The 5 Design Elements Of Liberating Structures
Arrange space, configure groups, make an invitation, distribute participation, allocate time & steps, and you’re ready for lift-off!
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Liberating Structures are a collection of 30+ interaction patterns that unflatten, enrich, and deepen interactions in groups. Liberating Structures are collected by Keith McCandless and Henri Lipmanowicz and have strong roots in complexity science. Liberating Structures are simple and easy to learn, making it easy to pick them up and spread them throughout your organization. Their purpose is to involve and unleash everyone, which is essential in environments where everyone’s voice is necessary to navigate complexity.
In the past years, we used Liberating Structures in many teams, organizations, and communities for various purposes. We used it to help groups define strategies, make decisions, improve collaboration, generate ideas, or define actionable improvements. We used it with small groups within an organization, but also with 100+ participants in a public workshop. It makes no difference. Most often, once people experienced Liberating Structures first-hand, they’re hooked and want to learn more about it.
There’s one question we often receive afterward, and although it comes in different shapes & forms, it essentially boils down to:
“What makes Liberating Structures work?”
The short answer: the 10 principles and 5 design elements, that’s what make Liberating Structures work!
In this earlier blog post, I described the ten principles of Liberating Structures. In specific, how Scrum teams can benefit from using them. The purpose of this blog post is to help you understand how each Liberating Structure uses five design elements to unleash and involve everyone. Where the principles serve as a solid foundation, the design elements give you the opportunity to decide *what* you want to accomplish and *how*. In a way, the design elements are the unique DNA that sets all Liberating Structures apart.
The 5 design elements of Liberating Structures
Each of the 33 Liberating Structures is designed with the same 5 design elements in mind: arrangement of space and materials, creation of an invitation, distribution of participation, allocation of time & steps, and the configuration of groups. It’s what they all have in common, although each structure has a unique way of using it.
Arrangement of space (and materials) is about how to make use of the (virtual) space, room, or venue. How are the chairs distributed across the room? Do we even want to use chairs? How do we want to make use of lightning? Where do we position ourselves as facilitators? Do we need tables, flip-overs, or a projector? This part also includes the use of materials. Do participants need a pencil, notebook, or something else to experience the Liberating Structure?
The creation of an invitation is probably the most essential design element. An invitation can make or break a Liberating Structure. It’s the question or topic you want people to explore with the Liberating Structure you have in mind. A good invitation doesn’t judge or frame a challenge in a particular way, it opens avenues for thought instead of closing them. It’s also specifically ambiguous and relies on the intelligence of the group to figure it out. Check this article to learn more about how to create a powerful invitation.
The configuration of groups describes *how* the groups are formed, and the distribution of participation clarifies *what* is expected of them. Do you want to split the large group into smaller groups? If so, how many smaller groups do you want to form and what role does everyone play? What do you expect of the participants?
Allocation of time & steps describes the flow of a Liberating Structure and the timeboxes it uses. What timebox do you want to use for the total Liberating Structure? What timeboxes do you have in mind for the individual steps? Do you want to strictly timebox every step, or instead focus more on the flow of a conversation? Do you want to explain all the steps upfront, or clarify them step-by-step?
5 Examples of Liberating Structures
At this point, you might have a hunch of what the 5 design elements of Liberating Structures are about, but that it still feels abstract. I’ll make it more specific by describing how each design element is used in the following five Liberating Structures: 1–2–4-ALL, Impromptu Networking, Troika Consulting, 25/10 Crowd Sourcing, and Appreciative Interviews. I won’t describe each structure in full detail, my intention is mostly to help you understand how the five design elements are used. Check the original description if you want to learn more about these Liberating Structures.
1–2–4-ALL
The Liberating Structure 1–2–4-All is one of the most applied facilitation techniques from the entire collection. Within 12 minutes you can engage everyone simultaneously in generating questions, ideas, and suggestions. Regardless of how large the group is you’ll engage every individual to share ideas and thoughts.
- Arrange space and materials: Participants should have the space for individual thinking, and to form small groups of four. We prefer not to have any tables in the middle of the room. Ideally, offer participants a notebook to write down their thoughts.
- Make an invitation: this could be a shared challenge like “What opportunities do you see for making progress on this challenge?”, “How would you handle this situation?”, or “What ideas or actions do you recommend?”
- Configure groups: first alone, then in pairs, the pairs go on a double-date and form a group of four, and finally as a whole group.
- Distribute participation: first, everyone has the opportunity to get their thinking started individually. Next, in pairs and groups of four everyone can contribute by sharing thoughts and ideas. Finally, big ideas can be shared with the group as a whole.
- Allocate time & steps: 1 minute individually, 2 minutes in pairs, 4 minutes in groups of four, and 5 minutes with the entire group.
Impromptu Networking
Impromptu Networking allows a group of any size to form personal connections and share ideas. It invites everyone to participate from the very start and share stories, challenges, or experiences with each other. Not only is it a good way to ‘break the ice’, it also doubles as a clever way to use the collective brainpower of the group to rapidly identify patterns.
Arrange space and materials: ideally you don’t have any tables and chairs in the middle of the room. This encourages participants to walk around and more easily form new pairs.
Make an invitation: something like “What is your hope and what is your despair?”, “What do you bring to this meeting? And what do you hope to take from it?” or something else that relates to the theme of your session.
Configure groups: Impromptu Networking is done in pairs. Raising your arm means you’re still looking to form a pair. Make contact with another person by pointing to each other. This allows people to also connect with someone who is standing on the other side of the room.
Distribute participation: everyone has the same amount of time to contribute to the conversation in pairs. It’s up to the pairs to distribute the given timebox equally.
Allocate time & steps: there are three rounds in total. In each round, the pairs have 3–5 minutes to discuss the invitation. We always use 1 minute of individual thinking before we start the first round of Impromptu Networking. This allows people to structure their thoughts before they jump into the very first conversation.
Troika Consulting
Troika Consulting is a powerful Liberating Structure that helps people gain insights on issues they face and unleash local wisdom for addressing them. In rapid rounds of “consultations”, individuals ask for help and get advice immediately from two others.
Arrange space and materials: again, no tables in the middle of the room. Every person should have a chair. Ideally, chairs you can also easily move around.
Make an invitation: invite participants to explore the questions “What is your challenge?” and “What kind of help do you need?”
Configure groups: Troika Consulting uses groups of three. If you can’t make groups of three, one or two groups of four are fine as well. The only consequence is that not everyone can be a client.
Distribute participation: in each round, one person is the “client,” and the others are “consultants”. Everyone has an equal opportunity to receive and give consultations.
Allocate time & steps: everyone formulates a challenge they want to get help with (1 min). Round one starts with the first client sharing his or her question in more detail (1–2 min). Consultants ask the client clarifying questions (1–2 min). The client turns around with his or her back facing the consultants. Together, the consultants generate ideas, suggestions, and advice (4–5 min). The client turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience (1–2 min). Groups switch to the next person and repeat the steps.
25/10 Crowd Sourcing
25/10 Crowd Sourcing is a structure that allows you to rapidly generate and sift through a group’s boldest actionable ideas. We’ve applied this structure both to small (12–20 members) and large groups (>150). Not only is it an innovative way to identify bold, ‘out of the box’-solutions, but it is also appreciated by participants for its highly active nature.
Arrange space and materials: create an open space without chairs or tables, everyone should be able to easily walk around. Make sure to have an index card available for everyone.
Make an invitation: Introduce a question that you’d like to gather actionable ideas for, e.g. “What is your boldest solution to [X]”.
Configure groups: 25/10 Crowd Sourcing starts individually by having everyone write their idea on an index card. Next, everyone stands and starts exchanging cards.
Distribute participation: In each of the five rounds, you can form pairs and have them share thoughts before they score the cards.
Allocate time & steps: Introduce a question (1 min), mill & pass, read & score (2 min). Proceed with four more rounds until every index card has five scores on the back (10 min) Identify the ideas with the highest scores. Ask the group what caught their attention or sparked their interest.
Appreciative Interviews
Appreciative Interviews is a Liberating Structure that helps identify enablers for success. Starting from what goes well — instead of what doesn’t — liberates spontaneous momentum and insights for positive change as “hidden” success stories are uncovered. It will spark true peer-to-peer learning, generate constructive energy, and offers the participants valuable insights.
Arrange space and materials: ensure everyone has chairs and can sit face-to-face in pairs. Also, give each person a notebook to capture the interview.
Make an invitation: specify a theme or what kind of story participants are expected to tell. With Appreciative Interview, it’s a positive experience, a success story, e.g. “Share a story of the best team you’ve been part of, what happened, and what made the success possible?”.
Configure groups: First individually, then in pairs, and afterward in groups of four.
Distribute participation: Individually take a success story in mind, and share it in pairs. Take turns to interview each other. So, each person becomes the interviewer & interviewee.
Allocate time & steps: specify a theme, give participants time to select a personal success story (1 min), interview each other in pairs (10 min), retell the story of your partner in groups of four (10 min), gather insights with the entire group (5 min).
Closing
In this blog post, we described the 5 design elements of Liberating Structures. The design elements give you the opportunity to decide *what* you want to accomplish and *how*. Once you understand how the Liberating Structures are designed, you can truly unlock its potential! Give it a try, and let us know the results. We’re always eager to learn more from your experiences as well.
If you’re interested in learning more about Liberating Structures, join our 2-day Immersion Workshop! Check our agenda for upcoming opportunities.
