The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation (48 page)

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NOTES

PART ONE: THE HIDDEN STRUCTURES OF ENGAGEMENT

Chapter 1. Introduction: Small Changes, Big Differences

Unless otherwise noted, all examples and stories in this book are actual cases or composites of experiences from our consulting practice or related in our workshops; they are used with the permission of the individuals involved. The titles and affiliations of the subjects or contributors of this material may have changed after the book’s publication date; whenever possible, we have updated this information on our website.

Chapter 3. Liberating Structures for Everyone

¹
The term
Liberating Structures
was first introduced by William Torbert, a professor at Boston College. He explored the notion of forms of organization structure that gave guidance to people in a way that they developed skills to guide themselves. He advanced a theory of power that generates productivity, justice, and inquiry; and a theory of “liberating structure” through which organizations can generate continual quality improvement (contributed by Lisa Kimball).

²
Gallup Inc. “State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders,” 2013.
http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/163007/state-american-workplace.aspx
accessed July 14, 2013. Gallup defines engaged employees as “those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and contribute to their organization in a positive manner” (p. 12).

³
Adapted from Edgar Schein,
Organizational Culture and Leadership
, 4
^th
ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010).

PART THREE: STORIES FROM THE FIELD

¹
Except as noted, the stories here were developed from interviews we conducted with twenty-five leaders using Liberating Structures all over the world. We selected these twelve examples for their ability to show the power of Liberating
Structures to address many different types of issues and opportunities in a broad range of organizations.

²
Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.
The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power Of Leaderless Organizations
(New York: Portfolio, 2007).
³
Professor Singhal recommends the following videos for additional examples:
UnScripted: Liberating Structures
by Arvind Singhal
https://vimeo.com/51546509
10’20”;
Liberating Structures: Inviting and Unleashing All: Lipmanowicz in Convo with Singhal
https://vimeo.com/50352840
8’ 30”;
Liberating Classroom: Lipmanowicz in Convo with Singhal
https://vimeo.com/50347352
8’ 20”

⁴
Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges. The Positive Deviance approach is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover these successful behaviors and strategies and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned. See, e.g., Pascale, Richard, Jerry Sternin, and Monique Sternin, T
he Power of Positive Deviance
(Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2010) and
http://www.positivedeviance.org/index.html

⁵
The CBC news show
The National
featured Michael and the hospitals in this project in a segment aired on March 19, 2012 called “Germ War: One of Canada’s Leading Infection Control Experts Has Started a Simple But Unorthodox Project That’s Getting Incredible Results in the Battle against Hospital Infections.”
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The+National/Health/ID/2213462958/?page=6

⁶
KGH was part of a demonstration project to prevent infections in five hospital sites across Canada that concluded in 2011
[see
Inspiring Enduring Culture Change While Preventing Hospital Infections
in
Part Three:
Stories from the Field]
. Sherry served as leader of a core group that managed the prevention effort within her unit and across hospital departments. To coordinate action and attract cross-functional participation, the group employed
Social Network Webbing
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND LEARNING RESOURCES

Acknowledgments

Through thick and thin, hundreds of people kindly supported us in the developmental years (2003–2013). Here we name a handful.

Curt Lindberg brought together a fabulous network of complexity-crazed scholars and leaders. This community intellectually
clothed and fed us
in the beginning. Inklings of a Liberating Structures strategy were launched in Ohio with the front line of the Veterans Administration health system. Among complexity scholars, Brenda Zimmerman shines like the North Star. Her theoretical brilliance and practical bent illuminated a path forward. Liz Rykert was the first dedicated reader/editor, working through the details of each Liberating Structure’s description.

Grey Warner opened the door wide for getting started in Latin America. Alison Joslyn was the first executive to boldly try everything we had to offer. We inspired her and she inspired us in equal measure. Tadeu Alves went out on a limb to sponsor our first workshop in Brazil. Its success sowed the seeds for leaders to follow suit in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Puerto Rico. We owe special gratitude to all the frontline people in Latin America who had the courage to break new ground and innovate. Their accomplishments taught us a lot about what Liberating Structures made possible. Big hugs to David Gasser, Nicole Schmidlin, Nilton Tojar, Gracio Reis, Marcio Martins, Pablo Quintana, Ricardo Schrader, Nilda Bigott, Sidnei Castro, Vanessa Vertiz, Eduardo Guerra, Andres Bruzual Cristobal Bravo, Sean Hughes, Rafael Suarez, and Tim Daveler. Special kudos to the indefatigable Dave Raimondo!

As Liberating Structures were developing momentum in Latin America, a US-based group was working with Positive Deviance to prevent the spread of superbugs. Sharon Benjamin, Kevin Buck, Joelle Everett, Lisa Kimball, Mark Munger, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin, and Margaret Toth shared their talents as we practiced side by side. Diane Magrane believed in us and challenged us to try Liberating Structures in medical-school settings. In our work with
community leaders in Montana, Harvey Stewart insisted we develop principles. Linda DeWolf and Chris McCarthy helped launch the Innovation Learning Network with a Liberating Structures twist. Michael Gardam invited us to help guide a Canada-wide superbug-prevention effort.

In Europe, Antonio Mosquera, Jan Van Acker, Kari Jarvinen, and Guy Eiferman opened the doors to their organizations and gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the adaptability of Liberating Structures to many different cultural environments. There, too, progress and learning rested on the shoulders of courageous frontline early adopters. Big hugs to Cristina Lopez Vilchez, Miguel Angel Soria, Erik Plas, Istvan Grof, Philippe Decerf, Ans Heirman, Reginald Decraene, Bruno Klucasr, Donia Cherifi, Veronique Rosset, and Clarisse Lhoste.

The application of Liberating Structures in education and social change is expanding and spreading in large part thanks to professor Arvind Singhal. He created and nurtures a growing community of Liberating Structures Changemakers. Big hugs to professor Lucia Dura, professor Helen Hua Wang, professor Harry Meeuwsen, professor Robert Ulmer, Dr. Virginia Lacayo, professor Marie Lindquist, Dr. Karen Greiner, Erin Stock, Marc Peters, Rafael Obregon, Acadia Roher, and Carliene Quist.

Fabulous designer Lesley Jacobs gave playful form to each Liberating Structure. Our developmental editor, Leslie Stephen, made this book possible by pulling out of us the best each had to offer and filling the gaps. A deep bow to Annie Jacobs for style editing, head shrinking, and loving care after far too many days away from home. Endless gratitude goes to Riitta Lipmanowicz for her selfless nurturing, infinite patience, and endless reservoir of TLC. It could have never happened without you.

Attributions and Learning Resources

More than any single book,
Edgeware
launched our quest for practical applications of complexity science. We stand on the shoulders of Curt Lindberg, Paul Plsek, and Brenda Zimmerman. The view was fabulous! Earlier, in the 1980s, consultants Lisa Kimball and Frank Burns started work with groups to “focus beyond meeting content-only to designing engaging experiences.” They borrowed a concept with a catchy name from a Boston University professor named William Torbert—Liberating Structures.

In the Field Guide, we give attribution and credit to authors and developers who have inspired us. With a deep bow to these pioneers, thank you. Earlier influences are hard to trace but no less important. There are other mothers, fathers, and gurus behind most of the methods. Let us know whom we missed.

In addition, to build an understanding of the theories behind Liberating Structures, we recommend the following books and articles:

           
Alexander, Christopher, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein.
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

           
Anderson, Ruth A., and Reuben R. McDaniel Jr. “Taking Complexity Science Seriously: New Research, New Methods.” In
On the Edge: Nursing in the Age of Complexity
, edited by Clair Lindberg, Sue Nash, and Curt Lindberg, 73–95. Bordertown, N.J.: Plexus Press, 2008.

           
Arrien, Angeles.
Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them
. New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 1998.

           
Axelrod, Richard H.
Terms of Engagement: Changing the Way We Change Organizations
. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2000.

           
Beinhocker, Eric D. “Strategy at the Edge of Chaos.” McKinsey Quarterly, no. 1 (1997): 24–39.

           
Bellman, Geoffrey M.
The Consultant’s Calling: Bringing Who You Are to What You Do
. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.

           
Block, Peter.
Community: The Structure of Belonging
. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2008.

           
Boal, Augusto.
Theatre of the Oppressed
. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1985.

           
Brafman, Ori, and Rod A. Beckstrom.
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
. New York: Portfolio, 2010.

           
Caballero, María Cristina. “Academic Turns City into a Social Experiment: Mayor Mockus of Bogotá and His Spectacularly Applied Theory.” Harvard Gazette, March 11, 2004.

           
Cooperrider, David L. “Positive Image, Positive Action: The Affirmative Basis of Organizing.” In
Appreciative Management and Leadership: The Power of Positive Thought and Action in
Organizations
, edited by Suresh Srivasta and David L. Cooperrider, 91–125. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.

           
Giddens, Anthony.
Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis
. London: Macmillan, 1979

           
Greenhalgh, Trisha, Glenn Robert, Fraser Macfarlane, Paul Bate, and Olivia Kyriakidou. “Diffusion of Innovations in Service Organizations: Systematic Review and Recommendations,” Milbank Quarterly 82, no. 4 (2004): 581–629.

           
Gunderson, Lance, and C. S. Holling, eds.
Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems
. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002.

           
Hand, Eric. “Citizen Science: People Power.” Nature 466 (2010): 685–87.

           
Heifetz, Ronald A.
Leadership without Easy Answers
. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1994.

           
Hock, Dee, and VISA International.
Birth of the Chaordic Age
. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2000.

           
Holman, Peggy, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady.
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2007.