The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation (45 page)

“To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.” James P. Carse

• Invite the group to identify and explore the most critical
  and
  uncertain “realities” in their operating environment or market
  
• Then invite them to formulate strategies that would help them operate successfully in those different situations
  

• Four groups of chairs around tables
  
• Paper, Post-it notes, flip charts, or tapestry paper for each group
  

• Everyone responsible for planning and executing strategy is included
  
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
  

• Have a group large and diverse enough to break it up into four separate small groups to develop the four scenarios and related strategies
  
• If not, make two small groups
  

• Describe the sequence of steps. 2 min.
  
• Invite participants to make a list of uncertainties they face by asking, “In your/our operating environment, what factors are impossible to predict or control their direction?” 5 min.
  
• Prioritize the most critical factors by asking, “Which factors threaten your/our ability to operate successfully?” 10 min.
  
• Based
  on the group’s history and experience, select the two most critical
  and
  most uncertain (X and Y). 5 min.
  
• Create a grid with two axes—X & Y—with a “more of
  less of” continuum for the factor to be represented on each axis. For example, for the X axis, if the number of new products is a critically uncertain factor, one end of the X axis is a large number of new products and the other is no new products. Repeat for the Y factor and axis. For instance, if patent protection is a critical factor, one end of the Y axis is strong patent protection and the other is no patent protection. Four quadrants are created. See example below. 5 min.
  
• Each of the four groups creatively names and writes a thumbnail scenario for one of the quadrants. 10 min.
  
• The four groups share their scenarios briefly. 2 min. each
  
• Each group brainstorms three strategies that would help the group operate successfully in the scenario that it has described. 10 min.
  
• The four groups share their strategies briefly. 2 min. each
  
• The whole group sifts results to identify which strategies are robust (strategies that can succeed in multiple quadrants) and which are hedging (strategies that can succeed in only one scenario but protect you from a plausible calamity). The balance of strategies can succeed only in one scenario. 10 min.
  
• Each small group debriefs with
  What, So What, Now What?
  10 min.
  
• The four groups share their debriefs and the whole group makes first-steps decisions about their Now What. 10 min.
  

• Test the viability of current strategies by exposing assumptions and uncertainties
  
• Increase capacity of everyone to adapt quickly and absorb disruptions resiliently
  
• Differentiate priorities in terms of robust and hedging strategies
  
• Develop more organization-wide confidence in managing the unknowable future
  
• Widen the range of strategic options
  

Below: presentation material we use to introduce
Critical Uncertainties

• When brainstorming uncertainties, recall predictions-gone-wrong and events that caught the group off guard
  
• Challenge wishful thinking
  
• Use
  1-2-4-All
  in very short cycles for each step
  
• Have fun with naming each quadrant (song and book titles work nicely)
  
• Have fun developing the scenarios, for instance, by turning them into newspaper reports about a future situation
  
• Post-it notes help with combining and recombining ideas
  
• Regardless of role, a few people are naturals: celebrate their skillfulness
  

• Build from this short session to a full-blown scenario-planning initiative
  
• For each scenario, invite small groups to dramatize a typical client interaction or product
  from the future
  that puts your strategies into play
  
• String
  together with
  Conversation Café, Purpose-To-Practice, WINFY, Open Space, Wicked Questions
  , and
  Min Specs
  

• For exploring what features should be included in a product or service that will be launched
  
• For national policy and operating leaders to shape next steps in a health-care reform initiative
  
• For IT leaders preparing for implementation challenges across multiple countries in one region
  
• For executives and operational leaders to create a 10-year strategic vision
  
• For NGO executive directors responding to unexpected changes in funding and public perception
  
• For counseling youth in unstable settings, likely to drop out of school or start living on the street
  

Below: presentation material we use to introduce
Ecocycle Planning

• Invite the group to view, organize, and prioritize current activities using four developmental phases: birth, maturity, creative destruction, and renewal
  
• Invite the group to formulate action steps linked to each phase: actions that accelerate growth during the birth phase, actions that extend life or increase efficiency during the maturity phase, actions that prune dead wood or compost rigid practices during the creative destruction phase, actions that connect creative people or prepare the ground for birth during the renewal phase. The leadership stance required for each phase can be characterized as entrepreneur, manager, heretic, and networker.
  

• A room with an open flat wall and open space for participants to stand comfortably in front of the wall
  
• Chairs for people to sit in groups of 4, with or without small round tables
  
• A blank Ecocycle map worksheet for each participant and a large wall-poster version posted on the wall
  
• Post-it notes for each activity
  

• Everybody involved in the work is included, all levels and functions
  
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
  

• 1-2-4-All
  
• Small groups for action steps
  

• Introduce the idea of the Ecocycle and hand out a blank map to each participant. 5 min.
  
• Ask participants to generate their individual activity lists: “For your working group (e.g., department, function, or whole company), make a list of all the activities (projects, initiatives) that occupy your time.” 5 min.
  
• Ask them to work in pairs to decide the placement of every activity in the Ecocycle. 10 min.
  
• Invite
  them to form groups of four and finalize the placement of activities on the Ecocycle map. 15 min.
  
• Ask each group to put its activities on Post-it notes and create a whole-room map by inviting the groups one by one to place their Post-its on the larger map. 15 min.
  
• Ask each group to step back and digest the pattern of placements. Ask them to focus on all the activities on which there is consensus about their placement. Ask, “What activities do we need to creatively destroy or stop to move forward? What activities do we need to expand or start to move forward?” 15 min.
  
• In small groups, for each activity that needs to be stopped (activities that are in the Rigidity Trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more depending on the number of activities and groups.
  
• In small groups, for each activity that needs to start or get more resources (activities in the Poverty trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more as above.
  
• Ask all the groups to focus on all the activities for which there is no consensus. Do a quick round of conversation to make sense of the differences in placement. When possible, create first-action steps to handle each one. 10 min.
  

• Set priorities
  
• Balance a portfolio of strategies
  
• Identify waste and opportunities to free up resources
  
• Bring and hear all perspectives at once
  
• Create resilience and absorb disruptions by reorganizing programs together
  
• To reveal the whole picture, the forest AND the trees