Workshop builds leaders with Lego

Students at Zayed University explore different leadership styles with the Lego Serious Play workshops

Tarifa Ajaif supervises Ahmed al Marzouqi, 21, left, and Ahmad al Kendi, 25, during the Lego Serious Play workshop.

ABU DHABI // About 20 Zayed University students sat around Lego-covered tables with a single objective - to create objects that represented their personality and leadership traits.

This was the fourth group of students from the university's leadership training programme to take part in the Lego Serious Play workshops, in which the blocks are used as part of a team-building exercise.

The students' first assignment was to build an object reflecting their personalities.

Kholoud Ahmad, a 21-year-old business information technology student, built a window. "A window means calamity; it means looking outward and growing opportunity," she said.

Tarifa Ajaif, the founder of Go Glocal, the consultancy behind the programme, said the students' creations highlighted a strong sense of environmental awareness.

Ahmad al Kendi, 25, built a tower with a green flag. "This tower represents our country's efforts to keep growing and improving, but while constantly considering our environment and trying to reduce our carbon footprint - something I hope to take part in one day," he said.

Students said the workshop was a refreshing change.

"I've attended many leadership sessions, and most of them are boring lectures," said Mira al Buti, an education and childhood student. "But in this one there is actual hands-on interaction. It allows us to look inside ourselves and discover things that we may not have known before."