This Tip discusses using liberating structures, including one called 15% solutions with the directions to facilitate it included.
“You cannot cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” R. Tagore
Using Liberating Structures
I recently became aware of group facilitation and problem solving techniques called Liberating Structures. Some of these have been helpful in responding to this pandemic.
The website (www.liberatingstructures.com) provides the following description:
Liberating Structures introduce tiny shifts in the way we meet, plan, decide and relate to one another. They put the innovative and facilitative power once reserved for experts only in hands of everyone. Thirty-three adaptable microstructures make it quick and simple for groups of people of any size to radically change how they interact and work together. LS can replace or complement the big five conventional approaches that people use all the time:
- presentations,
- managed discussions,
- status reports,
- brainstorms, and
- open discussions.
In contrast, LS are designed to include and unleash everyone in shaping their future.
With very positive results, people have used many Liberating Structures to help prevent the spread of infections. One example is called 15% solutions. I have drawn the description directly from the website:
15% Solutions
Discover and Focus on What Each Person Has the Freedom and Resources to Do Now (20 min.)
What is made possible? You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done. In addition, you can find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.
Five Structural Elements – Min Specs
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Structuring Invitation
- In connection with their personal challenge or their group’s challenge, ask, “What is your 15 percent? Where do you have discretion and freedom to act? What can you do without more resources or authority?”
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How to Arrange Space and Materials Needed
- Unlimited number of groups.
- Chairs for people to sit in groups of 2-4; no tables required.
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How to Distribute Participation
- Everyone is included
- Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
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How to Configure Groups
- First alone
- Then in pairs or small groups
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Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation
- First alone, each person generates his or her own list of 15% Solutions. 5 min.
- Individuals share their ideas with a small group (2 to 4 members). 3 min. per person and one person at a time
- Group members provide a consultation to one another (asking clarifying questions and offering advice). 5 to 7 min. per person and one person at a time
WHY? Purposes
- Move away from blockage, negativism, and powerlessness
- Have people discover their individual and collective power
- Reveal bottom-up solutions
- Share actionable ideas and help one another
- Build trust
- Remember unused capacity and resources (15 percent is always there for the taking)
- Reduce waste
- Close the knowing-doing gap
Tips and Traps
- Check each item to assure that it is within the discretion of the individual
- Be ready for BIG things to emerge via the butterfly effect
- Reinventing the wheel is OK
- Each 15% Solution adds to understanding of what is possible
- Clear, common purpose and boundaries will generate coherence among many 15% Solutions
- Make it a routine to ask for 15% Solutions in meetings (15% Solutions are otherwise commonly unnoticed and overlooked)
- While introducing the idea, tell a story about a small change made by an individual that sparked a big result
- Learn more from professor Gareth Morgan, who has popularized the concept at imaginiz.com/index.html under the tab Provocative Ideas
For articles and stories that detail how Liberating Structures are helping to transform infection control practices and performance, go to http://www.liberatingstructures.com/infection-control/.
May your learning be sweet.
Stay safe.
Deborah
