The Art of Leadership - Helping Leaders be more artful in their performance and connection with others.
Teams
Team Building, Sensemaking and Collective Goal Setting through LEGO Serious Play
Individuals
One-one-one LEGO coaching to explore a strategic challenge.
Organisations
Unforgettable experience in strategy building and sense making for organisational innovation and strategy.
ABOUT ELAINE RUMBOLL
Elaine is an internationally accredited Master Lego Serious Play™ practitioner. She is managing director of The Creative Leadership Consultancy, a learning agency based on global collaborations to build more artful leaders.
Elaine’s career is storied. After having spent three years running weekly creative transdisciplinary workshops in maximum security prisons (Johannesburg Maximum Security Prison, Diepkloof Women’s Prison, Pretoria Central) for which she received a nomination by Femina for Woman of the Year (1996), she reskilled herself and entered the world of business and went on to become Dean for Damelin Management School overseeing the learning of 55 000 students.
She then tackled the executive education space and as director of Executive Education at UCT GSB (2005-2011) built the unit to international recognition. During her seven years as director of Executive Education at UCT GSB, she grew revenues 4.5 times and ensured a place in the top fifty globally for customised leadership development work - first in Africa according to the Financial Times of London and in the top 5 internationally according to the Economist (London). She also served as the chairperson for the advisory board of UCT GSB Women in Leadership. As a result of these works, she was the winner of the Business Women's Association Regional Business Achievement Awards in the Professional category for 2010.
After leaving UCT GSB, Elaine completed a two year stint as Professor and Leader in Residence for Sustainable Leadership Practices on the Masters in Business Leadership at Curtin Graduate School of Business in Perth, Australia (2011-2012) and served as Adjunct Professor in the Engagement, International and Governance portfolio at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia (2013-2014).
She holds an MA (cum laude) in Comparative Literature and an MBA from Wits where her research report focused on Executive Coaching as a Leadership Development tool. Elaine was awarded a Professorship in Play (2017) and the Chair in Creative Leadership by the Western Orthodox University and holds an adjunct faculty member position at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.
Elaine has taught in South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Denmark, Italy, the United States and Australia. She has worked with many organisations internationally and locally on growing their leaders including Johnson & Johnson, SC Johnson, Zoona, PwC, Maitland Fund, The Coca-Cola Company, Toyota, the United Nations, Mr Price, VW and Nestlé.
Elaine’s attention on Art thinking through teaching and coaching - designing and facilitating bespoke leadership development processes around resilience, agility, curiosity, and playfulness, as well as helping executives become artful and optimal through a series of customised coaching sessions using LEGO and other modalities, have proven both popular and impactful. In 2025, she is experimenting with more creative leadership tools for individuals and leaders focused on growth, and transformation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Regenerative Resilience - Building a Sanctuary in the Presence workshop was so much fun and somehow changes your thinking completely. Loved it!! 100% recommended. (If this was an airbnb rating….5 stars 🤩)
Delegate attendee - Discovery Leadership and Management Programme
“The one on one LEGO process was outstanding, in that it took me into a mental space I had never before played in and as a result the insights were fresh, highly impactful and full of innovative solutions to issues I had been struggling with for some time”.
“Report backs from our senior execs was that it surprised them how effective the Leading with Pace process was in visualising alternatives to things; they were amazed at how play toys became the tools of discovery into their own limitations and assumptions”.
Steve Glendinning – Group People Director, Mr Price Group Limited
“Elaine designed and executed a very clever and creative program using LEGO Serious Play that helped us to achieve our goal – crafting a set of principles to foster freedom of expression. Moreover, with colleagues from 14 different countries, LEGO became a common language and generated ideas that may have remained unearthed in a more traditional workshop methodology. Our delegates were hugely impressed!”
Steffen Leidel – Editor onMedia, Deutsche Welle Akademie
I worked with Elaine as she designed and delivered a unique, high-end intervention covering her programme called Leading with PACE. Elaine has a truly innovative approach to leadership development which I have not experienced elsewhere and I believe sets a new global standard. Her energy, charisma, intelligence and wit combined with new paradigms made for a deeply moving yet fun learning experience. Delegates moved from cynicism to wide-eyed enthusiasm and were completely engaged.
In addition, Elaine's individualized lego based-coaching enables deep personal insights in a relatively short time, due to its integrative approach.
In every instance, Elaine is a true professional who combines deep understanding of the client context with focused attention to detail, all of which results in excellence.
Liora Gross - Programme Director and Designer in Customised Corporate Education, GIBS
Elaine’s unique contribution to our academic offering completely revolutionized our thinking and approach to entrepreneurial studies. Her meticulously crafted style of facilitation encourages active learning and achieves outstanding results amongst students. Elaine’s specialist engagement with LEGO Serious Play adds a wonderful layer of creative discovery and exploration to her facilitation style, and serves as such a valuable resource in any problem-solving context. We feel so privileged to have Elaine on our team!
Francois Jonker - Academic Head, Cape Town Creative Academy
I recently met with Elaine Rumboll to help me solve an aspect in my company that I was not seeing clearly. We spent time working with LEGO Serious Play and I was truly amazed at how the answers I was seeking was presented much more clearly and I could resolve what I was battling with before working with Elaine. Not only did I find answers to the main issue I initially came to see her about, but also other aspects of my business that needed attention was presented and with her exceptional insight I was able to shed light on those too. I HIGHLY recommend contacting Elaine about this remarkable work she does. You can only win.
Edwena Kaplen-Jacobs – Institute of Medical Boards, USA
The value of this innovative LEGO coaching process transcends the corporate boardroom and can be extended into public sector, NGO-based and government projects. I would strongly recommend Elaine Rumboll as a Lego practitioner to those in need of a fresh, creative perspective for addressing what seem to be insurmountable challenges.
Ushma Mehta – Pharmacovigilance consultant
Elaine introduced me to a fun insightful approach to developing new insights, possibilities and strategies through a simple process using LEGO Serious Play. She is a brilliant coach who enabled me to achieve deep insights and awareness in the short space of two and half hours that resulted in clear personal and work strategies for the year ahead.
Dominique Durward – Levi Strauss
As a Play therapist, I am aware of the power of Play to move people into Possibility. I was particularly struck by the power of Lego when I underwent a Lego process with Elaine. The process she led me through was insightful and provided much clarity. Her ability to harness her varied experience in Business and the Arts provided powerful questions which lead me to surprising and meaningful places for transformation. Anyone who is on a journey of conscious self-growth should go through this process.
Andrea Milwidsky – Play therapist
Elaine ran a Lego coaching process with me and the experience was both deeply transformative and useful to my work. She is professional, empathetic with a keen insight into human cognitive and emotional processing. I highly recommend this process both as a personal transformation and as a strategic intervention for small, medium and large organisations who need an innovative way to solve strategic challenges. A must have to take your organisation into the future.
Lizette Schoombie – Business consultant
Elaine’s use of the LEGO Serious Play process was the most transformative and insightful time that we’ve invested in our business strategy. She helped us see our own blind spots and opportunities more clearly than we have in hundreds of hours of meetings and consultations. The results have been transformative, culturally and financially. Her process is mind-blowingly efficient at getting to the real issues.
Dave Duarte - CEO, Treeshake
Wow never knew Lego could be so insightful! Absolutely loved this LEGO Strategy session. As an Entrepreneur I struggle with difficulties that comes along my way every day. Elaine helped me to identify these issues and then the BIG core issue of these problems in less than 2 hours! I would really recommend this Lego strategy session for any business that needs re evaluation and guidance when itcomes business strategy addressing problems or difficulties in the growth of your business.
Sybil Doms – Entrepreneur
It radically shifted the way I manage key client relationships to my massive advantage. Through the LEGO Coaching process I gained access to the subconscious landscape of my business operation and moved into a position to see what works and what blocks.
Simon Taylor – Periphery Films