RIPE NCC executives playing real-time strategy on a shared system model.

Workshop and awayday facilitation · Singapore, Asia and Europe

Workshops people leave clear on what happens next

You need 20, 40 or 100+ people to leave energised, motivated and aligned. We design and facilitate participative workshops, in the room or online, that deliver.

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RIPE NCC executives playing real-time strategy on a shared system model.

What we facilitate

Strategy days, awaydays and stakeholder workshops

We are asked most often to help groups create a shared vision, build strategy, plan, design new services or rebuild a team.

  • Strategy and vision workshopsShared ambition and direction for executive teams, trustees and governors.
  • Team awaydaysVision, values and behaviours for new, merged or dispersed teams.
  • Scenario and real-time strategyPlaying future scenarios today to agree simple guiding principles.
  • Stakeholder and evidence workshopsGathering views from hundreds of experts, with data you can use.
  • Innovation and service designCustomer journeys, co-design with users, and prototypes of future services.
  • Roadmaps with strategic illustrationLong-range plans captured live as a picture the whole sector can share.

What you get

Before, during and after your workshop

Every assignment starts with a conversation about what you need to happen because of the session. Then we design backwards from there, using the ProMeet method.

  1. Before
    • Briefing conversations with the sponsor and key participants
    • Objectives, questions and a minute-by-minute process design
    • Materials, room layout and any LEGO® Serious Play® kit arranged
  2. On the day
    • Lead facilitation, with a facilitator team for larger groups
    • Mixed methods so every participant contributes
    • Live synthesis, so the group sees its own thinking take shape
  3. After
    • A workshop record: gridcards, models, photos and decisions
    • Strategic illustration or video where it helps
    • Action plans and a recommended next step
An Open Space session at a National Infrastructure Commission workshop

Design principles

How to design a workshop for clever people and complex subjects

For the National Infrastructure Commission we worked to seven simple principles. They apply to almost any high-stakes workshop:

  • Take time to formulate the right questions
  • Use different modes of engagement so everyone can take part
  • Let every voice be heard, and engage with the tensions between views
  • Give participants responsibility for what matters to them, then feed back key messages and share the data quickly

Read the full National Infrastructure Commission story →

Case studies

Examples, with results

Open any card to see the results and what the client said.

A Tokyo-based travel company: 240 people, one day, one honest conversation

A Tokyo-based travel companyLSP

240 people, one day, one honest conversation

About 240Leadership preparation, then a full day2026

Led by Sean Blair

A full-day LEGO® Serious Play® workshop for around 240 staff across every department, designed to help the company see itself as one system and choose the behaviours and ways of working that would make collaboration easier.

Details and feedback
  • A network of bridges built across all 23 tables in one short challenge
  • Two key behaviours and two ways of working, chosen by the room itself
  • More than 600 anonymous written contributions during the day
  • A 60 to 90 day pilot plan for leadership, built from the room's own models and words
"Even though we are in different teams, we all have the same struggles."A participant, in the anonymous workshop poll
Read the full story →

English Schools Foundation, Hong KongLSP

One collaborative team across many campuses

30 to 40 peopleAwayday, leadership meeting and vice principals' workshop

Led by Liam Isaac

Liam designed and facilitated a senior management awayday, an executive team meeting and a workshop for vice principals from across ESF's schools, using LEGO® Serious Play® to build a shared vision of cross-campus collaboration.

Details and feedback
  • A shared vision of a collaborative cross-campus team
  • Simple guiding principles every member can use when deciding
  • Ideas for living each principle, captured on gridcards
Read the case study →
The Insights Group: 400 voices shaped the strategy

The Insights GroupLSP

400 voices shaped the strategy

400 people14 workshops over 3 months2022

Led by Sean Blair

Before setting strategy, The Insights Group asked every member of staff what its purpose meant to them: 14 workshops in Singapore, Dundee, Amsterdam, Berlin, the USA and online, then a synthesis day in Billund for 30 leaders.

Details and feedback
  • A strategy built on what every member of staff said
  • Four strategic themes, OKRs and nine long-term goals
  • Over 400 ideas from staff, 35 taken forward to senior leaders
"The On Purpose project was the foundation for the strategy process that followed. It helped create our four strategic themes, our OKRs and our nine long-term goals that drives the work we do today."Sandy Wilson, Executive Director of People and Strategy, The Insights Group
Read the case study →
Oxera: One agreed vision, built by the whole practice

OxeraLSP

One agreed vision, built by the whole practice

24 peopleDesign, facilitation and follow-up2024

Led by Sean Blair

Oxera's Data Science Practice, from junior staff to board level, built a shared vision of its contribution to the wider group and mapped the forces that could pull it off course.

Details and feedback
  • One Meta-Model© combining every person's vision
  • More than 40 forces mapped around the vision
  • Two leverage points prioritised for action
"He took a group of 28 smart, diverse, yet also critical data scientists and economists, ranging from junior to board level, and led us to a unified vision for our Data Science practice."Dr Sebastian Wernicke, Partner, Oxera
Read the case study →
National Infrastructure Commission: 600 experts, 6,000 pieces of evidence

National Infrastructure Commission

600 experts, 6,000 pieces of evidence

600 people8 workshops over 5 months

Led by Sean Blair

Eight one-day evidence-gathering workshops for the UK's first National Infrastructure Assessment, each on a different theme: transport, digital, energy, water, flood risk and waste.

Details and feedback
  • 3,121 gridcards answering the questions the Commission asked
  • 2,638 fields of live Slido polling data
  • 93 session reports from 8 Open Space workshops
  • Experts left understanding the trade-offs the Commission faced
"He ran the sessions with energy, positivity and patience. There was a clear 'buzz' in the room that doesn't happen in many of these events."Adam Cooper, Policy and Engagement Director, National Infrastructure Commission
Read the full story →
RIPE NCC: Real-time strategy in a changing landscape

RIPE NCCLSP

Real-time strategy in a changing landscape

6 people3 days, then a board meeting

Led by Sean Blair

One of five Regional Internet Registries explored ambition, direction and future scenarios with its executive team, then took the thinking into a board meeting that agreed strategic priorities.

Details and feedback
  • Shared mental models of ambition and direction
  • Scenarios played in real time
  • Strategic priorities agreed by the board
"Set with the challenging task of building alignment within a diverse team of directors, Sean managed to bring some much needed clarity and simplicity to an extremely complex vision."Serge Radovcic, Chief Communications Officer, RIPE NCC
Read the case study →
InterContinental Hotels Group: What will this team become famous for?

InterContinental Hotels GroupLSP

What will this team become famous for?

12 people1 day

Led by Sean Blair

A new Performance and Operations Support team for Europe built a shared vision, agreed the values and behaviours it needed, and left with personal 90-day plans.

Details and feedback
  • A shared team vision, built in LEGO® bricks
  • Agreed values and behaviours
  • A 90-day action plan for every team member
"The workshop delivered well above the outcomes expected, due in large part to the innovative methodology Sean applied through Lego Serious Play and the effort taken by Sean to understand our team, our context and our ambition."Edward Bignold, Director, Hotel Performance and Operations Support Europe, IHG
Read the full story →
University of the Arts London: A strategy 120 people still own years later

University of the Arts London

A strategy 120 people still own years later

8 to 120 people7 workshops over 4 months

Led by Sean Blair

Library and Learning Resources built its vision and three-year strategy with its leadership team, then involved all 120 staff in planning how to deliver it.

Details and feedback
  • New vision co-created by the leadership team
  • A clear three-year strategy
  • Full team engagement in implementation planning
  • Year-on-year increases in student satisfaction
"Staff and senior managers within Library Services still talk about the Strategy as something they feel real ownership and pride in even though it is some years old."Pat Christie, Director of Libraries and Academic Support Services, UAL
Read the full story →

Why it works

Experience you can lean on

Planning

Commitment to the plan, not just a plan

UAL Library Services still talked about its strategy with ownership and pride three years later, because 120 staff helped shape how to deliver it.

Innovation

Design thinking since 1989

Sean trained as an industrial designer, was the Design Council's first Design Director and co-founded the Service Design Network. He has helped the NHS, airports, government departments and global brands design new services.

Methods

Outcome driven, tool neutral

LEGO® Serious Play®, Open Space, ORID, Scales of Agreement, Slido and strategic illustration are all in the toolkit. We choose what serves the outcome.

Sean and the team spent a lot of up-front time clarifying our objectives and designing the workshop format and content. He got up to speed with our 'business' quickly, and came up with suggestions and ideas that we were able to relate to.
Adam CooperPolicy and Engagement Director, National Infrastructure Commission
Set with the challenging task of building alignment within a diverse team of directors, Sean managed to bring some much needed clarity and simplicity to an extremely complex vision.
Serge RadovcicChief Communications Officer, RIPE NCC
Sean is someone I would highly recommend to anyone. He combines expert knowledge with a great personality. Ultimately Sean will work with you in a co-creative way to get great results.
Pat ChristieDirector of Information Services, University of the Arts London

Questions

Common questions

Short, direct answers about how we work.

How long should a strategy workshop be?

It depends on the outcome. A focused vision day can work in one day; a strategy process that involves a whole organisation may be several workshops over a few months. See strategy away days.

Can you work with 100 or more people?

Yes. We have facilitated workshops for 600 experts over eight sessions and single sessions for well over 100, using table groups, Open Space and live polling so every voice counts.

Will you help design the day, or only facilitate it?

Both, always. Design is where most of the value is created. Preparation usually takes longer than delivery.

Do you facilitate awaydays in Singapore, Malaysia or elsewhere in Asia?

Yes. We are based in Singapore and travel across Asia and Europe. We can also run workshops online. See strategy workshops in Singapore.

You don't want a meeting. You want an outcome.

Tell us what you need to achieve. We will help you design the time together to get there, and reply within two working days.

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