Hello from Delta

Hello from Delta

by Nadine Tomlinson -
Number of replies: 5

Hi all,

I'm in Health Care where liberating structures are commonly used to engage stakeholders.  I'm fairly comfortable with simple meetings with Agenda's, stakeholder input, action logs and follow up. 

What big question do you have about Liberating Structures as we begin our time together?

As my continued learning, I'm interested in these liberating structures as meeting groups become larger and also for better stakeholder engagement.  As I'm reading through some of this material I realize that the thought of liberating structured meetings makes me uncomfortable.  I think this feeling of discomfort is caused because of a loss of control.....over the outcome. Yes, there is structure to the meeting with an invitation and goals but the content to a large extent is controlled by the crowd.  I think this is what I have to shift to be effective.  Any tips are welcome.  Of course the course will help as well.

What do you hope to get from and give this group this week?

sharing different perspectives on topics.

In reply to Nadine Tomlinson

Re: Hello from Delta

by Erin Beattie -

Hi Nadine,

I like your comment about being uncomfortable with the unknown and share this discomfort. It's different and unusual... does it work? Having experienced some really great facilitators who use LS on the daily, I can honestly say that it does, but I'm curious how...  I guess we will find out together! 

Cheers,

Erin

In reply to Erin Beattie

Re: Hello from Delta

by Leva Lee -

Hi Erin,

I just had to comment how wonderful it is for you to come to learning more with such curiosity.

That's perfect for Liberating Structures which asks you to take a leap of faith and
 "believe before you see". You'll learn more about the principles for Liberating Structures as you go but as  new practitioner it's good to focus on doing them, trying them out, getting a feel for it AND getting comfortable with whatever happens. Believe me, I've had a few things go sideways :)


In reply to Nadine Tomlinson

Re: Hello from Delta

by Asif Devji -

Hi Nadine -- I think this is really important: this feeling of discomfort is caused because of a loss of control.....over the outcome

For me it highlights the underlying dynamic by which most facilitation/meetings I that have experienced tend to operate -- while purporting to generate participant 'engagement' they are actually structured to generate alignment/agreement/acceptance/compliance with a preset outcome.

As I dig more into the LS activities, I see more and more how the rigidity of the 'structure' part is actually designed to draw out new/alternative/innovative ideas from participants -- rather than leading them towards pre-decided outcomes. This is exciting! 

In reply to Asif Devji

Re: Hello from Delta

by Beth Cougler Blom -

Asif I really like how you've phrased this. So the bigger question might be to ask ourselves not necessarily, "How might we engage participants/people more in our meetings and learning experiences?" but "How might we be more comfortable with sharing control over process and outcomes in our meetings and learning experiences?" Well, really, both are good questions to ponder!

In reply to Beth Cougler Blom

Re: Hello from Delta

by Reynaldo Chang -

Hi Beth,

I really liked your response to the various feedback from Nadine's post. 

I am curious whether Liberating Structure relate also how we perceive power differential in a learning environment, specially when we look at "sharing control of process and outcomes". 

I am dealing with different sets of learners in terms of demographic profiles. I am asking this question in the context of pedagogy vs. andragogy framework. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks, Beth.