Liberating Structures Scotland

I first became aware of Liberating Structures in late 2018 when a Twitter DM from my partner in crime, Dan Harley, piqued my curiosity. Dan wanted to know if I knew anything about it and if I could connect him with Katy McNeil, who was already experimenting with LS at the Scottish Government. Little did I know that this message would set me on a path of discovery and transformation. Life, as it often does, got in the way, and it wasn't until six months later that Liberating Structures reentered my life. By then, Dan, Katy, and Kirsty Ellis had set up a face-to-face meet-up, and I was invited to my first gathering of the Liberating Structures Scotland group. This diverse group of professionals from various public services in Scotland shared a common desire: to be more open and transparent in our facilitation of change. Throughout 2019, I attended a series of meetings with this group, each one dedicated to exploring new structures and helping me build my confidence. It was a journey ...

The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Practice Education network had a successful and engaging development day in March 2023, with a focus on building connections and using liberating structures to achieve their goals. Here's a breakdown of the key points from our day: Event Overview: The AHP Practice Education network held an in-person development day hosted by NHS Education for Scotland. This event was significant because it marked the first in-person gathering of the network since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Networking and Collaboration: The primary objectives of the day were to facilitate networking, collaboration, and the sharing of best practices among the AHP Practice Education Leads (PELs) from various locations in Scotland. The goal was to help participants appreciate, connect, and inspire each other. Liberating Structures: To achieve these objectives, the organisers sought assistance from the Liberating Structures Scotland team. Liberating Structures a...

  A Liberating Structures … Sandbox Written by Joriam Ramos We have a monthly online meeting where, in general, things are less than perfect: “I was kicked out of my breakout room!” “Where was the tab with the presentation again?” “Sorry, we’re running a bit overtime.” Perhaps in other spaces, this would warrant an apology. Perhaps participants would be disappointed or annoyed. But not here. The truth is that we're all there for exactly those interactions – this is not an ascetic space aimed at perfection; we're all together in the sandbox. The concept is simple: the Q Community , a Health and Care network focused on Quality Improvement professionals, identified that a good portion of its members had an interest in learning social tools. Liberating Structures seemed like low-hanging fruit. At first, you might imagine the classic scenario. A polite trainer joins the room, spends 45 minutes teaching a tool, perhaps sends a questionnaire, and gives everybody a nice certificate – b...

  "Empowering Collaboration: The Journey of Liberating Structures Scotland - From Meetups to Virtual Success!" Liberating Structures are more than just facilitation techniques; they are a powerful way to enhance relational coordination, trust, and creativity within groups. Originally developed by Keith McCandless and Henri Lipmanowicz, Liberating Structures are a collection of 33 micro-structures that can be easily learned and applied to problem-solving and collaborative decision-making. In Scotland, a group of enthusiastic practitioners came together in 2018 to form the Liberating Structures Scotland meet-up, with the aim of shifting the balance of power in their teams and organizations to foster engagement and influence among their workforce. The meet-ups initially took place face-to-face, bringing together participants from diverse backgrounds such as health and care, design, academia, government, and the voluntary and charity sectors. However, the momentum was disrupted...