What Are Liberating Structures? A Practical Guide to Inclusive, Engaging Group Facilitation
What Are Liberating Structures? A Practical Guide to Inclusive, Engaging Group Facilitation
Why Most Meetings Fail — And What You Can Do About It
Let’s be real: most meetings don’t work.They’re either dominated by a few voices, guided by unclear agendas, or stuck in rigid formats that kill energy and creativity. Even when people have ideas, they rarely get a chance to share them — or they don’t feel safe enough to try. This is where Liberating Structures come in.
They offer a radically different, yet beautifully simple, approach to group interaction — one that taps into everyone’s voice, not just the loudest or the most senior.
What Are Liberating Structures?
Liberating Structures (LS) are a curated set of 33+ microstructures — small group interaction patterns — designed to make collaboration more inclusive, engaging, and productive.
Instead of presentations, command-and-control meetings, or chaotic open discussions, LS introduces formats that are:
- Easy to learn and adapt
- Structured, but flexible
- Scalable across teams, departments, and organizations
- Built for inclusion — everyone participates, not just a few
- Grounded in complexity science and social learning
These structures are “liberating” because they remove the barriers that often prevent people from contributing — fear of judgment, lack of opportunity, unclear expectations — and replace them with clarity, equity, and flow.
The Core Principles Behind Liberating Structures
Before diving into the “how,” it’s important to understand the mindset behind LS. The creators (Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless) based the work on the following guiding principles:
1. Include and unleash everyone.
Every person in the room holds value — LS helps you tap into that.
2. Practice deep respect for people and local solutions.
The belief is that the wisdom is already in the room.
3. Never start without a clear purpose.
Clarity of intent drives meaningful engagement.
4. Build trust as you go.
Structures are designed to create psychological safety through rhythm and flow.
5. Learn by failing forward.
LS supports iteration, reflection, and safe experimentation.
These principles aren’t just nice ideas — they’re embedded in the design of each structure, which is why they feel so natural once you try them.
Types of Liberating Structures and What They’re Good For
Liberating Structures can be mixed and matched depending on what you need. Here’s a breakdown by purpose:
1. Structuring Conversations & Generating Ideas
- 1-2-4-All – Invite everyone to think, pair, share, and build ideas.
- TRIZ – Get rid of counterproductive behaviors by imagining how to make things worse.
-
Nine Whys – Find deeper purpose by asking “why” repeatedly.
2. Prioritizing, Making Decisions & Taking Action
- 15% Solutions – Help people take small, local, immediate action.
- Wise Crowds – Peer-based consulting for problem-solving.
- What I Need From You (WINFY) – Improve clarity in team requests and commitments.
3. Building Trust and Relationships
- Appreciative Interviews – Discover what’s working and build on strengths.
- Heard, Seen, Respected – Increase empathy and connection through shared stories.
4. Navigating Complexity & Strategy
- Ecocycle Planning – Visualize where your projects and initiatives fall in a cycle of growth, maturity, and renewal.
- Critical Uncertainties – Explore plausible futures and prepare adaptive strategies.
These structures are like modular LEGO bricks: you can combine them into a workshop, use them in a single meeting, or scale them across an organization.
Real-Life Example: Using 1-2-4-All to Unlock Group Wisdom
Let’s zoom in on one of the simplest but most powerful structures: 1-2-4-All.
The challenge: You ask a team, “How can we improve this process?” Only two people speak. The rest check out. It’s awkward, and you end up recycling the same ideas.
With 1-2-4-All:
- 1 minute – Everyone reflects silently on the question.
- 2 minutes – Pairs share their ideas.
- 4 minutes – Pairs join other pairs to expand ideas in groups of four.
- All – The whole group gathers key insights.
Result? Every voice gets heard. No one’s put on the spot. Diverse ideas emerge fast, and the group feels energized and included.
You can use this in:
- Sprint retrospectives
- Strategic planning
- Team check-ins
- Workshops or learning sessions
- Anywhere you need people to think together
Where and Why Liberating Structures Work So Well
They’ve been successfully applied in:
- Agile product teams and retrospectives
- HR workshops and culture design
- Healthcare organizations improving patient care
- Government agencies co-creating policies
- Schools transforming how students and teachers interact
The reason? They meet the moment. We’re living in a world where complexity is the norm, not the exception. LS helps you dance with complexity instead of trying to control it.
Is Liberating Structures Right for You?
If you’re:
- Tired of meetings where 20% of the people do 80% of the talking
- Looking for ways to create more inclusive, engaging environments
- Interested in collaboration that actually leads to action
- Someone who facilitates, leads, teaches, or coaches
Then yes — LS is for you.
Join Our Hands-On Liberating Structures Training
Theory is great, but experience is everything.
In our Liberating Structures training, you’ll learn:
- The principles that make LS work
- How to facilitate key structures in real time
- How to combine and sequence structures for maximum impact
- How to adapt them to your team or organization
- How to build psychological safety through structure
You’ll leave with:
- Tools you can use immediately
- A boost of confidence as a facilitator or leader
- A support network of fellow learners and practitioners
Ready to bring your meetings and workshops to life?
Join our next Liberating Structures training.
Let’s transform how people connect, collaborate, and create — one structure at a time.
[Sign up here]
Producer: Ricardo Fernandes
Linkedin > https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardo-fernandes-agile/