Read The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation for Free Online

means simplified and faster implementation; there is less of a need to explain actions, convince others, or push for buy-in.
    1-2-4-All is so simple that it may easily be seen as a trivial change, something childish even, that is unlikely to make any difference, particularly with a group of more senior people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Replacing any of the Big Five microstructures with 1-2-4-All is one of those tiny changes that can totally transform the outcome of any group’s discussion.
    Seeing 1-2-4-All in action, or even reading about it, illustrates how, with distributed control, Liberating Structures make maximum use of the time available by replacing sequential interventions/contributions with simultaneous interactions. In other words, Liberating Structures like 1-2-4-All allow parallel versus linear processing. This gives everybody not only a lot more total time to contribute but also a lot more equal time than conventional microstructures. Well-structured parallel processing makes it possible for groups of any size to work effectively and productively together. This dramatically increases the possible number of stakeholders who can contribute to shaping decisions.
    They create lots of safe spaces that minimize power dynamics and encourage candid exchanges
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    1-2-4-All also exemplifies how Liberating Structures prevent the common side effects of conventional microstructures. Liberating Structures give everyone equal opportunity and time to participate. They provide clear boundaries within which energy and creativity can be unleashed but channeled. They create lots of safe spaces that minimize power dynamics and encourage candid exchanges. They invite and facilitate the cocreation of both agendas and solutions.
    These features transform how people collaborate, and how they discover and cocreate new solutions.
    Harnessing the Power of Small Changes
    Logic suggests that big progress can only come from big changes and that small changes will have little or no impact. Hence, the focus of leadership is nearly always on the larger and more visible ingredients of organizational performance, for example:
    Change “people”: replace, train, increase, or decrease the workforce or its leaders.
Change “resources”: introduce new product, new equipment; increase or decrease funding.
Change “macrostructures”: reorganize, change strategy, revamp some core operating processes.
    Changing people often includes training managers, leaders, and others to develop their skills. Using training to change people is unfortunately a very slow process and a complex challenge. In contrast, replacing a conventional microstructure with a Liberating Structure in group work is very quick and quite easy. It mostly takes the willingness to take a small risk and suffer through a bit of anxiety the first couple of times around. It takes getting used to trusting that the structures will—so to speak—“do the work of engaging people” and the people will do the rest. Multiple experiences reveal that it takes learning that the structures provide enough control to avoid chaos. A little
believing before seeing
is required.
    Liberating Structures challenge the myth that engaging people in an organization is difficult
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    Liberating Structures also provide many practical ways to make one-on-one discussions more productive and thereby transform the overall engagement capability of an organization. The process often starts with learning how to use Liberating Structures in groups. From this experience, it becomes possible to select from among the variety of liberating invitations or questions those that fit the purpose of each one-on-one meeting—for instance, “What is your 15% Solution ?” Similarly, the steps included in many Liberating Structures are easily adaptable to what needs to be accomplished in a group of two—for instance, the debrief structure of What, So What, and Now What?
    Liberating Structures challenge the myth