How to make workshops more collaborative & creative with Liberating Structures
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The document introduces Liberating Structures, which are simple workshop designs that distribute participation widely and draw out diverse perspectives. It provides examples of structures, noting they share a logic of organizing groups to collaborate creatively. Specific structures discussed include the Spiral Journal for reflection and Troika Consulting to get practical help from colleagues. Lessons from experience emphasize keeping structures simple, having co-facilitators, and focusing on fun over traditional events. The document encourages trying new structures and explores how they can be adapted for digital contexts.
How to make workshops more collaborative & creative with Liberating Structures
- 1. Making events, meetings and work-based life more collaborative and creative London Policy & Strategy Network- May 2021
- 2. Your experience of Liberating Structures
- 3. How Liberating Structures found me
- 5. What are Liberating Structures? ● 32+ simple social workshop designs that distribute participation more widely, while drawing out greater difference and variation within groups ● A repertoire of techniques that reliably generate novelty ● A collection for organising groups to collaborate and mutually shape their work together ● Tools & facilitation techniques that share a similar logic or organising structure ● Tiny methods that make it possible to benefit from complexity instead of flattening, ignoring, and pushing it away
- 6. What makes Liberating Structures great ● A bit of structure, to liberate your creativity ● Designed to flatten hierarchies, to ensure everyone has a chance to have their say ● Playful, creative, fun ● You don’t need to be an expert (though it always helps to practice)
- 7. Some truths about Liberating Structures ● They’re not wholly new, many elements have been ‘borrowed’ from elsewhere ● The structures have terrible names ● People can become a bit evangelical about them ● Sometimes the structure can distract from the work ● It can genuinely ruin ‘traditional’ events
- 8. Lessons from experience ● Where you can, keep it in Teams/Zoom/Meet (Jamboards can be a great way to support exercises, but every time you use a different tool someone will get lost) ● It always helps to have a co-pilot… ● Practice structures you’ve not tried before ● A lot work best face-to-face, but there’s great scope in digital ● Bring the fun
- 9. Spiral Journal Calmly prepare for the work ahead while sharpening observations
- 10. Spiral Journal (10 mins) ● Divide a page into quarters and start drawing the slowest, tightest spiral that you can (2 mins) ● Respond to the prompt in the first quadrant. Try to generate multiple items for each question or statement. (1 mins) ● Repeat with each subsequent quadrant (3 mins total) ● You are not expected to share your answers, unless you want to! ● Review & reflect, then debrief (2-3 mins)
- 11. (4) Things I need help with (3) Things I appreciate in meetings and workshops (2) Things I’m excited about (1) Things I have made progress on recently
- 12. • What did you notice? • How could I use the structure? Spiral Journal Debrief
- 13. Troika Consulting Get Practical and Imaginative Help from Colleagues Immediately
- 14. Troika Consulting (30 mins) In breakout rooms of 3-4 1. Agree who is keeping time 2. First ‘client’: Describe your challenge uninterrupted (2 mins) 3. Consultants ask clarifying questions - these are not suggestions, statements or personal examples (2 mins) 4. Client turns camera off and listens as consultants discuss suggestions, ideas or ways to reframe the challenge (3 mins) 5. Client turns camera back on and provides rapid feedback on key items (1 min) Repeat for each person (7-10 mins per round)
- 15. Troika Consulting - debrief ● What did you notice? ● How could I use the structure?
- 16. Want more? The website- https://www.liberatingstructures.com/ The app- https://www.liberatingstructures.app/en/ The (London) meetup- https://www.liberatingstructureslondon.org.uk/