The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation by Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless Page A
Authors: Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
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next opportunity, and the next, and so on. Let people discover and convince themselves of the value of Liberating Structures through the experiences you create.
Remember too that all new users of Liberating Structures have the potential to initiate a community of practice if they choose to. It starts with getting one partner and then being deliberate in attracting and supporting new users by offering assistance or by inviting them to observe. We have seen many instances where adopters of Liberating Structures have been asked to run small workshops as a way of spreading the practice—for example, two to three hours covering a few basic structures. Or they were asked to help with designing or facilitating a meeting. Spread can be spontaneous or planned.
Internal or External Consultants
For internal or external consultants with influence but limited resources, starting to use Liberating Structures in work with their closest clients is the most effective way to get started. As their experience builds, they will soon have to make a choice between keeping their new expertise for their own benefit or turning as many of their customers as possible into users. The latter obviously is the more powerful strategy, but it requires that the consultant become a coach and teacher in addition to a being a proficient user. This will translate into codesigning and co-facilitating with individual clients and will likely require eventually going beyond individual coaching by organizing workshops for small or large groups.
As the work progresses, it is likely to involve navigating up the organization in order to engage and get the support of leaders in more senior positions than one’s initial clients. It may not be an easy transition for a consultant to, as quickly as possible, hand off responsibilities for facilitating Liberating Structures to others. After all, this is like giving away one’s reason for existence and looks like a lousy business model. Who is going to need you if at every step you share your experience and invite new users to take over and expand their practice? While this may sound like a legitimate concern, the scope of what needs to be accomplished to help an organization get the full benefit of Liberating Structures is so vast that no single consultant is likely to run out of work. Expansion or promotion is the much more likely scenario. Ripples will turn into waves.
Especially for anybody who learns Liberating Structures by reading instead of direct experience, 1-2-4-All is a very good place for a safe start (see description in the Field Guide or in Chapter 3 ). It is such an effective structure that any meeting would have to be exceptionally unusual not to offer at least oneopportunity for using 1-2-4-All to good advantage. So start with this structure, and when you feel comfortable, try another. There are more than a dozen easy structures that are sufficiently simple to jump into and try out—for instance, Troika Consulting; Impromptu Networking; Appreciative Interviews; What, So What, Now What?; Conversation Café; Nine Whys; Wise Crowds; 15% Solutions . Table 5.1 shows options for getting started from various organizational positions. See the Menu earlier in this chapter ( Figure 5.1 ) for a quick overview of these Liberating Structures and then follow the discussion in the Field Guide or on www.liberatingstructures.com to translate into action.
The next step is for you to move up the boldness ladder by combining two or more structures. Then find others who love the work and share stories with one another. Experiment with Liberating Structures in as many aspects of your life as you dare to; they not only have a place at work but also at school, in your family, and in your social circles.
Table 5.1
Five Ways to Get Started, No Matter What Your Position
Immersion Workshops
Clearly, there are many ways to learn Liberating Structures and get started using them. We believe that one of the most efficient and
Remember too that all new users of Liberating Structures have the potential to initiate a community of practice if they choose to. It starts with getting one partner and then being deliberate in attracting and supporting new users by offering assistance or by inviting them to observe. We have seen many instances where adopters of Liberating Structures have been asked to run small workshops as a way of spreading the practice—for example, two to three hours covering a few basic structures. Or they were asked to help with designing or facilitating a meeting. Spread can be spontaneous or planned.
Internal or External Consultants
For internal or external consultants with influence but limited resources, starting to use Liberating Structures in work with their closest clients is the most effective way to get started. As their experience builds, they will soon have to make a choice between keeping their new expertise for their own benefit or turning as many of their customers as possible into users. The latter obviously is the more powerful strategy, but it requires that the consultant become a coach and teacher in addition to a being a proficient user. This will translate into codesigning and co-facilitating with individual clients and will likely require eventually going beyond individual coaching by organizing workshops for small or large groups.
As the work progresses, it is likely to involve navigating up the organization in order to engage and get the support of leaders in more senior positions than one’s initial clients. It may not be an easy transition for a consultant to, as quickly as possible, hand off responsibilities for facilitating Liberating Structures to others. After all, this is like giving away one’s reason for existence and looks like a lousy business model. Who is going to need you if at every step you share your experience and invite new users to take over and expand their practice? While this may sound like a legitimate concern, the scope of what needs to be accomplished to help an organization get the full benefit of Liberating Structures is so vast that no single consultant is likely to run out of work. Expansion or promotion is the much more likely scenario. Ripples will turn into waves.
Especially for anybody who learns Liberating Structures by reading instead of direct experience, 1-2-4-All is a very good place for a safe start (see description in the Field Guide or in Chapter 3 ). It is such an effective structure that any meeting would have to be exceptionally unusual not to offer at least oneopportunity for using 1-2-4-All to good advantage. So start with this structure, and when you feel comfortable, try another. There are more than a dozen easy structures that are sufficiently simple to jump into and try out—for instance, Troika Consulting; Impromptu Networking; Appreciative Interviews; What, So What, Now What?; Conversation Café; Nine Whys; Wise Crowds; 15% Solutions . Table 5.1 shows options for getting started from various organizational positions. See the Menu earlier in this chapter ( Figure 5.1 ) for a quick overview of these Liberating Structures and then follow the discussion in the Field Guide or on www.liberatingstructures.com to translate into action.
The next step is for you to move up the boldness ladder by combining two or more structures. Then find others who love the work and share stories with one another. Experiment with Liberating Structures in as many aspects of your life as you dare to; they not only have a place at work but also at school, in your family, and in your social circles.
Table 5.1
Five Ways to Get Started, No Matter What Your Position
Immersion Workshops
Clearly, there are many ways to learn Liberating Structures and get started using them. We believe that one of the most efficient and
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