Specialization of: Business Agility
Facilitating Collaboration
Coordinating the activities and interaction of a group of individuals.
Five elements define the underlying design of all facilitation microstructures—conventional or liberating. We call them design elements because you can make choices about them based on what you want to accomplish. The five design elements for a conventional presentation or lecture are illustrated below:
- a structuring invitation (listen to me);
- how the space is arranged and what materials are needed (rows or U facing presenter, screen, projector and PPT slides);
- how participation is distributed (nearly 100% of total time for presenter);
- how groups are configured (one group, one presenter); and,
- a sequence of steps and time allocation (presentation for most of time; possibly Q&A for balance of time).
Liberating Structures are designed with variations on these five structural elements. The elements are the minimum specifications (Min Specs) or essential foundation required to generate results with each Liberating Structure. Understanding this foundation helps you prepare when leading and facilitating with LS.