmussen. The LEGO® Company did not participate in the initial development of LSP but was one of the companies where the LSP methodology was used as a research and development tool. LSP was officially launched in late 2002 and developed under the supervision of Executive Discovery LLC, a company owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the current owner of the LEGO® Company. Executive Discovery organized facilitator certification events in the US and Denmark and managed all LSP intellectual property rights and the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® name until 2004.

The company closed in 2004, and LSP rights were acquired by the LEGO® Company, which remains the owner of the brand. Between 2004 and 2010, the LEGO® company attempted to establish a sustainable business unit based on a licensing model. In 2010, they realized this model was incompatible with their core business (producing and selling bricks) and subsequently closed the business unit dedicated to managing licenses for LSP use.

All known versions of LSP are generated autonomously and arbitrarily by various independent entities; none officially come from the LEGO® Company, which permanently stopped proprietary methodological development with the release of LSP as an Open Source methodology in 2010. The original version of LSP, released as Open Source, consists of a skills development section based on three phases and three applications: real-time personal identity, real-time strategy for the team, and real-time strategy for the organization. All subsequent versions consist of a concrete methodology allowing facilitators to design customized workshops for a wide range of applications and variable durations (from 2 hours to 2 days). Clearly, the quality of each version is determined by the competence of the entity designing it, their field experience, the theoretical knowledge it is based on, competence in designing and implementing training experiences, investment in continuous development of the methodology itself, and, not least, the alliances and ecosystem involving it. Since 2016, a group of highly experienced facilitators from Italy, Spain, England, and various Latin American countries, aware of the features and limitations of existing LSP versions, undertook the development of a broad and flexible application system, catalyzed particularly by Lucio Margulis’s continuous experimentation worldwide. With the 2020-2021 pandemic, this effort accelerated in the face of the evident need for a more flexible and open application version meeting current professional and participant needs. Thus, the Serious Games System (SGS) methodology was born, supported by years of global LSP application experience and the methodological use and development of other “serious games” tools; as well as extensive theoretical foundations in new cognitive sciences, socio-technical organizational model development, complexity sciences, and related disciplines. The SYSTEM version of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® was launched in 2023.

In 2010, a small but determined community of LSP professionals, including Lucio Margulis, believed in the method and built their business around the LSP methodology. The LEGO® company did not want to deprive these professionals of the opportunity to practice LSP. Furthermore, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and the new CEO believed in the method’s potential, so they decided that the use of the LSP name and basic method concepts should be publicly available, joining Creative Commons to authorize public brand use while recognizing LEGO® Company rights (the so-called Open Source version of LSP).

Since 2010, The LEGO® Company continues to produce and market four brick sets (kits) designed specifically for the LSP method. These “kits” are distributed via the official LEGO website. The LEGO® Company does not endorse any LSP method training programs, nor the people offering these programs.

Anyone can use LSP in its Open Source version as part of their business proposal, provided they respect the guidelines indicated by The LEGO® Company regarding the LSP brand and adhere to other intellectual property and copyrights.

From 2002 to 2010, only Executive Discovery and subsequently the LEGO® Company were the only ones authorized to certify LSP facilitators. Furthermore, only after completing training and paying the license fee to Executive Discovery/LEGO® Company was the purchase of special LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® kits allowed. Lucio Margulis was trained by the LEGO® company during that period.

No, they operate under the same conditions as anyone else practicing LSP. The only distinction is that they are the only facilitators who can refer to themselves as “Facilitators trained in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®”.

No. Although The LEGO® Company recommends that facilitators participate in a training course before using the LSP method, there is no official facilitator training program approved by them.

No. There are no facilitators officially designated by The LEGO® Company, nor LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Master Trainers, nor facilitator trainers. Since 2010, there has been no LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Training Board or Advisory Council, nor LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® partners with special status or formal relationships with The LEGO® Company. No association, group, or individual facilitator enjoys the formal support of The LEGO® Company.