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Top 20 Liberating Structures
 
Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up. Studs Terkel
 
Liberating Structures are the processes and methods that make it easy for groups of people to liberate their energy, tap into their collective intelligence, be creative, adaptable, build on each other's ideas, and get results.
 
The approaches below help to draw out the social inventiveness of individuals, groups, and communities. They have been successfully introduced, widely used, and quickly spread in many settings, languages, and countries. They require minimal structuring while liberating maximum creative adaptability! 
 
Schools, corporations, community-based NGOs, professional associations, hospitals, research and government organizations have benefited from their use.  Once introduced, they develop a life of their own, spreading and inspiring people in unexpected directions. 
 
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Read more on Liberating Structures from Lisa Kimball, Plexus Board member and Group Jazz producer.  Check out clients to get a sense of what kind of organizations are using Liberating Structures.
 
Like avant-guarde music, mix-and-match collages and creative re-mixing are wildly popular among users. We deeply respect the integrity of each approach while adapting with abandon to local conditions.  The strength of Liberating Structures arises out of their flexibility AND structure.  We are continuously adding and re-mixing elements to create novel approaches.  Always and never the same.
 
The methods have been developed and adapted by complexity-inspired practitioners and scholars. Many of the approaches arose out of learning communities supported by the Plexus Institute and urged on by the publication of EdgeWare. The differences from conventional practice are profound. The approaches co-evolve, simultaneously and mutually shaped with every new application and context.  Check out selected papers for stories about use.  See how behaviors and culture are changing.
 

1 > Agreement-and-Certainty Matching Matrix
Matching Simple, Complicated, & Complex Approaches to Specific Challenges

2 > Making Space for Self-Organization with TRIZ
Designing a Perfectly Adverse System to Make Space for Innovation

3 > Wicked Questions
Framing a Paradoxical Challenge That Engages Everyone’s Imagination

4 > Min Specs or Simple Rules
Unleashing Innovation & Action by Specifying only “Must-do’s” & “Must-not-do’s”

5 > Chunking - Rapid Prototyping
Tapping Tacit and Latent Knowledge in Seriously-Playful Rapid Cycles
 
6 > 15% Solutions
Noticing and Using the Influence, Discretion and Power Individuals (YOU!) Have Right Now
 
7 > Conversation Café Dialogue
Making Sense of and Forming Consensual Hunches about Big Challenges

8 > Work-In-Progress Group Consultation
Tapping the “Wisdom of Crowds” To Solve Problems Together
 
9 > Fishbowls & Celebrity Interviews
Surfacing and Working Through Shared Challenges in “Improvisational” Conversations

10 > Graphic StoryBoarding
Illustrating and Detailing a Design Process for Key Meetings

11 > Design Party Debrief Sessions
Reflecting on Your Design-In-Progress and Making Adjustments-As-You-Go

12 > Open Space Technology
Liberating Inherent Creativity and Leadership In Large Groups with an Action-Orientation

13 > Ecocycle Planning
Engaging Groups in Growing and Sifting Their Portfolio of Activities

14 > Appreciative Interviewing
Creating Momentum by Building On,and Designing With, What Works Right Now

15 > Positive Deviance
Self-Discovering Solutions To Big Challenges "Hidden" Right Before Your Eyes

 
16 > Smart Networks
Weaving Social Connections and Informal Networks To Develop & Advance Practice

17 > Generative Relationships
Understanding Patterns in Relationships that Create Surprising, New Sources of Value

18 > Chaordic™ Design
Designing An Innovative, Self-Organizing, and Self-Governing Organization

19 > Scenario Planning
Preparing and Practicing Strategy-Making for Surprising-Yet-Plausible Futures

20 > 1-2-4 Progressive, Rapid Cycle Conversation
Conversing in Rapid-Cycle, Iterative Sequence: Self-Reflection, Pairs, and Small Groups