I believe that we can make work fulfilling for all by re-writing and de-bugging the way we communicate and collaborate. This is my space for insights & sharing.
Here is an article I wrote together with colleagues of the International Association of Facilitators for our quarterly members’ newsletter. Read it & learn more about including & unleashing everyone and my bias toward groups in large circles.
Die Möglichkeiten des virtuellen Raumes ausschöpfen
Online Workshop am 9.10.2019 um 15:00
Wünschst Du Dir in Meetings manchmal einen Knopf, mit dem Du die Teilnehmer in die Gruppenarbeit „beamen" kannst? Oder einen, mit dem Du die Gespräche im Raum stummschalten kannst, damit Du nachdenken kannst?
In Online-Meetings ist all das - und noch eine ganze Reihe weiterer „Superkräfte“ einfach in die Bedienelemente integriert. Doch leider werden sie vielfach als Notlösung für Treffen von Angesicht zu Angesicht betrachtet und als fader Aufguss von echten Zusammenkünften gehandhabt.
Wir - Julia Wieland und Anja Ebers - nutzen gerne virtuelle Meetings, um in verteilten Teams und Gremien produktiv zusammenzuarbeiten; wir sind erklärte Fans von online Meetings!
Anlässlich der Internationalen Facilitation Week laden wir Euch zu einem Austausch zu den Möglichkeiten des virtuellen Raumes für Facilitatoren, Prozessbegleiter und Teamleiter ein.
Dies ist ein Online Workshop, zum Teilnehmen benötigt Ihr eine stabile Internetverbindung, Audio-Ein- und Ausgabe & Kamera.
Hier könnt Ihr Euch zur Teilnahme registrieren:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/c06f2f6ae90bb80b4ac87b605f06faf5
Am 10.&11. Dezember lade ich zusammen mit Britta Loschke und Jutta Weimar bei der Facilitation Academy zu einem lebendigen Eintauchen in die Liberating Structures ein.
Erlebt die Vielseitigkeit der LS und erkundet deren Möglichkeiten und Wirkung
Ergründet die grundlegenden Annahmen und Prinzipien der LS
Begegnet den Veränderungsimpulsen, die von LS ausgehen
Erfahrt, wie LS aktive Partizipation als Kernprinzip von Zusammenarbeit etablieren
Lernt wie LS aufeinander aufbauen und so die Wirkung der einzelnen Strukturen steigt
Tauscht Euch mit erfahrenen Praktiker*innen und Kolleg*innen zu konkreten Anwendungsmöglichkeiten der Liberating Structures aus
Findet passende LS für typische Herausforderungen in Euren Projekten und Prozessen
Testet die Anwendungsmöglichkeiten von LS jenseits von Präsenzmeetings
Dokumentiert Euer Lernerlebnis in Eurem eigenen Lernjournal
Warum ein deutschsprachiges Praxisbuch zu Liberating Structures? from anja ebers on Vimeo.
Zum Liberating Structures European Learning Gathering haben wir - Birgit Nieschalk und Anja Ebers - uns Mitstreiter für unser Vorhaben 'LS Praxuisbuch' gesucht - wir wollen ein Buch über die LS Praxis mit Praktikern im deutschsprachigen Raum schreiben.
Hier beantworten wir Fragen von Christian Weinert nach unserer LSELG-Session.
Mehr zum Vorhaben & Möglichkeiten mitzuwirken findet ihr im Kanal #praxishandbuch bei der LS Gemeinschaft auf Slack: http://bit.ly/LSslack
Hier könnt ihr miterleben, wie TRIZ, eine der 33+ Liberating Structures (LS) mühelos auch virtuell gelingt.
Zusammen mit Marco Zbinden und Stefan Stahl von Futurenow.ch verwende ich es, um einem schon lange liegenden Artikel über die LS den dringend benötigten Kickstart zu verpassen.
Das Format hilft dabei, kontraproduktive Angewohnheiten auf leichtfüßige Weise zu adressieren und abzulegen. So entsteht Platz für Neues!
Virtuelles Troika Consulting: Was sollte in (noch) einem Artikel zu Liberating Structures stehen?
Die Liberating Structure 'Troika Consulting' kann man ganz wunderbar auch virtuell praktizieren.
Hier einmal eine Runde mitgeschnitten, wie mich Marco Zbinden und Stefan Stahl von Futurenow dabei unterstützen, den richtigen Dreh für einen Artikel über Liberating Structures zu finden.
Das Ergebnis bald bei https://komfortzonen.de/
;-)
Session design for a 2-day peer-to-peer learning retreat
This is the session design mentioned in ‘A space to discover & learn from one another’.
We kicked off the 2-day retreat by inviting participants to connect among each other and to the seminar’s theme ‚Digital Communications for Theatres‘ using Impromptu Networking.
Several rounds of short conversations in pairs initiated participation immediately for everyone and attracted deeper engagement around the challenges of digital communications. Chances are, individual stories deepened while they were repeated from round to round.
In just 20 minutes, we tapped a deep well of curiosity and talent and helped the group to focus the attention on the problems they want to solve. A productive pattern of engagement was established!
Now the group was ready for deeper conversations. Using Appreciative Interviews we shared success stories and collected the conditions that make them possible. Stories from the field offered social proof of local solutions, promising prototypes, and spread innovations while providing data for recognizing success patterns.
In roughly one hour we uncovered an inventory of promising communications practices and identified several patterns that apply to successful communications for theatres across the board. Not only catered this structure for these visible outcomes but also it helped to build the group’s confidence in their own expertise and their creative potential to promote European theatre.
By then we had reached the level of trust among the group to address individual challenges. In quick round-robin “consultations,” of Troika Consulting, each participant asked for help and got advice immediately from two others.
This format for peer-to-peer coaching is a simple and effective way to extend coaching support for individuals beyond formal reporting relationships - and especially powerful with this group as it showcased the benefit of the ETC network.
The second half of the first day was all about inspiration. A seasoned expert in data driven marketing shared insights from campaigns that used audience data to promote theatre festivals, plays and programs. We debriefed the input with several rounds of 1-2-4-all one of the most basic and versatile Liberating Structure.
It helped us to include everyone in making sense of what we heard and tap the know-how and imagination of the group present.An open, generative conversation about ideas and solutions for data driven marketing within the ETC’s network unfolded.
One might think that our topic 'GDPR' for the morning of the second day was really dreadful. But to the contrary: A User Experience Fishbowl helped to continue the conversation on data driven marketing from the previous day and connected it with the group’s direct experience with the good, the bad and surprising of data protection law. In the debrief of the previous day, we recorded to ‚use GDPR regulations as an opportunity to explore the sources & use of data available‘ - in this format we learned how this might be done
Fishbowl sessions have a small inside circle of people surrounded by a larger outside circle of participants. The inside group illuminates what they have done by sharing experiences while in conversation with each other. After some minutes of conversation, the outside group splits up into trios/quartets and exchanges on what they heard. The informality breaks down the barriers with direct communication between the two groups of people and facilitates questions and answers flowing back and forth. This creates the best conditions for people to learn from each other by discovering answers to their concerns themselves within the context of their working groups.
We ended the day crowdsourcing ideas for ETC on their key areas of interest: The international representation of regional theatres and the deepening of the connection and fostering of the opportunities among the members of their network.
25/10 Crowdsourcing helped us to generate and sift the most powerful actionable ideas in these areas in roughly one hour. The winning ideas were surprisingly obvious and the first steps to make them a reality weren’t that difficult to take.
The seminar ended with the realisation of the potential of their network and ideas like this:
Have one of our members be the „expert“ for one of our upcoming seminars‚
Extend the sharing among the members of our network - try out some of the things we did the last two days online/virtually
Use this kind of learning in the framework of a larger gathering/conference of our members
For whom is this?
I recommend organisations keen to tap the full potential of their diverse membership, that exist to enable synergies and to empower its members towards joint action to embrace the peer-to-peer learning approach.
It’s particularly beneficial for associations or internal communities of practice within large organisations to design an event to launch, deepen and expand the collective power of their network.
Contact me to schedule an initial phone consult to explore what’s possible if you design an event to build connection, to enhance the relational coordination among those present.
Together, we’ll stirr up a gravitational pull or maelstrom towards new ways to relate to one another!
When Josephine Dusol, communication manager at the European Theatre Convention, experienced the magic Liberating Structures can bring forward at the reCampaign conference, she knew it could help her transform an upcoming seminar for her artistic network.
As the largest network of public theatres in Europe, the ETC has about 40 European Members from over 20 countries, reflecting the diversity of Europe’s vibrant cultural sector. ETC is organising professional training seminars throughout the year. They offer a chance to develop professional skills, promote peer-to-peer learning and foster international networking between the Member Theatres.
Liberating Structures (LS) are simple social technologies that distribute participation more widely while drawing out greater difference and variation within groups. The repertoire is designed with collaboration in mind -
LS organise groups to mutually shape their work together and make it possible to benefit from diversity and complexity instead of flattening, ignoring and pushing it away - a perfect match for the ETC as promoter of theatre as a vital platform for dialogue, democracy and interaction that responds to, reflects and engages with today’s diverse audiences and changing societies!
We designed the two days their communication experts from theatres across Europe had together, to bring participants’ expertise forward, to build new connections, identify successful practices and to inform future actions - most of it by drawing from participants’ abundant expertise.
[Review the session’s design here]
So what was different with this seminar? What challenges did it address and what did it make possible?
I did a debriefing with Joséphine and ETC’s executive director, Heidi Wiley, to find out.
For them, it was amazing how quickly everyone opened up and exchanged given how heterogenous their group was. At the same time it was a new experience for them to not control the content being shared. Heidi:
“What did they talk about? Sometimes I would have loved to eavesdrop into their conversation!”
A big relief for the organizer
All in all - and after getting comfortable with letting go of control- the participatory setup of the two days were a big relief for the organisers. They were able to participate fully and discovered a new role for them: offering a space to exchange and learn - as opposed to being the curator of content/input.
“Our members are experts in their field - but they aren’t aware of it”
- Joséphine shared one of the pains the seminar addressed. While they need to catch up & deal with digitalisation, they don’t realise that there might be a lot of wisdom available in their network while hierarchies or generational barriers are in their way to reach out. All that was effortlessly overcome by including everyone and unleashing the group’s potential.
“The seminar proved that we have relevant knowledge within our network - it’s valuable to be part of it“
summarized Heidi her key take-away. This helped members to better understand the potential of their group and ultimately work better together.
A collaborative pull or undercurrent
They’ll try out virtual learning experiences involving a wider array of their members and practice Liberating Structures in the framework of the Liberating Structures Lab Berlin and/or an immersive learning workshop I’m offering.
For whom is this?
I recommend organisations keen to tap the full potential of their diverse membership, that exist to enable synergies and to empower its members towards joint action to embrace the peer-to-peer learning approach.
It’s particularly beneficial for associations or internal communities of practice within large organisations to design an event to launch, deepen and expand the collective power of their network.
Contact me to schedule an initial phone consult to explore what’s possible if you design an event to build connection, to enhance the relational coordination among those present.
Together, we’ll stirr up a gravitational pull or maelstrom towards new ways to relate to one another!
In Berlin kann man bei verschiedenen MeetUps regelmäßig einen Einblick in meine Arbeit bekommen, mich treffen und erleben, was mich umtreibt:
Erlebt bei einem Liberating Structures Lab, wie das Potential größerer Gruppen genutzt werden kann und über einen lebendigen Austausch eine neue Qualität von Ergebnissen erzielt werden kann.
Tauscht Euch bei einem Treffen der Berlin Facilitators mit Praktikern und Experten für Gruppenprozesse aus und erfahrt, womit sich Menschen beschäftigen, deren berufliche Mission ein Mehr an Partizipation, Teilhabe und -Gabe, Vertrauen, Engagement und Selbstorganisation ist.
Manchmal nehme ich nur teil, manchmal co-facilitate ich ein MeetUp.
Erweitert Euer Repertoire für gelingende Zusammenarbeit
Seid dabei, wenn ich zusammen mit Alina Barenz bei der Facilitation Academy mit dem Liberating Structures Vertiefen - Workshop Eurer Zusammenarbeit in Projekten das Handwerkzeug zum Gelingen gebe!
Hier geht’s direkt zu Anmeldung: Liberating Structures Vertiefen, 21./22. Jan. 2019 bei der Facilitation Academy in Berlin
I design canvases and journals that are inviting some time & space for reflection into your workday. Some of them are available at the e-publishing site Gumroad.
Liberating Structures Learning Journal
This is a place for you to capture & document your experience learning Liberating Structures (LS) as compiled & published by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless (www.liberatingstructures.com). Download it to reflect your personal LS practice or to support the learning of participants in a LS immersion workshop.
Fun Things To Try to complement Liberating Structures
This is a place for you to capture & document your experience learning to complement Liberating Structures with elements other LS practitioners found useful - a.k.a. Fun Things To Try (FTTT).
FTTT help to string discrete LS together or help to enhance the purpose of a LS or string. Some of them are nascent LS and might become part of the LS menue one day.
Zum dritten Mal in Folge haben wir mit der Gemeinschaft der Berliner Facilitator*innen zur #FacWeek ein wahres Festival auf die Beine gestellt: Impressionen von den Veranstaltungen während der International Facilitationweek in Berlin 2018 Hintergründe findet ihr hier: www.facilitationweek-berlin.de
Ich entwickle Notizbücher, die Lust darauf machen, die eigenen Gedanken festzuhalten. Manche davon könnt ihr bei der e-Publishing Plattform Gumroad herunterladen.
Wenn Du Dich mit den Liberating Structures (LS) beschäftigst, wie sie von Henri Lipmanowicz und Keith McCandless unter www.liberatingstructures.com zusammengestellt und beschrieben wurden, dann hast Du mit diesem Lernjournal einen Ort, um Dein Lernerlebnis festzuhalten.
Hier geht es zur Download-Seite...
Mit meiner Arbeit als Prozessbegleiterin und Facilitatorin möchte ich spürbar machen, daß Zusammenarbeit effektiv sein kann, jeder Mensch zum Gelingen des Mitinanders beitragen will und Zeit miteinander in einer Gruppe erfüllend sein kann.
Denn ich habe herausgefunden, daß nicht die anderen die Hölle sind sondern die Abläufe, in denen wir gefangen sind und die Gewohnheiten, die wir uns zugelegt haben, um damit klarzukommen.
Also hoffe ich daß – inspiriert durch ein gelungenes Miteinander – Teilnehmer meiner Workshops später den Abläufen ihrer täglichen Meeting etwas mehr Aufmerksamkeit schenken. Daß sie sich fragen „wozu sind wir zusammengekommen und was ist unsere Aufforderung oder Einladung an jeden Einzelnen, wie er sich einbringen kann“?
In optimistischen Momenten stelle ich mir sogar vor, daß sie etwas Neues ausprobieren, das abweicht von den üblichen Powerpoint-Textwüsten, gefolgt von einer öden Frage-und Antwort-Runde.
In meinen hoffnungsvollsten Momenten stelle ich mir meinen Anstoß zu positiver Veränderung wie einen ansteckenden Rhythmus vor, den man nicht mehr aus dem Kopf bekommt oder noch besser: der direkt in die Füße geht, ein wenig so, wie es Giorgio Moroder mit seinem “Click” als Beitrag zum Sound der Zukunft gelungen ist.
Vor zwei Jahren war ich auf der Suche nach einer Umgebung, um mit Facilitation-Methoden zu experimentieren und bin dabei auf das Liberating Structures Lab Berlin gestoßen. Hier treffen sich Anwender der Liberating Structures (LS), einer Sammlung von 33+ „Mikrostrukturen“ für Gruppensituationen.
Auf den ersten Blick findet man in dieser Übersicht einige bekannte Formate. Doch der Charme der Liberating Structures ist nicht ihre Außergewöhnlichkeit, sondern ihr inklusiver und partizipativer Anspruch.
Die Kuratoren der Structures - Keith McCandless und Henri Lipmanowicz – haben mit zahllosen Gruppen und einer wachsenden Anzahl von Liberating Structures „Super-Usern“ jede der aufgelisteten Strukturen ausprobiert, verfeinert und nach einer für alle Structures gleichen Systematik so aufbereitet, daß sie von jedem ohne großes Vorwissen oder Praxis angewendet werden kann.
Keith: “Diese kleinen Strutkturen sind sorgfältig so gemacht, daß jeder in die Ausgestaltung nächster Schritte einbezogen wird. Sie sind auf Modularität angelegt -die einzelnen Strukturen können immer neu kombiniert werden. Um einen Endpunkt zu erreichen, kann manchmal nur eine Struktur ausreichen, manchmal eine Abfolge von mehreren – sie sind allesamt einfach genug, um sie im Moment neu zusammenzustellen“
Anfangs habe ich nur meine Lieblingsmethoden mit einer Liberating Structure hier und da kombiniert.
Inzwischen aber, mit dem “Click” als Anspruch, versuche ich in meinem Prozessdesign inklusiver zu sein. Das bedeutet, daß ich Methoden verwende, die meine Teilnehmer nach dem durch mich facilitierten Meeting nachlesen und vielleicht einmal selbst ausprobieren können.
Einfache Anwendbarkeit und nachvollziehbare Beschreibung ist eines der Gestaltungsprinzipien der LS so daß sich auch Neulinge an jede der LS wagen können. Dementsprechend beobachte ich mich seit einiger Zeit dabei, wie ich mehr und mehr Workshops mit Abfolgen von LS gestalte.
Die Strukturen sind ansteckend: Inspiriert von der Verwendung von What, So what, Now What nach Präsentationen in einer Strategieklausur benutzt einer meiner Kunden diese Struktur nun in organisationsübergreifenden Meetings, um das Vorgestellte zu reflektieren und informiertes Handeln abzuleiten.
Im Sinne des partizipativen Ansatzes gibt es eine wachsende Gemeinschaft von Praktikern rund um den Globus, die in lokalen Usergoups experimentiert und lernt oder sich über Slack vernetzt, um Anwendungsbeispiele auszutauschen, gemeinsame Arbeit zu koordinieren, neue Anwendungsfelder von LS zu entdecken und - am wichtigsten - sich gegenseitig zu unterstützen.
Wenn es also „Click“ gemacht hat und ein Kunde vielleicht tanzen möchte, dann gibt es viele Möglichkeiten; loszulegen – allein oder mit mir als Partnerin.
..
Dieser Artikel ist die deutsche Übersetzung eines Artikels für das Global Flipchart, dem quartalsweise versandten Newsletter der International Association of Facilitators.
Am 21./22. Januar 2019 gebe ich zusammen mit Alina Barenz in der Facilitation Academy einen Vertiefungsworkshop zu den Liberating Structures - seid dabei und verleiht Eurer Zusammenarbeit Flügel!
Liberating positive change - one meeting at a time
One of my ambitions as a process guide and facilitator is to plant a seed within the group that it can be fulfilling and effective to work together and tap the full potential of everyone present. If it’s not people who suck but the processes they’re in and the habits they’ve learned, then we are able to change it.
I am hoping groups approach their day-to-day meetings with a bit more attention on the purpose they came together for and the task of the people they pulled together.
In optimistic moments I even envision them trying out something different to the normal Powerpoint dumps followed by a dull question-and-answer session. In my most hopeful and optimistic moments I envision my contribution to positive change like a contagious rhythm you can’t get out of your head, a bit compared to what Giorgio Moroder did with his “click” to the sound of the future.
Two years ago, looking for safe environments to experiment with facilitation practices, I discovered a user group for Liberating Structures, a repertoire of 33+ “micro-structures” for group situations.
[LS Menue on liberatingstructures.com]
When you look through the list of structures, you’ll find several familiar formats. Liberating Structures’ beauty isn’t their extraordinariness but rather their inclusive approach.
The curators of the structures, Keith McCandless, Henri Lipmanowicz and a growing number of super-users are testing each nascent structure in development before it makes it to the main menu.
Keith: “These very small structures are carefully designed to include everybody in shaping next steps. They are composed with modularity in mind: the parts can be arranged and re-arranged in novel combinations. To reach productive endpoints, each can be used separately or together in strings and are simple enough to reconfigure as you go.”
[Page from the Learning Journal for the LS Immersion Workshop in Berlin]
Whereas in the beginning I combined my go-to-methods with a liberating structure now and then, with the “Click” in mind, I now try to be more inclusive with my process design and use structures that participants can look up after the facilitated meeting and then apply themselves.
Applicability is inscribed into the design principles of LS so each of them is safe enough to try even for someone new to the practice.
As a result, I observe myself stringing together the whole meeting using liberating structures more and more often.
The structures are contagious: Inspired by our use of What, So what, Now What after presentations at a strategy away-day of a team, a client uses this structure in their cross-organisational meetings to reflect on presentations and get a grip on how they will use the information going forward.
[Photo by Keith McCandless]
True to the participatory approach of the inventors, there is a growing community of practice around the globe that experiments and learns in local user groups or connects over Slack to share field stories, coordinate work together, discover new uses of liberating structures, and, most importantly, give and get help.
If a client really wants to tend to the little seed I planted, there are many ways for him to grow and expand on their own or with me as a companion - which is the kind of work I am trying to do more of.
This article is a re-post of an article for the Global Flipchart, the quarterly newsletter for members of the International Association of Facilitators.
I wish we dedicated as much attention to the design and the code of our human interactions in the real world as we dedicate to new tools for interacting in the digital domain!
Whereas our repertoire to digitally collaborate dramatically enhanced, our protocols to interact in the real world haven’t gotten an update since the days of the old Greeks:
We are missing protocols that productively include everyone in a meeting.
We lack means to effectively use the collective intelligence of those present and rituals for joint problem-solving.
We postpone decisions or default to processes that are rather Luis XIV than Laloux.
We become sarcastic and begin to blame or hate our co-workers.
We check out of the real world and immerse in our devices whenever possible - even or even more so in meetings.
As a result of this disconnect we hate meetings and other group situations, and yet we can’t escape them. Collaboration becomes ineffective, inefficient and is sometimes even making us sick.
Please don’t be resigned and regard the time with others as a waste of time.
Try out new structuring elements and formats. Level the playing field and leave the tiresome routine. Re-design the human in-between, look for what works and what unites and get a new quality of interactions. Become playful, allow yourself to have fun when together in group – it’s possible!
You don’t need to start from scratch. There’s a range of well-tested methods at hand to re-write the code for human interactions. And there’s a growing number of online-collections making methodologies accessible, such as Liberating Structures, Technology of Participation, Art of Hosting - to name but a few.
Your intention to design a new quality of human interaction is key and it fits with any of these entry points. So tap in and re-design the way you interact with others!
You are ready to stop habits and behaviors that stifle innovation, imagination, and people's ability to problem solve? You want to get a kick-start for re-inventing your meetings?
Join us
We'll immerse for 2 days into Liberating Structures, contemporary ways to engage & include all, solve problems and have fun together.
Join inventor Keith McCandles and pioneer Fisher Qua in one of the unique 2day immersion workshops in a city near you. And make sure to connect if you join the workshop in Berlin on March 15/16.