“ People consistently report high levels of engagement because the process is meaningful, their skills are balanced with the task, and they have tools to express new information.“

Seymour Papert, the father of constructionism, observed that people are inherently motivated by ambitious challenges, even those that require significant effort. Hard Fun is when enjoyment and difficulty come together to form an engaging and satisfying activity. Papert highlighted that children like challenging activities as long as they are also engaging and observed that “learning is essentially hard; it happens best when one is deeply engaged in hard and challenging activities.”

The LSP method exemplifies this principle. The method demands that participants think with their hands, construct metaphorical representations of complex ideas, and engage in deep reflection and dialogue—all challenging cognitive tasks. People consistently report high levels of engagement because the process is meaningful, their skills are balanced with the task, and they have tools to express new information. This harmony echoes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of “flow”—the state of optimal performance when one’s abilities and the difficulty of the task at hand are perfectly complementary.

The foundational principle of LSP is “manual knowledge,” or the belief that concrete model-making facilitates the disclosure of previously hidden abstract concepts and the promotion of open and welcoming group dynamics. Approximately 80% of our brain’s neurons can be accessed through our hands. Through the process’s use of metaphor and touch, participants can physically engage with and make connections to complex social and ethical issues.

The embodied cognition approach, which is based on the work of Jean Piaget and developed further by Papert, recognizes the usefulness of physical objects in the performance of mental tasks. When people create something and then discuss it, they generate insightful, honest, and valuable conversations. This conclusion is supported by numerous studies. Ultimately, by externalizing our thoughts through play, everyone can recognize and challenge the hidden assumptions behind the design, problem, or process.

When all voices are heard and valued, teams can solve complex problems like facilities management, budgeting, and organizational change. LSP disrupts the 20-80 meeting dynamic through several design principles:

• Everyone builds, everyone shares. Every participant builds a model before group discussion to develop and externalize their thinking before dominant voices set the agenda. Everyone contributes equally.
• The model is the answer. The model represents what a participant says it does—no debate. The model provides psychological safety so participants can express opinions without judgment.
• Focus on models, not people. By focusing on three-dimensional constructions rather than individuals, LSP neutralizes hierarchy effects and reduces self-censoring. Models facilitate discussion across expertise and authority levels.

Hard Fun and 100-100 conversations transform team meetings and organizational processes by embracing rather than avoiding the hard work of genuine collaboration and deep thinking. By organizing 100-100 participation through hands-on activities, creative expression, and careful thinking, the facilitator helps create the right environment for what Seymour Papert called Hard Fun—this is the deep involvement that happens when people take on big challenges with the right tools and support.

LSP is available under Creative Commons licensing from the LEGO Group. The methodology has been validated across industries for strategy development, change management, team building, and cross-functional problem-solving. While the method can be explored independently, working with trained facilitators increases the likelihood of successful implementation, and maximum impact occurs when all members participate and work together.