Make the Purpose of Your Work Together Clear (20 min.)

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What is made possible? With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask, “What do you do when working on ______ (the subject matter or challenge at hand)? Please make a short list of activities.” Then ask, “Why is that important to you?” Keep asking, “Why? Why? Why?” up to nine times or until participants can go no deeper because they have reached the fundamental purpose for this work.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of groups

Chairs for people to sit comfortably face-to-face; no tables or equipment needed.

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone has an equal opportunity to participate and contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

First pairs, then groups of four, then the whole group (2-4-All)

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person in a pair is interviewed by his or her partner for 5 minutes. Starting with “What do you do when working on ____?” the interviewer gently seeks a deeper answer by repeating the query: “Why is that important to you?” Switch roles after 5 minutes. 10 min.

Each pair shares the experience and insights with another pair in a foursome. 5 min.

Invite the whole group to reflect by asking, “How do our purposes influence the next steps we take?” 5 min.

He who has a “why” can endure any “how.”   Friedrich Nietzsche

WHY? Purposes

Discover what is truly important for the group members

Lay the groundwork for the design that will be employed

Ignite organizational momentum through the stories that emerge

Generating a small number of clear answers can help you move forward together with more velocity

Provide a basis for progressive evaluation

Generate criteria for deciding who will be included

Tips and Traps

Create a safe and welcoming space; avoid judgments

Have fun with it: you can invite participants “to channel their inner toddler” while they ask why repeatedly

Keep going! Dig deep with compassion. Vary the ways of asking “why?” For example, ask, “If last night, while you slept, your dream came true, what would be different?”

Make sure the question asked is, “Why is it important to YOU?” (meaning not THE amorphous organization or system but you personally)

Share the variety of responses and reflect on differences among group members. What common purpose emerges?

If someone gets stuck ask, “Does a story come to mind?”

Maintain confidentiality when very personal stories are shared

Make clarifying purpose with Nine Whys a routine practice in your group

Riffs and Variations

Combine a short Appreciative Interview with  Nine Whys.  Start with the interview, then ask: “why is the success story you have shared important to you? Why, Why, Why?”

Ask the small groups whether “a fundamental justification for committing time and money to the work” emerged in the conversation. A clear personal purpose plus a community justification can quickly fuel the spread of an initiative. Work toward a single sentence that powerfully justifies the group’s work to others: “We exist to…! or We exist to stop…!”

In a business context, ask, “Why would people spend their money with you? Why would leaders want you to operate your business in their country?”

Add 10 how questions after you have clarity around why (it becomes MUCH easier).

A good purpose is never closed.  Make it dynamically imcomplete by inviting everyone to make contributions and mutually shape understanding of the deepest need for your work.

Record answers on Post-it notes, number them, and stick on a flip chart. You can arrange the answers in a triangle: broad answers on the top and detailed answers on the bottom. Compare and debrief.

Ask, “Why is that important to your community?” “Why? Why? Why?…”

Use the chat function during a webinar to start formulating a purpose statement: participants reflect on the Nine Whys questions, sharing their ideas in the chat box.

Link to Purpose-To-Practice; Generative Relationships; Wise Crowds; What, So What, Now What? and many other Liberating Structures.

Examples

For crafting a compelling shared purpose to launch a collaborative research organization. The Quality Commons, a health-service research network composed of representatives from seven health systems across the United States, used Nine Whys as one step in the Purpose-To-Practice Liberating Structure.

For the beginning of any coaching session, including Troika Consulting or Wise Crowds.

For clarifying the purpose behind the launch of a new product.

For anchoring each element of a Design Storyboard by asking, “Why is this activity or element important to you? What does it add to the flow of exchanges among participants?”

For you as an individual to clarify your personal purpose

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Wise Crowds

Tap the Wisdom of the Whole Group in Rapid Cycles (15 min. per person)

Every journey has a secret destination of which the traveler is not aware. – Martin Buber

What is made possible? Wise Crowds make it possible to instantly engage a small or large group of people in helping one another. You can set up a Wise Crowds consultation with one small group of four or five people or with many small groups simultaneously or, during a larger gathering, with a group as big as one hundred or more people. Individuals, referred to as “clients,” can ask for help and get it in a short time from all the other group members. Each individual consultation taps the expertise and inventiveness of everyone in the group simultaneously. Individuals gain more clarity and increase their capacity for self-correction and self-understanding. Wise Crowds develop people’s ability to ask for help. They deepen inquiry and consulting skills. Supportive relationships form very quickly. During a Wise Crowds session, the series of individual consultations makes the learning cumulative as each participant benefits not only from being a client but also from being a consultant several times in a row. Wise Crowds consultations make it easy to achieve transparency. Together, a group can outperform the expert!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs for Small Wise Crowds

1. Structuring Invitation

• Ask each participant when his or her turn comes to be the “client” to briefly describe his or her challenge and ask others for help.

• Ask the other participants to act as a group of “consultants” whose task it is to help the “client” clarify his or her challenge and to offer advice or recommendations.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Groups of 4 or 5 chairs arranged around small tables or in circles without tables

• Paper for participants to take notes

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone is included

• Everyone has an equal amount of time to ask for and get help

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to offer help

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Groups of 4 to 5 people

• Mixed groups across functions, levels, and disciplines are ideal

• The person asking for help, the “client,” turns his or her back on the consultants after the consultation question has been clarified.

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person requesting a consult (the client) gets fifteen minutes broken down as follows:

• The client presents the challenge and request for help. 2 min.

• The consultants ask the client clarifying questions. 3 min.

• The client turns his or her back to the consultants and gets ready to take notes

• The consultants ask questions and offer advice, and recommendations, working as a team, while the client has his or her back turned. 8 min.

• The client provides feedback to the consultants: what was useful and what he or she takes away. 2 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Generate results that are enduring because each individual and the group produced them together without “outside expertise”

• Refine skills in giving, receiving, and asking for help

• Tap the intelligence of a whole group without time-consuming up and sideways presentations

• Liberate the wisdom and creativity that exists across disciplines and functional silos

• Replace boring briefings and updates with an effective and useful alternative

• Actively build trust through mutual support and peer connections

• Practice listening without defending

Tips and Traps

• Invite a very diverse crowd to help (not only the experts and leaders)

• Invite participants to critique themselves when they fall into traps (e.g., jumping to action before clarifying the purpose or the problem). See Helping Heuristics for a complete list of unwanted patterns when helping or asking for help.

• Remind participants to try to stay focused on the client’s direct experience by asking, “What is happening here? How are you experiencing what is happening?”

• Advise the consultants to take risks while maintaining empathy

• Avoid having some participants choosing not to be clients: everybody has at least one challenge!

• If the first round is weak, try a second round

• Invite participants not to shy away from presenting complex challenges without easy answers

Riffs and Variations

• Restrict the consulting to asking only honest, open questions, focusing on helping the client gain personal clarity. In other words, forbid recommendations and advice (thinly veiled as a question) or any speeches whatsoever! This is also called Q-Storming and is similar to a Quaker Clearness Committee.

• Can be used with groups of up to 7 people but not more.

• The “large format” of Wise Crowds makes it possible for one person to ask a whole room for help. See the detailed description of the five structural elements/min specs below.

• Use Wise Crowds with virtual groups by using the chat function to share answers from a small number of consultants, then opening the chat line and whiteboard to the whole group for additional feedback

• Link to and string with Helping Heuristics plus Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR), Nine Whys, Troika Consulting, What I Need From You, and Appreciative Interviews. These Liberating Structures offer a variety of productive choices for helping.

Wise Crowds for Large Groups (1 hr.)

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs for Large Groups

1. Structuring Invitation

• Ask the participant who is the “client” to describe his or her challenge, the status of any work in progress, and the advice or help he or she is looking for

• Ask the other participants to act as a group of “consulting teams” whose task it is to help the “client” clarify his or her challenge and to offer advice or recommendations.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• One chair for the client in the front of the room

• Screen and projector only if absolutely indispensable

• Three chairs for the primary consultants in the front of the room

• Groups of 5–8 chairs arranged around small tables, or in circles without tables, for all the satellite consulting teams

• Paper for participants to take notes

• Index cards at each table to write recommendations

• Microphones for the client and primary consultants

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• The client has a specific amount of time to present and ask for help

• The primary consulting team has a fixed amount of time to offer help

• Everyone else on each consulting team has an equal opportunity to contribute help during the balance of the time, which is also fixed

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Individual client

• One group of 2 to 3 primary consultants

• Any number of satellite groups of 5 to 7 people as consulting teams

• Mixed groups across functions, levels, and disciplines are ideal

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person requesting a consult (the client) gets one hour broken down as follows:

• The client presents his or her consulting question and selects the 2-4 individuals who will form the primary consulting team. The primary consultants move and occupy their chairs in the front of the room. 2 min.

• The client presents the challenge and request for help. 10 min.

• The primary consultants pose clarifying questions to the client, using microphones so that all participants can hear them. 10 min.

• The client turns his or her back to the primary consultants and gets ready to take notes.

• The primary consultants jointly form advice and recommendations, working as a team while the client has his or her back turned. Microphones are used so that all others in the room can follow their discussion. 7 min.

• Every satellite consulting team separately critiques the work of the primary consulting team and generates its own recommendations for the client. 10 min.

• While the satellite teams work, the client turns around and uses this ten-minute period to discuss with the primary consulting team.

• Do one round to gather the critiques from the satellite teams first and then a second round to gather their recommendations. Gather only one comment or recommendation per team, with no repeats. It may be useful to ask the satellite teams to write their recommendations for the client on 3-by-5-inch index cards. 10 min.

• The client provides feedback to the consultants: what was useful and what he or she takes away. 2 min.

• Invite a full-group conversation reflecting on the process, so what, and now what. 5 min.

NOTE: The timing for each step can be adjusted depending on the complexity of the problem and the size of the group, but it is essential to stick strictly to the schedule and not let discussions drag beyond the time set. It is always better to have a second round instead.

Examples

• For multisite research/learning groups to support and learn from each other

• For professionals in a national fellowship program to share progress and get help with the action learning projects

• To replace progress presentations and reviews

• For managers trying to solve problems associated with a merger

• For foundation grantees trying to scale up their socio-tech innovations

• For getting advice on improving a relationship with one other person

• For salespeople (distributed over a large geography) getting help with developing and keeping new customers

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Making Space with TRIZ

Stop Counterproductive Activities and Behaviors to Make Space for Innovation  (35 min.)

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction. – Pablo Picasso
What is made possible? You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

In this three-step process, ask:

1. “Make a list of all you can do to make sure that you achieve the worst result imaginable with respect to your top strategy or objective.”
2. “Go down this list item by item and ask yourselves, ‘Is there anything that we are currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?’ Be brutally honest to make a second list of all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.”
3. “Go through the items on your second list and decide what first steps will help you stop what you know creates undesirable results?”
4. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of small groups of 4 to 7 chairs, with or without small tables

Paper for participants to record

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everybody involved in the work is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Groups with 4 to 7 participants

Established teams or mixed groups

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

After introduction, three segments, 10 minutes for each segment

Introduce the idea of TRIZ and identify an unwanted result. If needed, have the groups brainstorm and pick the most unwanted result. 5 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to make a first list of all it can do to make sure that it achieves this most unwanted result. 10 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to make a second list of all that it is currently doing that resembles items on their first list. 10 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to determine for each item on its second list what first steps will help it stop this unwanted activity/program/procedure. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Make it possible to speak the unspeakable and get skeletons out of the closet

Make space for innovation

Lay the ground for creative destruction by doing the hard work in a fun way

TRIZ may be used before or in place of visioning sessions

Tips and Traps

Enter into TRIZ with a spirit of serious fun

Don’t accept ideas for doing something new or additional: be sure suggestions are about stopping activities or behaviors, not about starting new things. It is worth the wait.

Begin with a VERY unwanted result, quickly confirm your suggestion with the group

Check in with groups that are laughing hard or look confused

Take time for groups to identify similarities to what they are doing now and explore how this is harmful

Include the people that will be involved in stopping the activities that come out and ask, “Who else needs to be included?”

Make real decisions about what will be stopped (number your decisions 1,2,3…) in the form of “I will stop” and “we will stop.”

Riffs and Variations

Go deeper with a second or third round to refine or deepen understanding of unwanted results.

Link these results (creative destruction) to a broad review of activities via Ecocycle Planning.

Share action steps: then go deeper and string together with Troika Consulting, Wise Crowds, or Open Space.

Examples

For reducing harm to patients experiencing safety lapses (e.g., wrong-side surgery, patient falls, medication errors, iatrogenic infections) with cross-functional groups: “How can we make sure we always operate on the wrong side?”

For helping institutional leaders notice how it is they inadvertently exclude diverse voices: “How can we devise policies and practices that only work for a select few?”

For IT professionals: “How can we make sure we build an IT system that no one will want to use?”

For leadership groups: “How can we make sure we keep doing the same things with the same people while asking for different results?”

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Celebrity Interview

Reconnect the Experience of Leaders and Experts with People Closest to the Challenge at Hand (35-60 min.)

What is made possible? You can enable a large group of people to connect with a leader or an expert (the celebrity) as a person and grasp the nuances of how that person is approaching a challenge. With a well-designed interview, you can turn what would otherwise be a passive, often boring presentation into a personal narrative that is entertaining, imparts valuable knowledge, and reveals the full range of rational, emotional, and ethical/moral dynamics at play. You can often turn the interview into an invitation to action, drawing out all the elements needed to spark the participant group’s imagination and encourage cohesive action.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite the celebrity to let go of his or her formal presentation or speech and answer the harder questions on everyone’s mind in a casual “talk show” format

• Invite group members to listen, see the person behind the celebrity, and write down questions with colleagues

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Interviewer and celebrity in the front of the room where everyone can see and hear the interaction (lapel microphones, bar stools, or living-room furniture recommended)

• Unlimited number of people in a space where they can sit to view the interview and later form small groups (theater-style seating is OK)

• 3-by-5-inch cards to collect questions generated via 1-2-4

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Part one, interview: everyone has an equal opportunity to listen

• Part two, questions: everyone has an equal opportunity to engage with one another to formulate questions

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Whole group for interview

• Individuals, pairs, small groups for 1-2-4 to generate questions

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Interviewer welcomes and introduces the celebrity and topic to be discussed. 3 min.

• Interviewer asks questions that the audience would be expected to ask (both humor and gravity are appropriate). 15–30 min.

• Invite participants to generate additional questions in a 1-2-4 conversation and then on 3-by-5-inch cards. 5–10 min.

• Interviewer sifts the cards, looking for patterns and asking additional questions to the celebrity. 5–10 min.

• Interviewer makes closing comments, thanks the celebrity. 1 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Create or boost a connection between an expert or leader and an audience

• Give substance and depth to a topic

• Avoid boring lectures and PowerPoint presentations

• Engage every individual in generating questions for further exploration

• Shed light on the person behind the position or expertise

• Bring big concepts to life with stories that come out in the interview

Tips and Traps

• A good sequence of starting questions is: What first inspired you in this work? What challenges you in this work? What keeps you going in this work? What do you hope can happen for us in this work?

• Give the questions to the celebrity in advance

• If possible, send background materials to participants in advance

• Do not allow the introduction to become a minilecture

• Interview questions should not be trivial or easy to answer

• Interviewer must ask repeatedly for stories and concrete details that illustrate concepts

• Interviewer may ask the celebrity, “Why is _____ important to YOU (not the larger organization or system)?”

Riffs and Variations

• Have fun with riffs from the talk-show genre: channel Oprah, Stephen Colbert, or your favorite celebrity interviewer

• The interviewer can conduct research in advance of the session, asking participants, “What do you want to know but would not dare to ask? What is the most important thing you want to know about this person or the work ahead?”

• Use a storytelling template to structure your interview (e.g., the Hero’s Journey).

• For strategy sessions, dig deeper into challenges by asking: What is happening around us that demands creative adaptation? What happens if we do nothing? Given our purpose, what seems possible now? If our current strategies were obliterated last night, what parts would you bring back today?

• Use with virtual groups. Conduct the voice/video interview while inviting all other participants to develop questions and comments in pairs or groups. Share the top questions via the chat function to “all” when the interview is complete.

• String together with User Experience Fishbowl, Open Space, DAD, and What I Need From You

Examples

• For a leader or leaders to help launch a new initiative

• To welcome and get to know a new leader coming into the organization

• To personalize and deepen the contributions of an expert

• For debriefing the experience of a few participants in an important event

• As an alternative to a case-study presentation: the interviewer helps to revive the story and the local context underneath the analysis

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Troika Consulting

Get Practical and Imaginative Help from Colleagues Immediately (30 min.)

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept. – Henri Nouwen

What is made possible? You can help people gain insight on issues they face and unleash local wisdom for addressing them. In quick round-robin “consultations,” individuals ask for help and get advice immediately from two others. Peer-to-peer coaching helps with discovering everyday solutions, revealing patterns, and refining prototypes. This is a simple and effective way to extend coaching support for individuals beyond formal reporting relationships. Troika Consulting is always there for the asking for any individual who wishes to get help from colleagues or friends.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite the group to explore the questions “What is your challenge?” and “What kind of help do you need?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Any number of small groups of 3 chairs, knee-to-knee seating preferred. No table!

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• In each round, one participant is the “client,” the others “consultants”

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to receive and give coaching

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Groups of 3

• People with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are most helpful

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Invite participants to reflect on the consulting question (the challenge and the help needed) they plan to ask when they are the clients. 1 min.

• Groups have first client share his or her question. 1-2 min.

• Consultants ask the client clarifying questions. 1-2 min.

• Client turns around with his or her back facing the consultants

• Together, the consultants generate ideas, suggestions, coaching advice. 4-5 min.

• Client turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience. 1-2 min.

• Groups switch to next person and repeat steps.

WHY? Purposes

• Refine skills in asking for help

• Learn to formulate problems and challenges clearly

• Refine listening and consulting skills

• Develop ability to work across disciplines and functional silos

• Build trust within a group through mutual support

• Build capacity to self-organize

• Create conditions for unimagined solutions to emerge

Tips and Traps

• Invite participants to form groups with mixed roles/functions

• Suggest that participants critique themselves when they fall into traps (e.g., like jumping to conclusions)

• Have the participants try to notice the pattern of support offered. The ideal is to respectfully provoke by telling the client “what you see that you think they do not see”

• Tell participants to take risks while maintaining empathy

• If the first round yields coaching that is not good enough, do a second round

• Beware that two rounds of 10 minutes per client is more effective than one round of 20 minutes per client.

• Keep the spaces safe: if you share anything, do it judiciously

• Questions that spark self-understanding or self-correction may be more powerful than advice about what to do

• Tell clients to try and stay focused on self-reflection by asking, “What is happening here? How am I experiencing what is happening?”

• Make Troika Consulting routine in meetings and conference

Riffs and Variations

• Meld with 15% Solutions: each client shares a 15% Solution, asking for coaching

• Inviting the client to turn around and sit facing away from his or her consultants once the question has been shared and clarified deepens curiosity, listening, empathy, and risk taking for all. The alternative of not turning around is an option.

• Restrict the coaching to generating only questions to clarify the challenge: no advice giving (aka Q-Storming)

• String together with Helping Heuristics; Heard, Seen, Respected; Nine Whys

Examples

• For the beginning or end of staff meetings

• After a presentation, for giving participants time to formulate and sift next steps

• For students to help one another and to promote peer-to-peer learning

• In the midst of conferences and large-group meetings

• As a self-initiated practice within a group

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Social Network Webbing

Map Informal Connections and Decide How to Strengthen the Network to Achieve a Purpose (60 min.)

Nothing evolves or survives on its own. Life co-evolves through relationships and networks … assembled from the bottom up following simple rules of organization and communication. – Kevin Kelly

What is made possible?

Social Network Webbing quickly illuminates for a whole group what resources are hidden within their existing network of relationships and what steps to take for tapping those resources. It also makes it easy to identify opportunities for building stronger connections as well as new ones. The inclusive approach makes the network visible and understandable to everybody in the group simultaneously. It encourages individuals to take the initiative for building a stronger network rather than receiving directions through top-down assignments. Informal or loose connections—even your friends’ friends—are tapped in a way that can have a powerful influence on progress without detailed planning and big investments.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite the members of a core working group with a shared purpose to create a map of their network and to decide how to expand and strengthen it

• Ask them to name the people they are currently working with and those they would like to include in the future (i.e., people with influence or expertise they need to achieve their purpose)

• Invite them to “weave” connections in the network web to advance their purpose

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• A long open wall with a tapestry paper or multiple flip-chart pages

• 2-by-2-inch Post-it notes in at least 8 colors

• Bold-tip black pens (e.g., Sharpies)

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone involved in the core working or planning group is included

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

• 1-2-4-All to generate the names of all the key groups

• Everyone together to generate the names of people in the network and construct the map

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Create a legend of all the key groups in the network needed to achieve your purpose and assign a Post-it color or symbol for each. 5 min.

• Every core group member prints clearly his or her name on a Post-it. Put the Post-its in a group in the center of the wall. 5 min.

• Ask all core group members, “What people do you know that are active in this work?” Tell them to create a Post-it with each of their names. Ask them to arrange the Post-its based on each person’s degrees of separation from each design group member. 10 min.

• Ask all core group members, “Who else would you like to include in this work?” Invite them to brainstorm and create Post-its for the other people they would like to include. Ask them to build the map of Post-its as a web with a core and periphery structure (mimicking the actual and desired spread of participation). Individuals is this group may your your friends’ friends.  New legend categories and colors may be needed as the webbing expands. 10 min.

• Tell the core group to step back and ask, “Who knows whom? Who has influence and expertise? Who can block progress? Who can boost progress?” Ask them to illustrate the answers with connecting lines. 15 min.

• Ask the group to devise strategies to: 1) invite, attract, and “weave” new people into their work; 2) work around blockages; and 3) boost progress. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Tap the informal connections that have indirect yet powerful influence on behavior and results

• Disseminate knowledge and innovation across scales and through boundaries—within and beyond the organization

• Develop more frontline ownership and leadership for change

• Help people see connections and “black holes”

• Help people self-organize and develop groups that are more resilient and able to absorb disruptions

• Tip the balance toward positive change

• Operate without big budgets and extensive planning by tapping the informal social networks and inviting people to contribute.

Tips and Traps

• Ask the core group to focus on developing a core group that gets things done and a diverse periphery that adds new ideas and growth.  The periphery is often in your Friends’ Friends network and they may be very helpful.

• Encourage members to dream BIG when considering whom they want to include in the future

• Do not include more than 10 functions or distinct groups in the legend: it gets too confusing!

• Write down people’s names whenever possible instead of positions/titles

• When weaving and connecting people, tell core members to think small (e.g., pairs, small interest groups)

• Learn more from Smart Networks cofounder June Holley at www.networkweaver.com

Riffs and Variations

• Come back to the maps frequently: update who is involved now and growth patterns

• Use software to make the network maps, providing more detail and metrics

• String webbing sessions together with follow-up action steps via 15% Solutions, Design StoryBoards, 1-2-4-All

Examples

• For a hospital core team working to engage everyone in preventing the spread of infections

• For a group of Lean coaches to informally spread skills and methods among frontline staff

• For middle managers in a financial organization to develop prototypes and launch new products in multiple markets

• For provincial government leaders “translating” policy-to-practice initiatives across diverse settings

• For expanding the use of a new technology, the early adopters gathered and mapped out their network to identify potential new users

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

What, So What, Now What? W³

Together, Look Back on Progress to Date and Decide What Adjustments Are Needed (45 min.)

What is made possible? You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What. The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• After a shared experience, ask, “WHAT? What happened? What did you notice, what facts or observations stood out?” Then, after all the salient observations have been collected, ask, “SO WHAT? Why is that important? What patterns or conclusions are emerging? What hypotheses can you make?” Then, after the sense making is over, ask, “NOW WHAT? What actions make sense?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Unlimited number of groups

• Chairs for people to sit in small groups of 5-7; small tables are optional

• Paper to make lists

• Flip chart may be needed with a large group to collect answers

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone is included

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute at each table

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Individuals

• Groups of 5-7

• Whole group

• Groups can be established teams or mixed groups

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• If needed, describe the sequence of steps and show the Ladder of Inference (see below). If the group is 10–12 people or smaller, conduct the debrief with the whole group. Otherwise, break the group into small groups.

• First stage: WHAT? Individuals work 1 min. alone on “What happened? What did you notice, what facts or observations stood out?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

• Salient facts from small groups are shared with the whole group and collected. 2–3 min.

• If needed, remind participants about what is included in the SO WHAT? question.

• Second stage: SO WHAT? People work 1 min alone on “Why is that important? What patterns or conclusions are emerging? What hypotheses can I/we make?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

• Salient patterns, hypotheses, and conclusions from small groups are shared with the whole group and collected. 2–5 min.

• Third stage: NOW WHAT? Participants work 1 min. alone on “Now what? What actions make sense?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

• Actions are shared with the whole group, discussed, and collected. Additional insights are invited. 2–10 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Build shared understanding of how people develop different perspectives, ideas, and rationales for actions and decisions

• Make sure that learning is generated from shared experiences: no feedback = no learning

• Avoid repeating the same mistakes or dysfunctions over and over

• Avoid arguments about actions based on lack of clarity about facts or their interpretation

• Eliminate the tendency to jump prematurely to action, leaving people behind

• Get all the data and observations out on the table first thing for everyone to start on the same page

• Honor the history and the novelty of what is unfolding

• Build trust and reduce fear by learning together at each step of a shared experience

• Make sense of complex challenges in a way that unleashes action

• Experience how questions are more powerful than answers because they invite active exploration

Tips and Traps

• Practice, practice, practice … then What, So What, Now What? will feel like breathing

• Check with small groups to clarify appropriate answers to each question (some groups get confused about what fits in each category) and share examples of answers with the whole group if needed

• Intervene quickly and clearly when someone jumps up the Ladder of Inference

• Appreciate candid feedback and recognize it

• Build in time for the debrief—don’t trivialize it, don’t rush it

• Make it the norm to debrief with W3, however quickly, at the end of everything

Riffs and Variations

• For the What? question, spend time sifting items that arise into three categories: facts with evidence, shared observations, and opinions

• Add a What If? question between So What? and Now What?

• For the So What? Question, sift items into patterns, conclusions, hypotheses/educated guesses, beliefs

Examples

• For drawing out the history and meaning of the events prior to your gathering, start a meeting with W³

• For debriefing any meeting topic that generates complex or controversial responses

• For groups with people who have strong opinions or individuals who dominate the conversation

• For groups with people who have difficulty listening to others with different backgrounds

• For use in place of a leader “telling” people what to think, what conclusions to draw, or what actions to take (often unintentionally)

• As a standard discipline at the end of all meetings

• Right after a shocking event

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Chris Argyris introduced the “Ladder of Inference” in Reasoning, Learning, and Action: Individual and Organizational (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982). Peter Senge popularized it in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday, 1990).

Helping Heuristics

Practice Progressive Methods for Helping Others, Receiving Help and Asking for Help (15 min.)

You cannot help a man permanently by doing for them something they could and should do for themselves. – Abraham Lincoln

What is made possible?

Participants can gain insight into their own pattern of interaction and habits. Helping Heuristics make it possible for them to experience how they can choose to change how they work with others by using a progression of practical methods. Heuristics are shortcuts that help people identify what is important when entering a new situation. They help them develop deeper insight into their own interaction patterns and make smarter decisions quickly. A series of short exchanges reveals heuristics or simple rules of thumb for productive helping. Try them out!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite participants to view all human interactions as offers that are either accepted or blocked (e.g., Improv artists are trained to accept all offers)

• Ask them to act, react, or observe four patterns of interaction

• Invite them to reflect on their patterns as well as to consider shifting how they ask, offer, and receive help

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Any number of participants, standing

• No tables in the way of people standing face-to-face!

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to learn and to contribute

• Participants switch into one of three possible roles as the activity progresses

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Groups of 3: two participants interacting face-to-face in the roles of client and coach plus one observer

• Whole group for the debrief

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Explain that there will be four rounds of 1–2-minute improvised interactions. Groups choose one member to be a “client,” another a “coach,” with the third acting as “observer.” Roles can stay the same or change from round to round. The fourth round will be followed by 5 minutes of debrief. 2 min.

• During every round the person in the role of client shares a challenge he or she is passionate about. While the observer pays close attention, the coach responds in a sequence of patterns that is different for each round as follows.

• During the first round, the response pattern is “Quiet Presence”: the coach accepts all offers with compassionate listening [see the Liberating Structure Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)]. 2 min.

• During the second round, the response pattern is “Guided Discovery”: the coach accepts all offers, guiding inquiry for mutual discoveries (see the Liberating Structure Appreciative Interview). 2 min.

• During the third round, the response pattern is “Loving Provocation”: the coach interjects advice, accepting and blocking as needed when the coach sees something that the client does not see (see the Liberating Structure Troika Consulting). 2 min.

• During the fourth round, the response pattern is “Process Mindfulness”: the coach and client accept all offers from each other, working at the top of their intelligence while noticing how novel possibilities are amplified. 2 min.

• Debrief the impact of all four helping patterns as experienced by clients, coaches, and observers. 5 min.

• Based on the debrief, repeat all rounds or only some for all participants to practice various response patterns.

WHY? Purposes

• Reduce/eliminate common errors and traps when people are giving or asking for help

• Change unwanted giving help patterns that include: premature solutions; unneeded advice; adding pressure to force use of advice; moving to next steps too quickly; trying too hard not to overhelp

• Change unwanted asking for help patterns that include: mistrusting; not sharing real problem; accepting help without ownership; looking for validation, not help; resenting not getting enough

Tips and Traps

• Encourage people to change roles in each round

• Develop trust, inquire humbly, create climate of mutual discovery

• Focus on patterns that will help the client finding his or her own solutions (self-discovery in a group)

• Do not ignore status differences, the setting, body language, demeanor, subtle signals

• The first cycle of four rounds can be used as preparation for deeper work on any single pattern

• After initial cycle, let trios choose the patterns they want to focus on in their group

Riffs and Variations

• Invite participants to create their own profile, self-identifying their default patterns and opportunities for growth

• Incorporate the helping progression into other Liberating Structures that focus on give-and-take: Troika Consulting, Wise Crowds, What I Need From You, Improv Prototyping, Simple Ethnography

• Start with “fun” patterns: neutral (zero response) and blocking by ignoring or interrupting

Examples

• Used when Wise Crowds or What I Need From You does not achieve a group’s intended purpose—for example, when participants have fallen into one of the unwanted asking for or giving help patterns

• For nurses, coaches, teachers, or anyone else in the helping professions to renew and learn new relational skills

• For any group working to improve interprofessional coordination

• For Liberating Structures facilitators to dig deeper into underlying patterns that cut across many Liberating Structures

• For expanding options when frustrated with trying to help another person

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by author/professor Edgar Schein (see Helping in Learning Resources).

Ecocycle Planning

Analyze the Full Portfolio of Activities and Relationships to Identify Obstacles and Opportunities for Progress (95 min.) What is made possible? You can eliminate or mitigate common bottlenecks that stifle performance by sifting your group’s portfolio of activities, identifying which elements are starving for resources and which ones are rigid and hampering progress. The Ecocycle makes it possible to sift, prioritize, and plan actions with everyone involved in the activities at the same time, as opposed to the conventional way of doing it behind closed doors with a small group of people. Additionally, the Ecocycle helps everyone see the forest AND the trees—they see where their activities fit in the larger context with others. Ecocycle Planning invites leaders to focus also on creative destruction and renewal in addition to typical themes regarding growth or efficiency. The Ecocycle makes it possible to spur agility, resilience, and sustained performance by including all four phases of development in the planning process.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite the group to view, organize, and prioritize current activities using four developmental phases: birth, maturity, creative destruction, and renewal

• Invite the group to formulate action steps linked to each phase: actions that accelerate growth during the birth phase, actions that extend life or increase efficiency during the maturity phase, actions that prune dead wood or compost rigid practices during the creative destruction phase, actions that connect creative people or prepare the ground for birth during the renewal phase. The leadership stance required for each phase can be characterized as entrepreneur, manager, heretic, and networker.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• A room with an open flat wall and open space for participants to stand comfortably in front of the wall

• Chairs for people to sit in groups of 4, with or without small round tables

• A blank Ecocycle map worksheet for each participant and a large wall-poster version posted on the wall

• Post-it notes for each activity

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everybody involved in the work is included, all levels and functions

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

• 1-2-4-All

• Small groups for action steps

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Introduce the idea of the Ecocycle and hand out a blank map to each participant. 5 min.

• Ask participants to generate their individual activity lists: “For your working group (e.g., department, function, or whole company), make a list of all the activities (projects, initiatives) that occupy your time.” 5 min.

• Ask them to work in pairs to decide the placement of every activity in the Ecocycle. 10 min.

• Invite them to form groups of four and finalize the placement of activities on the Ecocycle map. 15 min.

• Ask each group to put its activities on Post-it notes and create a whole-room map by inviting the groups one by one to place their Post-its on the larger map. 15 min.

• Ask each group to step back and digest the pattern of placements. Ask them to focus on all the activities on which there is consensus about their placement. Ask, “What activities do we need to creatively destroy or stop to move forward? What activities do we need to expand or start to move forward?” 15 min.

• In small groups, for each activity that needs to be stopped (activities that are in the Rigidity Trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more depending on the number of activities and groups.

• In small groups, for each activity that needs to start or get more resources (activities in the Poverty trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more as above.

• Ask all the groups to focus on all the activities for which there is no consensus. Do a quick round of conversation to make sense of the differences in placement. When possible, create first-action steps to handle each one. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Set priorities

• Balance a portfolio of strategies

• Identify waste and opportunities to free up resources

• Bring and hear all perspectives at once

• Create resilience and absorb disruptions by reorganizing programs together

• To reveal the whole picture, the forest AND the trees

Tips and Traps

• Don’t do your first Ecocycle Planning session with your group’s entire portfolio of market strategies. Start with a simpler program, something tangible with shared experience.

• Remind participants that all phases of the Ecocycle must be parts of a healthy organization

• Be very clear on the domain or type of activities being considered—check activities to be sure they are on a similar scale and domain

• Include views from inside and outside the organization or function (diverse participants and clients can help)

• Preparations and explicit criteria for each quadrant may help or interfere

• Don’t hesitate to do a second round

• Identifying the Rigidity and Poverty Traps, plus connecting specific activities with these labels, launches the search for solutions

• Learn more from professor Brenda Zimmerman at Change-Ability and see the excerpt from her book Edgeware under the tab Publications

Riffs and Variations

• Ask participants to make a list of all their important relationships with internal and external customers/suppliers (in addition to their activities) and to place them on the Ecocycle. Ask them to evaluate the relationships with the same questions used for the activities and to include them in the last four steps of the Ecocycle planning process. Highly recommended!

• String together with Panarchy, 1-2-4-All, WINFY, and Open Space

• TRIZ can help to deepen the Creative Destruction quadrant

• Use with virtual groups by inviting participants to place their Ecocycle assessments with a dot on the whiteboard, then chat in pairs and with the whole group about the pattern that emerges. Before you enter into full-group placements, use silence and paired chat (1-2-All) to build understanding. You will need to agree on a short common list of activities or relationships to help simplify mapping. Number or letter each item and invite placements one by one. Sift and sort answers with a whiteboard and a person playing a “synthesizer” role. Don’t worry about perfection in the first rounds. Virtual sessions can deepen or complement face-to-face exchanges.

• What, So What, Now What? and 25/10 Crowd Sourcing can help spur action

Examples

• For service portfolio review with an information technology department

• For nursing executives and academics transforming their approach to education (evaluating the history as well as proposed change initiatives)

• For planning changes in an individual’s personal life, sifting through activities and shaping next steps

• For accelerating performance of an executive team in the midst of integrating a newly acquired company (sifting through a mixture of two product lines and research opportunities)

Attribution: Adapted by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless from professor Brenda Zimmerman (see www.change-ability.ca) and ecologists (see http://www.resalliance.org).

Heard, Seen, Respected

Practice Deeper Listening and Empathy with Colleagues (35 min.)

Empathy removes the blocks to action in a way that is inclusive. It creates power through partnership and cocreation, resolving what appears to be knotted and bound. – Dominic Barter

What is made possible?

You can foster the empathetic capacity of participants to “walk in the shoes” of others. Many situations do not have immediate answers or clear resolutions. Recognizing these situations and responding with empathy can improve the “cultural climate” and build trust among group members. HSR helps individuals learn to respond in ways that do not overpromise or overcontrol. It helps members of a group notice unwanted patterns and work together on shifting to more productive interactions. Participants experience the practice of more compassion and the benefits it engenders.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite participants to tell a story to a partner about a time when they felt that they were not heard, seen, or respected.

• Ask the listeners to avoid any interruptions other than asking questions like “What else?” or “What happened next?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Chairs facing each other, a few inches between knees

• No tables

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone has an equal amount of time, in turn, to participate in each role, as a storyteller and a listener

4. How Groups Are Configured

• In pairs for the storytelling

• Then foursomes for reflecting on what happened

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• Introduce the purpose of HSR: to practice listening without trying to fix anything or make any judgments. 3 min.

WHY? Purposes

• Reveal how common it is for people to experience not being heard, seen, or respected

• Reveal how common it is for people to behave in a way that makes other people feel they are not being heard, seen, or respected

• Improve listening, tuning, and empathy among group members

• Notice how much can be accomplished simply by listening

• Rely on each other more when facing confusing or new situations

• Offer catharsis and healing after strains in relationships

• Help managers discern when listening is more effective than trying to solve a problem

Tips and Traps (for introducing HSR)

Riffs and Variations

• If you are feeling brave, replace the word “respected” with “loved” (i.e., the agape form of love—seeking the highest good in others without motive for personal gain.)

• String HSR together with other Liberating Structures that help to mend relationships: Troika Consulting, Helping Heuristics, Generative Relationships STAR, Appreciative Interviews, Conversation Café

Examples

• For regular meetings to improve the quality of listening and tuning in to each other

• For transition periods when questions about the future are unanswerable (e.g., post-merger integration, market disruptions, social upheaval) and empathetic listening is what is needed

• When individuals or groups have suffered a loss and need a forum to share their grief or despair

• To improve one-on-one reporting relationships up and down in an organization

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by Seeds of Compassion practitioners and consultant Mark Jones.

Impromptu Networking

Rapidly Share Challenges and Expectations, Build New Connections (20 min.)

What is made possible?

You can tap a deep well of curiosity and talent by helping a group focus attention on problems they want to solve. A productive pattern of engagement is established if used at the beginning of a working session. Loose yet powerful connections are formed in 20 minutes by asking engaging questions. Everyone contributes to shaping the work, noticing patterns together, and discovering local solutions.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Ask, “What big challenge do you bring to this gathering? What do you hope to get from and give this group or community?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Open space without obstructions so participants can stand in pairs and mill about to find partners

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everybody at once with the same amount of time (no limit on group size)

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

• Pairs

• Invite people to find strangers or colleagues in groups/functions different from their own

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• In each round, 2 minutes per person to answer the questions. 4-5 min. per round

• Three rounds

WHY? Purposes

• Initiate participation immediately for everyone provided the questions are engaging

• Attract deeper engagement around challenges

• Invite stories to deepen as they are repeated

• Help shy people warm up

• Affirm individual contributions to solutions

• Emphasize the power of loose and new connections

• Suggest that little things can make a big difference

Tips and Traps

• Use one challenge question and one give-and-take question

• Ask questions that invite participants to shape the direction of their work together

• Use Impromptu Networking before you begin meetings and conferences

• Use bells (e.g., tingsha) to help you shift participants from first, to second, to third rounds

• Ask questions that are open-ended but not too broad

• Invite serious play

• Have three rounds, not one or two

• If you choose to share output, do it carefully and preserve confidentiality

Riffs and Variations

• Play with different questions: What problem are you trying to solve? What challenge lingers from our last meeting? What hunch are you trying to confirm?

• Taking a group outside a meeting room increases the fun factor

• Link to Social Network Webbing

• Invite participants to make a simple plan to follow up via 15% Solutions

• Make it faster depending on your schedule

• Try a lively variation called Liquid Courage (developed by Jamie Owens – Founder of More Than An Option, Inc. and Keith McCandless).  Invite each person, in their pair, to finish these open sentences in 1 minute or less: If only….  They make me… I have to…  … that’s just the way it is.  If they would ____ then I could ______!

Examples

• For sparking deeper connections on the first day of class, college professors have asked their students, “Why did you choose to attend this class? What do you want to learn from and offer to members of this class?”

• For jump-starting a cross-functional, interdisciplinary learning session, Tim Jaasko-Fisher used Impromptu Networking with judges, lawyers, clerks, and social workers. See “Fixing a Broken Child Welfare System” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

• For connecting far-flung innovators and disparate prototypes among members of the Innovation Learning Network. See “Inventing Future Health-Care Practice” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by June Holley, network weaver.

Purpose-To-Practice (P2P)

Design the Five Essential Elements for a Resilient and Enduring Initiative (2 hrs.)

Very real crises mark our time. And as much as we might like it otherwise, it appears that doing what we have always done, only harder, will not solve them. – Charles Johnston

What is made possible? By using P2P at the start of an initiative, the stakeholders can shape together all the elements that will determine the success of their initiative. The group begins by generating a shared purpose (i.e., why the work is important to each participant and the larger community). All additional elements—principles, participants, structure, and practices—are designed to help achieve the purpose. By shaping these five elements together, participants clarify how they can organize themselves to adapt creatively and scale up for success. For big initiatives, P2P makes it possible to include a large number of stakeholders in shaping their future initiative.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite all or most stakeholders to participate in the design of their new initiative in order to specify its five essential elements: purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Chairs and small tables for people to work in groups of 4

• A large wall with poster paper for recording the P2P result for each element

• For each participant five worksheets, one for each of the five elements

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• All individuals who have a stake in launching the initiative are included

• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

• 1-2-4-All

• Whole group for finalizing each element

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• To clarify the first element, Purpose, ask the question: “Why is the work important to you and the larger community?”

• Principles: “What rules must we absolutely obey to succeed in achieving our purpose?”

• Participants: “Who can contribute to achieving our purpose and must be included?”

• Structure: “How must we organize (both macro- and microstructures) and distribute control to achieve our purpose?”

• Practices: “What are we going to do? What will we offer to our users/clients and how will we do it?”

WHY? Purposes

• Avoid “design” by a small group of people or experts-only behind closed doors

• Pull together all the elements needed to launch and sustain an effort, thereby avoiding a fragmented process

• Develop innovative strategies that can be implemented and spread quickly because there is shared ownership

• Increase resilience and the ability to absorb disruptions by distributing power fairly

• Build the capacity to rapidly adapt any of the elements to changing circumstances

Tips and Traps

• Crafting a powerful, wildly attractive “purpose” is the most important step: you may want to use Nine Whys, Appreciative Interviews, or TRIZ to deepen the conversation

• A purpose may be expressed as something positive you are going to start/create or something negative you are going to stop

• Work in quick cycles, failing forward iteratively

• Multiple sessions spread out over weeks or even months may be required

• “Structure” usually is the element that requires the most imagination and leaps away from top-down to more distributed control.  Using metaphors (e.g., how can we structure ourselves like a spider plant?) and visual representations can help draw out creative designs.

• Principles: Must dos and must not dos often come from hard lessons learned in the field (positive and negative)

• Rely on small groups to do the heavy lifting, and keep it moving

• Keep rounds on schedule and when more time is needed, do two rounds

• Rely on and draw out the inspiring-and-despairing experience of group members

• Invite the participants to use their intuition as the process unfolds

Riffs and Variations

• Start with one 30-minute, very rapid cycle covering all five elements to illustrate the need for a strong and clear purpose: without one, it is easy to come up with a half-baked design

• Graphic recording helps to hold attention and focus through the rigorous design process

• You can add questions to enrich the conversation about Practices: What is happening around us that creates an opportunity? What is at stake if we do not take a risk? Where are we starting, honestly?

• When integrating all five elements for a project is too much, just do the one or two design elements that seem most important

• Use the five P2P questions routinely as an easy checklist for small projects

• Use with virtual groups by inviting participants to answer the five questions via a chat version of 1-2-All. Sift and sort answers with a whiteboard and a person playing a “synthesizer” role. Don’t worry about perfection in the first rounds. Virtual rounds can deepen or complement face-to-face exchanges.

• Use P2P to structure a much longer design session (e.g., a planning or strategy retreat)

Examples

• By the leaders of the Conversation Café dialogue movement

• The Quality Commons, a group of researchers from eight health systems, used P2P to successfully create their consortium

• Going through the first stage of the P2P, a management team discovered a much deeper purpose than it expected. The new purpose and shared experience inspired the team to rethink its business model.

• To guide the launch of LS user groups

• By the Latin American region of a corporation to launch a new customer-focused business strategy

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.