Leadership Lincoln Builds Teams While Playing Legos

One unique aspect of Leadership Lincoln (www.leadershiplincoln.org) programs is that they bring together people from a wide variety of backgrounds. From manufacturing line workers to chief executive officers, high school students to advanced degree holders, suburban dwellers and central city residents . . . these and many more descriptors could be applied to the individuals in their four main programs. One of the first challenges faced is bringing them together to work as a team. And that’s where the Legos come in.

Participants are organized into teams of 5 to 7 members and each given identical sets of 15 Legos. In an adjacent room, using an identical set of Lego blocks, Leadership Lincoln constructed a design on a table. Each team may send one person at a time to look at the Lego design and return to their team with what they saw. Then another team member will go and report back, then a third, and so forth. The rule is they can only look at the display in the other room. No smartphone photos, drawings or written notes allowed. Teams have 30 minutes to take their Lego pieces and duplicate the model in the adjacent room.

Leadership Lincoln promotes civic engagement and that happens best when people work together as a team. Building teams is one such example, and yes, some of it happens using Legos. For more information about Leadership Lincoln and their programs, please visit www.leadershiplincoln.org or call (402) 441-4661.