Flow Concepts provides workshops on team dynamics and wellbeing on behalf of the TU/e innovation Space.
The TU/e innovation Space is TU/e’s center of expertise for Challenge-Based Learning and entrepreneurship, a learning place for educational innovation and an open community where students, researchers, business and civil society organizations can exchange knowledge and devise responsible solutions to the world’s complex challenges.
The student teams of the TU/e innovation Space can use the Teamflow Coaches of Flow Concepts upon request. This if, for example, they get stuck in collaboration or need new input.
Team Aster is an example of a student team that enlisted the help of Flow Concepts. Aster was founded by students with the goal of using a satellite to conduct space research for a better world.
In fact, at the European Space Agency (ESA) there is a program where student teams and universities can submit an application together. Based on what the ESA experts think will work, they are then possibly accepted and the ESA helps from there with design modifications, testing on Earth, and launch. To that end, ESA provides platforms and a network to help build and launch your satellite safely. So super cool to participate in as a student team!
Team Aster was founded specifically to make space research more accessible to TU/e students and to create a place where students can express their passion and ambitions for space research. The team of 9 students wants to launch the first TU/e satellite into space and use the collected data to make the world a little better. What future Willie Root wouldn’t want that!
So why did Team Aster get stuck anyway?
Before the TU/e students were actually allowed to launch the satellite into space, it had to be clear with what application goal they were doing so. In several creative sessions, Team Aster eventually set itself the goal of using the satellite to collect data for farmers. They wanted to provide farmers with advice on optimizing the fertility of their fields. An enormously cool and valuable idea!
With this goal, they then set to work with each other with great motivation. However, after two months they found out that there was already a company implementing this idea and they were not allowed to continue with this idea. This setback caused an enormous dip in the motivation of the TU/e students and with it, the positive team dynamic that had previously felt so good to be part of disappeared. The team no longer functioned and it was high time for an intervention!
How Flow Concepts came to the aid of Team Aster.
In the intake interviews with the Teamflow Coaches of Flow Concepts, it quickly became clear that a closer look at the current situation needed to be taken with all team members involved. What was going on here? To bring this into focus, it seemed useful to the Teamflow Coaches involved to use the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method.
The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) method is a communicative and problem-solving process in which participants are presented with different issues that are explored in increasing depth. Using Lego building pieces, each participant builds his or her own answer to the issue. Based on this, information is shared with each other, problem-solving discussions and decisions are made.
This proved to be a very effective tool! While taking stock of the current situation, however, the students soon realized that together they had already achieved a great deal. They had already paved the way for future generations of TU/e students to work on other applications of space research. Okay, they could not continue with their own application aimed at farmers, but should another idea arise, other TU/e students would quickly be able to make use of what they had already established. Therefore, could that not become the higher collective ambition for this first generation of Team Aster?
This realization, which slowly grew in each team member during the workshop, provided a huge boost of renewed energy halfway through the workshop which was converted into formulating a renewed collective ambition for team Aster! And this new collective ambition was built on the spot with LEGO creating a new concrete story of why team Aster exists and where they could move to in the long term!
See here the explanation of the structure which was then created:
We are now five months along and are very curious to see how things are progressing in realizing this renewed collective ambition of team Aster. We ask Kashan Alidjan (team lead Aster).
How did you experience the workshop?
We were given the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop, where we were going to use random blocks to approach certain situations in the team. This was to make everyone’s vision visible. This improved communication because, under the guidance of two experts, we now sat down together for the first time to put our problems on the table. To deal with LEGO like this seemed very peculiar at first but the purpose soon became clear. “Build the current team situation in which you are now”, “Build the situation towards which you could move together”. It probes into what you really think about something and besides that it was super fun.
What was the short-term effect?
In the short term, this boosted our motivation tremendously. Part is because we could never take the time right to face our problems and part is because we didn’t know what to do with them. It really pulled us together now and we were referred to a contact who was working on a similar mission. It helped us all get on the same page so we could move forward from there. We weren’t out of the storm yet, but at least we saw a way forward.
What was the long-term effect?
We have been working toward our renewed mission for almost six months now. So the handover to the new generation of team members has become very important. We are well on our way to building a working platform and already leaving material in some places that the rest can do something with. We are even going to launch a mini prototype next spring in a so-called sub-orbital flight. This means we will send a chip and sensors into space, then after a few minutes it will come back to Earth. A huge step from the rut we were in before!
What do you take away from this experience?
What had really stuck with me is that just like in real life, you have bins full of possibilities to build something. But it’s really about what you already have yourself and what you want to do with it. That sounds like something everyone inherently understands, but when you jump from event to project to research, you quickly lose track. Flow Concepts’ LEGO SERIOUS PLAY workshop helps tremendously with that, making a connection between what you think is going on and what others think is going on. Communication is the key to success and we relived that realization!
Would you and your team like to use Lego Serious Play as well? Please contact us for an intake interview. Would you like to work as a facilitator with Lego Serious Play in team development projects aimed at stimulating team flow? Then register here for our Training in using Lego Serious Play for Teamfow or contact us for more information.
