The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation (Black and White Version)

Many of us at the Clinton School of Public Service are into something called Liberating Structures. I first learned of it when two students facilitated a meeting I held on revitalizing Little Rock's Main Street. They used a few Liberating Structures exercises, and the results were great. Since, one of those students (now alumni) wrote a post for ThunderheadWorks.com on Liberating Structures. The other leads a group I've joined that meets monthly to explore the processes. Consider me a true believer. What are Liberating Structures? At the first level, they're a set of 33 practical, easy-to-use methods for group work. And last month, the whole body of work came out as a book, The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures. Authors Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless spent years gathering, testing, codifying and describing these processes in real-world settings. The heart of the book is the "Field Guide" to the 33 Liberating Structures. Each one takes the group down a different path. For example, the Nine Whys is a process to help "make the purpose of your work together clear." This process that asks why, why, why. In 20 minutes it helps both the individual and the entire group dig deeper to get greater clarity on what's important. What's the underlying reason we're doing what we're doing? The goal of another Liberating Structure, Wicked Questions, is to "articulate the paradoxical challenges that a group must confront succeed." Lipmanowicz and McCandless have also identified "Sets of Strings." These are combinations of the 33 structures that, when used together move a group toward a goal, such as drawing out prototypes or finding everyday solutions. But this whole Liberating Structure is open source, and we're encouraged to find our own strings, as well. Liberating Structures goes far beyond how a planning process is facilitated. Organizations that adopt them, can find themselves radically changes. The book tells stories of Liberating Structures helping in different settings: the classroom, a child-welfare system, a business turnaround, and so on. Because of their easily seen impact, these approaches to group work will undoubtedly find quick acceptance from many tribes. And they may create a revolution. The authors quote one participant's reaction: "Warning--you may never be able to tolerate another endless conference/meeting again and might feel that everyone is in `The Matrix' except you!"

I was introduced to this book via a 4 day workshop in Abu-Dhabi. There were 25 of us and we spent 3 full days using each one of the workshop exercises in this book for helping us work out a several action plans for community development among people from many different parts of the world. The exercises helped us gain more insights into our work but also helped us grow respectful and appreciative of each others' contributions and gifts to our working community. I've since adapted these for use in other workshop situations and we've had really really good results and feedback. Be prepared for lots of "aha" moments with those you use these with.

This book is the perfect companion to the Liberating Structures web site. The 33 structures are all easy to understand and with a bit of practice can be used by anyone to improve their interactions with other people in any setting. I have participated in workshops using Liberating Structures and seen how powerful they can be. I vividly remember a woman holding back tears and saying how in 15 minutes she got more support and ideas than she had received in 3 years of working to solve the career challenges she shared. The amazing thing was that the group were all strangers from vastly different backgrounds. Liberating Structures allowed this group to organize and give support and feedback to one-another on real problems in just a few minutes.

I'm looking forward to trying out some of the structures described in the book. I think they could make a world of difference. However, I wish the authors were a little bit more respectful of my time. The first quarter is pretty repetitive and sometimes feels more like sales pitch than support. Liberating Structures work because they engage people more deeply and encourage new kinds of thinking. It takes a lot of pages to say that. Later sections of the book flesh out the strutures more specifically and give examples from the field. Those sections felt more helpful. In the Kindle version, something is off in Part Four. In many sections the Heading overlaps the first line of print, sometimes obscuring content. I tried a range of page widths, line spacings, print size, fonts, and page layouts to no avail.

The liberating structures are an easy to understand and brilliantly simple method to get groups working better together. Any barrier to good group dynamic is addressed with at least one, and in some cases, many, of these simple ways to unleash team members own ideas. The book is written in clear language, no "jargony" words. This makes learning these techniques approachable. The examples and stories are a great way to bring these facilitation tools to life, as well. Anyone who works with a team can benefit from this book!

Sometimes the text is wordy, or awkward. The illustrations are cheesy (in a good way). But what a fabulous book! The methods are easily applied to work groups. I have used dozens of these structures to facilitate groups. The book is modular: You can read it cover-to-cover, or look at specific tools, as required. I introduced this to a University Professor, who is incorporating Liberating Structures into his Leadership curriculum. It's that good. My advice: Buy a copy, and put your name on it; otherwise, someone will nick it.

This book is a reflection of the authors years of experience organizing discussions. Incredibly valuable to those of us that organize meetings, group brainstorming, or group decision-making process. The work reflects the authors love of their work ( as does the free website that reflects much of the work on the book) and the deep thinking an experience they have acquired over the years. I have used three of their recommended session designs consistently and with success. Already have two copies and this book is on the shortlist of regular recommendations to my peers in other nonprofits.

I had a well tagged copy and used the website. Lent it to a friend and later she made it clear she preffered that be called a gift. Bought this copy. Such a useful reference book. I recommend it often. Participatory processes FTW.

Love this book. The techniques (which good facilitators have been using for many years) are not new. What the authors have done is make them accessible to non-trained people (like me). I have used several of the exercises, for important meetings, and really appreciated the care with which the authors described how to use them. Of course I still had to use my own skills and experience to run the session, but having the support of this book gave me more confidence. I love this so much I have given a copy to a client and will now buy a second copy!

Liberating Structures are an amazing way to improve meetings large and small. They help you break away from the typical “one person talks, everyone else surfs email” meetings with a variety of engaging and inclusive collaboration tools. Easy to learn, the different structures can be used singly or together. I’ve used them to solve thorny operations challenges, identify the most important concerns and create engagement amongst a disparate group of people. Apart from the instructions on how to use the 36 Liberating Structures, there are many examples given, tips to get the best results and suggestions on how to vary them for different situations. Highly recommended.

Found some interesting structures for my sessions. A few can be found elsewhere as well.

All ok. Great book

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