The Potential Of Liberating Structures Visualized

I always find it difficult to explain what Liberating Structures are. It’s something you should experience, and make sense of yourself. Afterward, you probably understand its potential, and you can join the struggle to explain what you’ve just experienced. 😅

Of course, you can follow the way Keith McCandless & Henri Lipmanowicz explains it:

“Liberating Structures (LS) are a repertoire of open-source protocols and an innovative set of rules to guide routine interactions. LS specifies how people are included and participate in a way that sets them free from unwitting patterns that exclude, stifle, and over-control” 🤔

You can use the perspective participants of our workshops shared:

“It’s like Jazz” 🎶
“It’s like a social movement” 🏃‍♂️
“It’s like a language” 💬
“It’s the best thing that happened to me in my working life” 🎉
“It’s like glasses” 👓

Personally, I like to explain the potential of LS by comparing it with LEGO.

“Liberating Structures are like LEGO, building blocks for interaction” 🧱

➡️ One LEGO brick can be fun, but the real joy starts when you have multiple LEGO bricks to play with. It is said that there are 102,981,500 possible ways to combine six eight-stud LEGO bricks of the same color. 😲
➡️ The same goes for Liberating Structures. One Liberating Structure is fun and valuable. But the real strength becomes clear when you start creating strings of multiple Liberating Structures.

Or, you can simply show them this illustration. Thea Schukken and I created this illustration for a totally different purpose, but in hindsight, it’s also a perfect way to show the potential of Liberating Structures.

Include and unleash everyone, and discover new ideas together!

How would you describe Liberating Structures❓

Interested in learning many different Liberating Structures in an intense 2-day workshop? Check out our agenda for upcoming Immersion Workshops or send a message to discuss in-company opportunities.