Define Step-by-Step Elements for Bringing Meetings to Productive Endpoints with “Design…

Define Step-by-Step Elements for Bringing Meetings to Productive Endpoints with “Design Storyboards”

Liberating Structures are a collection of interaction patterns that allow you to unleash and involve everyone in a group — from extroverted to introverted and from leaders to followers. In this series of posts, we show how Liberating Structures can be used with Scrum.

We are all too familiar with dysfunctional meetings. I’m talking about those moments where a group of people gathers to …. do something with their valuable time together. But without a clear purpose, all attention goes to whatever topic is coined first — regardless of how important it really is and how essential it is that everyone present offers their perspective on it. And without a clear design for the gathering, interactions drag on-and-on, people keep talking as if their lives depend on it and others are distractedly looking outside because more interesting things seem to be happening there.

This post is about the Liberating Structures “Design Storyboards”, which is a great way to improve your gatherings.

The purpose of Design Storyboards

The Liberating Structure “Design Storyboards” seems an odd one when you read it for the first time. Until you realize that it is designed specifically to help groups make better use of their time together.

“Design Storyboards” exists to purposefully think about how a group wants to spend time together to most effectively achieve their purpose. You can either do “Design Storyboards” with everyone who attends a gathering or with a smaller design group.

Either way, “Design Storyboards” makes the design and the structuring of gatherings a shared responsibility — and not something that is delegated to an external facilitator, a chairperson, or a manager. While it may be a bit too meta, it effectively gives groups a structure for how to structure their interactions.

One of the huge strengths of “Design Storyboarding” is that it helps people become aware of how structural elements of their interactions — the invitations, the timeboxes, the participants, the steps — shape the quality of those interactions. By doing so, it also helps participants, and not just the facilitators, understand and use the “language” of Liberating Structures to improve those interactions over time.

This structure was created by HENRI LIPMANOWICZ and Keith McCandless.

Steps to facilitate Design Storyboards

“Design Storyboards” is typically facilitated before a larger gathering, or with the purpose of improving a recurring gathering that is already taking place. You can either involve all (potential) participants or a smaller design group.

• Ask everyone to silently reflect and make notes on the purpose of their gathering with this group. Ask: “What is the shared purpose that brings us together as a group?”. First individually and in silence (1 min), then briefly in pairs (2 min). Briefly discuss the purpose of the entire group (3 min).
• Use What, So What, Now What to analyze how the group gathers to work on its purpose up to this point and whether or not that works well (~15 min). Start by gathering the facts (“What”). Ask: “What do we typically do when we gather to achieve this purpose? What steps do we take? Who participates?”. Start with 1 minute of individual and silent reflection, then in pairs for 2 minutes and together for 3 minutes. Then proceed to the “So What”-stage. Ask: “So what works well about our typical approach in terms of achieving our purpose, and what doesn’t work so well?”. Start with 1 minute of individual and silent reflection, then in pairs for 2 minutes and together for 3 minutes. Finally, move to the “Now What”-stage. Ask: “Now what should we strengthen in order to make progress on our purpose together? How can we strengthen our purpose? Who needs to participate or be involved?”. Start with 1 minute of individual and silent reflection, then in pairs for 2 minutes and together for 3 minutes. You can gather the outcomes from the three rounds somewhere visibly so that it can act as a touchstone for further work, but this isn’t necessary.
• Use 1–2–4-ALL to let the group brainstorm alternative microstructures — both Liberating Structures and more conventional ones — that would help the group achieve its purpose (10 min). Ask: “Which alternative microstructures — both Liberating Structures and conventional ones — do you see for achieving our purpose?”. A deck of Liberating Structures Design Cards or the free online app by Holisticon are really useful here.

• If the purpose of this group can be achieved with one step, you can select the microstructure that is best suited to achieving that purpose and move to the next bullet (10 min). Also, choose one backup. For example, if the purpose of the group is to update each other on the progress, a Conversation Café or a What, So What, Now What may be sufficient. If the purpose is to analyze a shared challenge, a Discovery & Action Dialogue or Wise Crowds may suffice. Since “less is more”, it is better to stick to one core structure than to add many just because you can (and potentially waste time). If more steps are necessary, you can repeat this and the previous round for each step by asking: “What should the purpose of this step be? And which structure is best suited for it for us?”?
• Decide who will facilitate the gathering and who will attend it. Create a storyboard together to capture the decisions you made (10 min).
• Finally, determine together what questions you will ask to debrief and evaluate the gathering afterward. For example, you could agree on a quick What, So What, Now What to evaluate how the design allowed you to achieve your purpose (or not) and what else seems possible (10 min).

Examples of Design Storyboards

• For recurring meetings, you have in your organization, or ones that are experienced as especially draining, create a design team of regular participants to rethink how to structure those meetings with Liberating Structures.
• Use “Design Storyboards” to involve your Scrum Team in the design of the recurring Scrum Events. “When you consider the purpose of a Sprint Review, which microstructures make the most sense? Who needs to be invited? Who will facilitate?”.
• Use “Design Storyboards” to involve your team in the design of Sprint Retrospectives. For example, for each Sprint another pair can design the storyboard for the Sprint Retrospective.
• You can do a quick “Design Storyboards” at the start of a gathering for which there is no clear design available. First, clarify the purpose with a quick 1–2–4-ALL or Impromptu Networking, and then select the structures and the sequence that make the most sense. Instead of spending a lot of time designing upfront, you can also start with a rough outline and design the gathering as you go through it with the participants.
• For a company gathering, or a workshop attended by larger groups, form a design team to clarify the purpose, the steps, and the design together over time. For example, this is how we always design Liberating Structures Immersion Workshops.

Combinations With Other Liberating Structures

One Liberating Structure is powerful, but its power magnifies when you string them together with other structures to create a coherent flow of interactions. Here are some examples:

• If you have a larger group, you can use 25/10 Crowd Sourcing to identify alternative microstructures.
• Precede or follow-up with Simple Ethnography to collect observations from the gatherings in the field.
• If you have a bit more time, you can replace the 1–2–4-ALL where you brainstorm potential structures with the LS Selection Matchmaker. Provide everyone with a copy and ask them to mark up to 3–5 objectives they hope to achieve with their gathering (side 1). Then flip the sheet around to see which Liberating Structures are potentially suitable for that.

Closing

“Design Storyboards” may seem like an odd structure when you first read it, it is also a great way to start reshaping all those existing gatherings you already have. Once you get into the (visual) language of Liberating Structures, and it is shared among participants, the process of designing a gathering becomes both smooth and very enjoyable. It is one of the best ways to make Liberating Structures tools for users and not just facilitators.

Interested in learning many different Liberating Structures in an intense 2-day workshop? Check out our agenda for upcoming Immersion Workshops. If you’re aiming to join, book early — they are exceptionally popular. And join the Dutch User Group to learn more about Liberating Structures.