How to use Liberating Structures to transform your meetings

This article is written by Scott Seaward, User Researcher at the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Take a peek at anyone's diary and I’m sure you’ll find a large percentage of their time is taken up with meetings. So making the best use of this time is really important. I was recently on a Skype call and all the attendees apart from the host had dialed in early. The first question everyone had was “What’s this meeting about?” Instantly, I felt like there was no true reason for this meeting, and ultimately, felt significantly less invested in being present.

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We don’t have to waste our time like this and having an agenda doesn’t mean you’re being old-school. The “we’re a cool agile team that has stand ups” is great, but as a meeting convenor and participant you still need an objective and a clear understanding of purpose — Why am I here? What will I learn? How can I help? These are some of the typical things that run through my mind in meetings along with “What’s for tea?”

Avoid hosting a meeting that should’ve been an email

Liberating Structures can help you answer these questions and make your meetings more meaningful. But they are not templates to a perfect meeting. I like to think of them as tools for helping us to get to the heart of what we’re trying to achieve.

Having a clear objective and purpose for meetings is the starting point. How to best achieve your desired objectives and purpose is where Liberating Structures really help; there are 33 techniques for doing meetings differently, freely shared on their website, with a few others in “development”.

In this article I would like to present two of the Structures that I and my colleagues at the ONS have found most useful: 1/2/4/All and What, So What, Now What.

1/2/4/ALL

At first glance 1/2/4/All seems so much like common sense that it’s tempting to think of it as being almost too basic to be called an approach, but it’s simple yet profound.

I have organised a meeting with certain people who I chose/want to be there, or I’ve been invited to a meeting, so surely you must want other opinions? Even if it's a presentation, surely they’d like my feedback? Yet, all too often we don’t make time for this.

It’s a powerful build that helps ensure the loudest person in the room isn't the only voice heard. As the structure unfolds, you see the opinions of others heard and that they have ideas and thoughts about our work too and that's why we’re all invited to this meeting.

1/2/4/All is a...

You won’t sound outlandish. When you introduce 1/2/4/All to a group of people it's accepted because it's the right thing to do, it provides an enabling forum whereby people can feel comfortable and included — introverts and extroverts alike.

So, why does this 12-15 minute Structure work? This beginning of 1/2/4/All is a simple way to protect people’s time to think on their own about the subject matter, the 1 minute element for 1 person; then you get them to share with another colleague who is present, the 2 minutes in pairs step; and then 4 minutes in groups of fours if that many people are present, ending with 5 minutes spent all together, which almost inevitably leads to an enhanced group discussion.

It’s a powerful build that helps ensure the loudest person in the room isn't the only voice heard. As the structure unfolds you see the opinions of others heard and that guess what, they have ideas and thoughts about our work too and that's why we’re all invited to this meeting surely. It challenges power without attacking it directly.

1/2/4/All is a great way to gather people's opinions and thoughts but also creates the consensus that this is how this meeting will be held, we can all speak and have a say, we will be respectful of others and understand we all have a voice in this.

What? So What? Now What?

I have a slightly sarcastic but true badge on my lanyard that says “I’ve just been to a meeting that should’ve been an email”. If we're honest, I’m sure we’ve all been to a meeting where, as people are shuffling out of the door, a muffled discussion takes place. “What was the meaning of this meeting? “That's an hour I’m never getting back”. “What did they mean by so and so?”

Liberating Structures has saved me from the dreadful scenario where 20 people were sat around a table for far too long and could hardly remember what the meeting discussed a week later.

Certainly, something that's become evident as we all work remotely is that meeting times are being more strictly adhered to. Those “leaving the meeting corridor conversations” have become “well I have another call, bye”.  Having a What? So What? Now What? (WWW) structure near the end of a meeting is a great way to ensure that everyone is clear about their next steps and responsibilities.

As with 1/2/4/All, WWW intuitively makes sense, helping your team slow down and reflect. What have we talked about, so what does that mean, why is what we discussed important, and lastly, now what are we going to do about it? Whilst it’s not rocket science, it’s a structure to follow to build group consensus, understanding and ownership over outcomes and steps forward. Ensuring that attendees have understood what's been discussed, the impacts and importance, and delineating possible next steps helps jump-start progress.

Liberate your meeting

Liberating Structures has saved me from the dreadful scenario where 20 people were sat around a table for far too long and could hardly remember what the meeting discussed a week later.

Learning, trying, and applying Liberating Structures has moved me and my team towards meetings centred on “how do we meet this objective” and clear, tangible ways forward, along with actions by the end of it.

How can you do all this, you ask? It’s really simple — I literally go to the website with meeting objectives and actions and match them with the descriptions of the structures. There is even a “menu” to help you.  All material is free under creative commons licensing; there is even a Virtual Liberating Structures Community Handbook. I also am involved in a local user-group in Cardiff where we try structures together and swap experiences and resources. I would encourage you to find your own local group — or start one yourself. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

Learning about new structures is great and having space to practice them, at regular meetups, is essential. Seeing them have real-time benefits to teams is where you get the most satisfaction, however.

The reality is, I am not a confident enough facilitator to just do these things with 50 people and give it a go. I build my confidence and understanding of what the structure can achieve through the user group mainly. There is a lot of substance and thinking that have gone into each of the structures. You don’t always realise that until you’ve practised them. You learn where they will and will not have high impact.

I know this might seem daunting. But I ask you: what’s the alternative? By daring to suggest something new, you can save you and your colleagues from a lifetime of bad meetings. — Scott Seaward

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