One of the leading toy-making company in the world, Lego, has had its fair share of ups and downs through its timeline. What’s more important is that it has managed to stay afloat, rather emerge successfully in its full grandeur, despite having a hard fall. Interestingly, Lego’s lessons cannot just be applied by other organizations but also in a project management scenario. Here are some important lessons that project managers can pick up from Lego.
Clear vision
Lego’s vision has been the same through the entire time to invent the future of play. Lego is not famous today because of a stroke of luck or one-time success stints, but rather because it has worked constantly toward its vision, reinventing its products to stay relevant with the times. Similarly, a project manager needs to have a clear vision on what the business and project goals are to lead it to success.
Learn from market cues
Lego probably had its toughest time in the 1993-2004 period. As a natural step that any growing business would take, Lego increased its product production numbers. The problem was that the sales did not keep up with the increased production, and the profits took a huge blow because of this. You will be surprised to know that Lego bounced back pretty impressively in 2008, when its profits climbed up to £163 million. So what did Lego do differently? Lego watched market cues to see what would appeal to the audience. The toy-manufacturer banked heavily on the consumer interest in Harry Potter and Star Wars characters to boost its sales, by launching movie-themed Legos. The lesson here is to watch what appeals to consumers and align your service or product accordingly.
Integrated approach
Lego put forward a shared vision in 2004 to ensure that the creative and business sides of the company were on the same page, after finding out that this was one of the main causes for the dip in sales. The integrated vision approach worked out well for Lego, as it was able to pick itself up and perform well in the market after. Similarly, in a project management scenario, the manager should make sure that the innovation team is researching and creating products that are aligned with the motive of the company. There is a better synergy in such a setting, as the team resources are guided by business goals.
