LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a facilitated methodology where participants use LEGO bricks to build representations of various scenarios and challenges they experience in the workplace.
Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) is another facilitated approach in which participants complete structured, non-riding activities with horses to develop self-awareness, communication and interpersonal skills.
Both ‘experiential learning’ approaches are used to help improve company culture, change management, conflict resolution and team development. Both help teams externalise ideas that may be difficult to express verbally. They also take participants out of their comfort zones to create a more level playing field, with every participant contributing rather than a few voices dominating.
What is experiential learning?
In a nutshell, experiential learning is the theory that people learn best when they experience something directly, reflect on it, interpret its meaning, and then apply those insights in future situations.
Kolb Experiential Learning Theory was developed by David Kolb and has become an influential framework. There are four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation.
How does LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® work?
With LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, a facilitator poses a challenge, each participant builds a model, explains it, and the group reflects through deeper questions. For example, someone might build a model representing the worst working situation they’ve experienced or how they respond to change. Then they may be asked to modify the model they’ve built in order to improve the situation. Participants will be asked about the narrative they have created, what it means to them and why.
The methodology is grounded in constructivist and constructionist learning theory, particularly the idea that individuals ‘think with their hands’. Physical construction externalises internal cognition. LEGO allows for hands-on engagement to keep team members actively involved, reducing distractions and promoting critical thinking and deeper understanding of complex business goals.
Many participants find it easier to communicate abstract thoughts through metaphorical building than through direct verbal explanation and the tactile nature of building allows for increased focus and sustained attention.
LEGO Serious Play generally produces lower emotional intensity than equine-assisted approaches.
How is Equine-Assisted Learning different to LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and other solutions?
Unlike traditional educational settings, horses provide immediate, non-verbal feedback. Because horses are highly sensitive prey animals, they react instinctively to human emotional states, body language, tension, confidence, and inconsistency. Participants therefore receive real-time behavioural feedback without verbal judgement.
The engagement level in EAL is often exceptionally high because the interaction contains genuine emotional stakes. When working with a large live animal, participants cannot fully switch off mentally. Skills such as focus, emotional control, communication, and self-awareness become essential in practice rather than just theoretical concepts.
From a neuropsychological perspective, horses increase sensory awareness and emotional attunement, which helps strengthen memory formation, as emotionally engaging experiences are more likely to be stored in long-term memory. This means the learnings in the field are more likely to stay with participants.
Equine-Assisted Learning offers emotionally intense, relational, embodied experiences, with its greatest strength lying in authenticity, emotional regulation, and interpersonal awareness. The result is not only improved self-awareness but also stronger emotional regulation and more effective communication.
Key outcomes of experiential learning in practice
Research suggests that active and embodied approaches can support learning, but activity alone does not guarantee better results. A 2024 review published in Educational Psychology Review concluded that learning activities are most likely to be effective when they are directly relevant to the learning objective, carefully integrated into the task and designed to avoid unnecessary cognitive demands.
Practical activities should help participants focus on and reflect upon the intended learning rather than become distracting tasks.
Altezza founder Julia Jones is an accredited Equine Learning Practitioner, and is trained in several areas to work in a bespoke manner which supports business objectives, with the welfare of the horses also being considered.
Experiential learning environments are also associated with:
Increased intrinsic motivation
(if each individual has a drive to perform well, the overall success of a team or business will subsequently improve)
Higher emotional engagement
(individuals will become more committed to their work and aim for a sense of pride, increasing the quality of their end product)
Improved communication skills
(information shared accurately can increase efficiency within the workplace, potentially even lowering workload and increasing productivity and results)
Enhanced problem-solving ability
(issues are identified quickly, the root cause is managed and solutions are found before they can impact the business on a larger scale)
Greater empathy and social awareness
(improved understanding and response when working with clients to improve sales or continued business)
Stronger behavioural change outcomes
(sustained improvement rather than short-term understanding and solutions, decreasing investment on repeated training)
The science behind experiential learning
From a psychological perspective, LEGO-based activities activate a network of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), parietal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The prefrontal cortex is associated with executive functioning and decision-making, the parietal cortex supports spatial awareness and attention, and the anterior cingulate cortex is involved in monitoring conflict and detecting errors.
Equine Assisted Learning triggers multiple areas of the brain: the amygdala, responsible for processing emotions and triggering automatic physical reactions; the cerebral cortex, which receives stimuli from the external environment and is connected to the nucleus accumbens, which releases dopamine. Dopamine is a ‘happy hormone’ that allows motivation of behaviour.
The hippocampus is also triggered during EAL, which is the structure essential for forming and retrieving memories, integrating emotional experiences with cognitive processes, allowing participants to take lessons away from the experience with long-lasting impact.
In terms of communication within the team, the hypothalamus regulates the physiological responses to emotions, including heart rate, hormone release and stress reactions to allow for open conversations to be had while facing ‘the elephant in the room’ in a psychologically safe environment.
In essence, EAL tends to transform behaviour through emotional experience and relational feedback, in comparison to LEGO Serious Play that tends to transform thinking through metaphorical construction and collaborative reflection.
Both methods score high on social engagement, however EAL strengthens awareness and empathy and LSP strengthens collaborative communication and collective problem-solving.
Experiential learning in an AI-powered world
As businesses become more technologically driven, the human elements of work (empathy, leadership presence, trust-building, and conflict resolution) become even more critical, yet often underdeveloped.
Equine-Assisted Learning and horse whispering helps address this gap by strengthening embodied communication skills and emotional intelligence. It focusses on behavioural change and effective communication and awareness that will serve long-lasting impacts. LSP focusses on creative thinking and problem solving as a team with further understanding of team members’ thought processes when handling challenges in the workplace.
Many organisations are focusing on teaching ‘soft skills’, when perhaps they should be seeking to create more opportunities for people to experience, practise and develop such skills.
Our Leadership Recalibrated™ and Teams Reimagined™ programmes combine diagnostics, classroom learning, and equine experiential days to strengthen empathy, emotional intelligence, resilience, and the soft skills teams need to excel.
These workshops create measurable business impact by improving confidence and team cohesion.
Equine assisted learning and coaching programmes are becoming increasingly popular. Out of 60 professionals at a recent networking event, six had experienced equine learning, indicating this growing trend will continue to be adapted by more organisations.
