The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation (41 page)

• Whole group for interview
  
• Individuals, pairs, small groups for
  1-2-4
  to generate questions
  

• Interviewer welcomes and introduces the celebrity and topic to be discussed. 3 min.
  
• Interviewer asks questions that the audience would be expected to ask (both humor and gravity are appropriate). 15–30 min.
  
• Invite participants to generate additional questions in a 1-2-4 conversation and then on 3-by-5-inch cards. 5–10 min.
  
• Interviewer sifts the cards, looking for patterns and asking additional questions to the celebrity. 5–10 min.
  
• Interviewer makes closing comments, thanks the celebrity. 1 min.
  

• Create or boost a connection between an expert or leader and an audience
  
• Give substance and depth to a topic
  
• Avoid boring lectures and PowerPoint presentations
  
• Engage every individual in generating questions for further exploration
  
• Shed light on the person behind the position or expertise
  
• Bring big concepts to life with stories that come out in the interview
  

• A good sequence of starting questions is: What first inspired you in this work? What challenges you in this work? What keeps you going in this work? What do you hope can happen for us in this work?
  
• Give the questions to the celebrity in advance
  
• If possible, send background materials to participants in advance
  
• Do not allow the introduction to become a minilecture
  
• Interview questions should not be trivial or easy to answer
  
• Interviewer must ask repeatedly for stories and concrete details that illustrate concepts
  
• Interviewer may ask the celebrity, “
  Why
  is _____ important to YOU (not the larger organization or system)?”
  

• Have fun with riffs from the talk-show genre: channel Oprah, Stephen Colbert, or your favorite celebrity interviewer
  
• The interviewer can conduct research in advance of the session, asking participants, “What do you want to know but would not dare to ask? What is the most important thing you want to know about this person or the work ahead?”
  
• Use a storytelling template to structure your interview (e.g., the Hero’s Journey).
  
• For strategy sessions, dig deeper into challenges by asking: What is happening around us that demands creative adaptation? What happens if we do nothing? Given our purpose, what seems possible now? If our current strategies were obliterated last night, what parts would you bring back today?
  
• Use with virtual groups. Conduct the voice/video interview while inviting all other participants to develop questions and comments in pairs or groups. Share the top questions via the chat function to “all” when the interview is complete.
  
• String together with
  User Experience Fishbowl, Open Space, DAD
  , and
  What I Need From You
  

• For a leader or leaders to help launch a new initiative
  
• To welcome and get to know a new leader coming into the organization
  
• To personalize and deepen the contributions of an expert
  
• For debriefing the experience of a few participants in an important event
  
• As an alternative to a case-study presentation: the interviewer helps to revive the story and the local context underneath the analysis
  

• Invite the members of a core working group with a shared purpose to create a map of their network and to decide how to expand and strengthen it
  
• Ask them to name the people they are currently working with and those they would like to include in the future (i.e., people with influence or expertise they need to achieve their purpose)
  
• Invite them to “weave” connections in the network web to advance their purpose
  

• A long open wall with a tapestry paper or multiple flip-chart pages
  
• 2-by-2-inch Post-it notes in at least 8 colors
  
• Bold-tip black pens (e.g., Sharpies)
  

• Everyone involved in the core working or planning group is included
  
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
  

• 1-2-4-All
  to generate the names of all the key groups
  
• Everyone
  together to generate the names of people in the network and construct the map
  

• Create a legend of all the key groups in the network and assign a Post-it color or symbol for each. 5 min.
  
• Every core group member prints clearly his or her name on a Post-it. Put the Post-its in a group in the center of the wall. 5 min.
  
• Ask all core group members, “What people do you know that are active in this work?” Tell them to create a Post-it with each of their names. Ask them to arrange the Post-its based on each person’s degrees of separation from each design group member. 10 min.
  
• Ask all core group members, “Who else would you like to include in this work?” Invite them to brainstorm and create Post-its for the other people they would like to include. Ask them to build the map of Post-its as a web with a core and periphery structure (mimicking the actual and desired spread of participation). They may need to add new legend categories and colors. 10 min.
  
• Tell the core group to step back and ask, “Who knows whom? Who has influence and expertise? Who can block progress? Who can boost progress?” Ask them to illustrate the answers with connecting lines. 15 min.
  
• Ask the group to devise strategies to: 1) invite, attract, and “weave” new people into their work; 2) work around blockages; and 3) boost progress. 10 min.
  

• Tap the informal connections that have indirect yet powerful influence on behavior and results
  
• Disseminate knowledge and innovation across scales and through boundaries—within and beyond the organization
  
• Develop more frontline ownership and leadership for change
  
• Help people see connections and “black holes”
  
• Help people self-organize and develop groups that are more resilient and able to absorb disruptions
  
• Tip the balance toward positive change
  
• Operate
  without big budgets and extensive planning by tapping the informal social networks and inviting people to contribute.
  

• Ask the core group to focus on developing a core group that gets things done and a diverse periphery that adds new ideas and growth
  
• Encourage members to dream BIG when considering whom they want to include in the future
  
• Do not include more than 10 functions or distinct groups in the legend: it gets too confusing!
  
• Write down people’s names whenever possible instead of positions/titles
  
• When weaving and connecting people, tell core members to think small (e.g., pairs, small interest groups)
  
• Learn more from Smart Networks cofounder June Holley at
  www.networkweaver.com/
  

• Come back to the maps frequently: update who is involved now and growth patterns
  
• Use software to make the network maps, providing more detail and metrics
  
• String webbing sessions together with follow-up action steps via
  15% Solutions, Design StoryBoards, 1-2-4-All
  

• For a hospital core team working to engage everyone in preventing the spread of infections
  
• For a group of Lean coaches to informally spread skills and methods among frontline staff
  
• For middle managers in a financial organization to develop prototypes and launch new products in multiple markets
  
• For provincial government leaders “translating” policy-to-practice initiatives across diverse settings
  
• For expanding the use of a new technology, the early adopters gathered and mapped out their network to identify potential new users
  

Below: presentation material we use to introduce
Social Network Webbing
, featuring a map of relationships to improve safety

• Invite participants to ask for what they need from others (often in different functions or disciplines) to be successful in reaching a specific goal
  
• Invite them also to respond unambiguously to the requests from others
  

• Large room to accommodate 3 to 7 functional clusters of participants in different sections
  
• Chairs for a group of 3 to 7 people to sit in a circle in the middle of the room
  
• Paper for participants to record needs and responses
  

• Everyone is included in his or her functional cluster
  
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
  

• Three to 7 functional clusters (no limit on number of participants in each cluster)
  
• One group of 3 to 7 spokespersons to speak on behalf of each functional cluster
  

• Explain the process by describing the steps below. Reiterate the goal or challenge being addressed to make sure that the context is the same for all. Emphasize that requests must be clear and specific if they are to receive an unambiguous yes or no response. Make it clear that no answers other than
  yes, no, I will try
  , and
  whatever
  will be allowed. Position the functional clusters around the room. 3 min.
  
• Functional clusters use
  1-2-4-All
  (or 1-2-All) to make a list of their top needs from each of the other functions in the room. Needs are expressed as requests that can be delivered with care and nuance in the following form: “What I need from you is _____.” Clusters reduce their lists to two top needs, write these down in their expected form, and select a spokesperson to represent the cluster. 5–15 min.
  
• All spokespersons gather in a circle in the middle of the room.
  
• One by one, spokespersons state their two needs to each of the other spokespersons around the circle. At this stage, spokespersons take notes of requests, but no one gives answers or responses. 15 min.
  
• Working individually (or by conferring with others in their functional cluster), each spokesperson writes down one of four responses to each request:
  yes, no, I will try
  , or
  whatever
  (whatever means the request was too vague to provide a specific answer). 5–10 min.
  
• Addressing one spokesperson in the group at a time, every spokesperson in the circle repeats the requests made by him or her, then shares his or her responses (
  yes, no, I will try
  , or
  whatever
  ).
  No discussion! No elaboration!
  10 min.
  
• Debrief with
  What, So What, Now What?
  15 min.