Mindful Team Coaching with Pocket-Sized Bricks

Building the Workshop Together

Before you start reading, take one minute in silence to answer this question: what do you think about when you read the following words?

mindful

team

coaching

bricks

That question was the starting point of our collaboration to create an experience that blended neuroscience, mindfulness, and hands-on didactic activities to enhance coaching techniques. As two Scrum Masters with unique backgrounds in Psychology and Education, we combined our expertise to create an immersive session for Game Didactiek 2025 where participants could explore abstract concepts in a tangible way.

The key takeaway was to demonstrate how mindfulness can: 

1. improve coaching effectiveness, 
2. help teams externalize thoughts, 
3. foster collaboration, 
4. and support more effective communication

Piece by Piece

To ensure inclusivity, the workshop was designed in a way that there were no “right” or “wrong” answers, only diverse perspectives as a product of each participant’s subjective worldview and life skills applied in their complex team’s dynamic. Another unique twist we introduced in this workshop: using only 1×2 building bricks in a vibrant rainbow of colors.

To guide the participants, give them structure and stay focused, we developed an A4 sized hand-out that contained all the reflective questions and gave space to write. On the inside of the hand-out we added the instruction of an exercise that the participants could try with their own teams!

To structure the workshop we used the 4C’s map from the Training of the Back of the room. To create a nice flow in the program we applied the following pattern: (C3) experience by doing, (C3+C4) reflect in silence, (C4) share thoughts with peers, (C2) explain what happened. Which lead to the following program:

1. (C1: Connections) Connect the participants with each-other, their own experience, the topic and the materials.
2. (C3: Concrete Practice) To highlight the subject of being mindful, we started 
3. (C4: Conclude) Reflection is at the heart of this workshop.
4. (C2: Content) We only delivered the theory after the participants experienced 

Here is a rough version of the workshop’s program:

🗣️ In your group, share your experiences with mindfulness, teamwork, coaching, or building with bricks.

❓ As a team, guess the number of 1×2 bricks inside the pocket-sized container.

🎁 Build a gift for the person sitting to your right.

🧠 Reflect on your gift: How does it make you feel? What does it represent? 

💪🏽 Build metaphors what teamwork means to you.

👀 Observe and listen to each other’s builds and the stories behind them.

🔀 Connect your builds to symbolize teamwork within your group.

🧑‍🎨 Take a mindful museum walk, listen to the artist and story behind each creation.

🎠 Wrap up with a debrief carousel, exploring four different questions like: What experiment will you try with the techniques you’ve learned?

The session was highly interactive, with participants fully engaged in building exercises, being mindful, sharing stories and their reflections. 

“Getting insights before giving words to it.”

or
“Eye-opener, to have no limits with limited 1×2 bricks”

A key insight came from the final exercise, when teams connected their structures. Observing their different approaches highlighted the importance of transparency and adaptation in teamwork. It was fun to watch how the participants were attached to their own builds, pictures were taken from different angles before breaking down the builds.

Breaking Barriers with Bricks

Agile events are often theoretical or result-driven, but this workshop was built with powerful tools as creativity and fun. As facilitators, we understand that a session too packed with content leaves little space for reflection, so we made sure to balance exercises, theory and discussion. This process not only made the process more engaging, but also deepened the understanding of evidence-based information and allowed participants to really experience mindfulness as practitioners.

Tips for (first-time) organizers

• Start with your learning outcomes first, what’s the difference you’re trying to make for your participants.
• Carefully plan your event, from necessary materials to timeslots during the session. You can use a variety of physical and digital tools for that purpose. Marilia prefers to write down in a notebook, while Swen-Peter organizes his thoughts in an app! In order to synchronize we used SessionLab. What’s your favourite?
• Focus on simple & meaningful exercises that create accessibility to newcomers, as well as offer deeper insights for experienced professionals. Across different cultures and fields, approaches to learning may vary: some groups prefer structured guidance, while others thrive in open-ended experiments. Observe and adapt.
• Design sessions that engage multiple senses to create a positive memory. For example, we invited people to touch the colorful materials as much as possible, as well as offered them fresh beverages and sweet snacks. When the participants look back, they will likely remember the rewarding feeling of those actions. Read more on this here! 
• Remember: a good workshop allows space for reflection and encourages active participation! Agile events shouldn’t only focus on knowledge-sharing. Fostering experiences that support development & improvement of the participants’ skills is the goal.

Now, we invite you to play: please share your opinion about mindful games at work with us!

By Swen-Peter Ekkebus & Marilia Falsetti