Liberating Structures Foundations

Unleash creativity in your meetings through maximum participation

Liberating Structures is a framework created by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless, intended to provide simple rules that make it easy to include and unleash everyone in shaping your future.

The framework consists of a collection of 33 structures or methods that introduce tiny shifts in the protocols of how we meet, plan, decide, learn, and relate to each other. They put the innovative power once reserved for experts only, into the hands of everyone.

Most organizations rely on what Henri and Keith refer to as conventional microstructures. These microstructures are structures we default to when meeting and organizing into groups. Examples of conventional microstructures include open discussion, brainstorm, status reports, managed discussion, and presentations. Every time you are having a conversation or a meeting you are using microstructures.

Date

October 5, 2022

Time

10am - 11am CT​

Location

Live Online

Interested in hearing when this workshop will occur next?

Interested in a private cohort for your team?

What to expect

What to Expect

Facilitating effective outcomes is hard enough with small groups. In large groups, it requires special methods and skills. How do we distribute control and involve everyone in the shaping of the future? In this workshop, you will learn the principles behind why Liberating Structures work and experience specific structures that will allow you to tap into the room intelligence no matter how large the team. And, as an extra bonus, you’ll also learn how to do this virtually.

What You'll Learn

You learn the 12 principles of Liberating Structures, the 34 structures, and the design process followed by Liberating Structures expert to unleash and empower large diverse groups. Finally, you’ll add some serious tools to your toolkit. Through direct experience running 2 of the 34 you’ll walk away with the confidence to implement them immediately in your work.

How You'll Learn

The class will be activity-based with facilitation simulations and collaborative sessions. You’ll not only learn the concepts and principles, the why and how of the 34 liberating structures, you’ll also get to practice some of the methods in a safe space. We won’t just talk at you ; you’ll learn through doing, work with other participants, and get feedback. There will be plenty of time for Q&A, so you can learn from our experience running hundreds of workshops at some of the world’s largest enterprises.

Agenda

Foundation 1

Liberating Structures Principles

Foundation 2

Leading with Purpose and Space

Foundation 3

Leveraging the LS Match Maker for Workshop Design

Foundation 4

Mastering Virtual Meetings

Who Should Attend

Agile Coaches

Who want to hone their virtual facilitation craft.

Project Managers

Seeking to improve virtual planning, grooming, and retro sessions.

Creative Leads

Looking to add new tools and concepts to your virtual tool belt.

Design Thinking Facilitators

Coming to the realization that facilitated leadership in the virtual landscape is the future.

Key Takeaways

Never Start Without a Clear Purpose(s)

Include and Unleash Everyone

Build Trust as You go

Practice Self-discovery within a Group

This event has ended

Interested in hearing when this workshop will occur next?

Douglas Ferguson

Douglas Ferguson is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist with over 20 years of experience. He is the Founder and President of Voltage Control, an Austin-based facilitation agency that specializes in helping teams work better together through participatory decision making and design inspired facilitation techniques. He has helped transform teams from U.S. SOCOM, the Air Force, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC.

Douglas is a thought leader and master facilitator of Design Sprints, Innovation Workshops, Team Alignment Workshops, Transformations, Meeting Systems, and Culture Workshops. He is also the author of three books: Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything (co-authored), and Start Within (co-authored).

Motivated by a mission to rid the world of horrible meetings and offer meaningful meetings in their place, Voltage Control is calling upon fellow facilitators to transform meeting and innovation culture. From free weekly community meetups to Control the Room–the annual facilitator summit, Voltage Control is building a community of facilitators to change the world.
What People Are Saying

"There are many choices for workshops, but in my mind there are very few who get it right. Douglas Ferguson and Voltage Control get it. If you are looking to learn a topic for the first time or level up your own skills or that of your team, then the virtual workshops offered by Voltage Control are a great option. Thanks to the workshops, we are now confidently moving beyond design thinking and regularly pushing prototypes into production."

Robert T.

VP & SENIOR CORPORATE COUNSEL AT LIBERTY MUTUAL

Apply for a Diversity Scholarship

A key part of our mission is to support diverse facilitators from different methodologies, backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, and ages. If you are a part of, or serve, a traditionally underrepresented group and feel that this scholarship would allow you to amplify this mission, please apply now.

Photo Disclaimer

Please note that photographs, video & audio recordings will be taken throughout this event. These will be used by Voltage Control for marketing and publicity in our publications, on our website and in social media, or in any third-party publication. Please contact us via email if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.​

The Books

Bring Your Ideas to Life

Innovation can seem complex or reserved for the exceptional. But we believe innovation is for everyone. We’ve set out to illuminate a path for you to generate bold ideas, visualize and share them, overcome obstacles, and turn them into reality. Our books are equal parts guidebook and stories from years of experience helping companies adopt an innovation mindset and culture. They’re practical & actionable, so you can get started now. We hope they’ll help you on your journey to realizing your biggest, boldest ideas.