Structures worth liberating from
I recently attended a liberating structures immersion workshop, where I learned techniques to design more inclusive and engaging collaborative sessions. I wanted to share some reflections on the structures and how they can be used.
Hierarchy’s influence on our lives
Structures influence how we relate to each other. A structure is an arrangement of interrelated elements in a complex system. Whether we are navigating the educational system, the professional world, and social opportunities, the dominant structure in today’s world is the hierarchy. At the top sit a small number of people who make decisions that influence the many beneath them. While this structure allows for control and organisation among large groups of people, it concentrates power unequally and does not facilitate deep human connection among those within it. The grip that the hierarchy has on our organisations and systems rob many people of their voices and instead confines decision making to a limited number of people.
Concentrating power at the top of the hierarchy restricts others from realising their potential. We see this at the organisational level, where good ideas from junior staff or middle managers are killed by layers of bureaucracy, stifling intrinsic motivation. And while it may not be as explicit, we also see this at a systems level, especially as inequality widens. Certain groups benefit from privileges that grant them intergenerational power — access to elite schools, exclusive clubs, and high paying jobs at the top of the ladder, while large swaths of the population feel relatively powerless.
In a hierarchy, the pursuit of upward mobility becomes paramount to one’s success. Rather than consider how to give more people a chance to succeed, people consider how they can join the elite few who hold concentrated power. Relationships, trust, and human connection give way to transactions, calculation, and competition.
This may of course seem like an extreme description. In many hierarchical organisations, managers do a good job of letting their teams shape their own ideas and make important decisions. But the fact remains, you will always be above and/or beneath someone else in a hierarchy, and that structured power dynamic will inevitably influence the way you interact with each other.
Freeing ourselves from hierarchy’s grip
Despite the fact that I have benefited from this system as a white male college graduate, I know that it must be fundamentally changed if we are to make headway on the great problems facing our society. People at the top, with the power, influence, and money — those who look like me — are not incentivized to change the system that has rewarded them time and time again.
Why would we believe that those with the most know what is best for those with the least? Why would we assume that the tools, approaches, and philosophies of those who have climbed to the top will be effective in addressing poverty, climate change, and other problems that these very same methods have helped create? We must move beyond the control and compliance of hierarchy to give more people the power to shape our future.
While the hierarchy preserves an organizational structure among large groups of people, it ultimately is a constraining structure for humans. In complex systems, defaulting to this structure fails to tap into the potential that humans collectively bring. It fails to allow more voices to contribute to the conversation in a constructive, collaborative way. It fails to generate novel ideas that have the potential to address our most pressing problems. What’s our response to the failures of hierarchies?
One approach may be to do away with structures altogether. Instead of defining ways in which we must relate to one another, why not let more organic relationships and ways of interacting take root? The danger of this approach is the tendency for hidden hierarchies to creep up. Imagine an unstructured meeting with no purpose, no agenda, and no guardrails. I’m sure you have attended many of these. Void of all structure, do all voices have a chance to contribute? Or do a few voices dominate the conversation? Often, a select few pitch their ideas and push them forward, while the collective intelligence of the group is ultimately neglected.
Hierarchy represents a structure worth freeing ourselves from. But importantly, without a new form of structures, liberation is not possible. To truly create a space where everyone is free to contribute equally and have their voice heard, we need structures that liberate rather than restrict.
An alternative approach
Liberating structures provide inspiration for how we may reimagine the way in which we relate to each other. The 33 liberating structures share these common elements: a clear invitation, an equal distribution of participation among members, a purposeful arrangement of space and configuration of groups, and a thoughtful sequencing of time.
For example, take a typical meeting aimed at generating ideas to address a problem. Given a hierarchical structure, the highest ranking person in the room will likely be the one to either suggest the idea the team moves forward with or to determine whether or not someone else’s idea is the right one. Using a liberating structure called 25/10 crowdsourcing, everyone in the room is invited to write down at least one idea. The group then collectively and anonymously votes on which ideas they are most excited to move forward with, giving everyone an equal say in how to proceed.
While it may seem like a simple shift in structure, the results can be quite profound. Rather than being limited to the insights of one or two senior people, liberating structures, such as 25/10 crowdsourcing, work off of the principle that good ideas can come from anywhere. When the collective imagination of a group is unleashed, shared wisdom and creativity quickly multiplies to build imaginative solutions to complex problems.
From liberating our meetings to our systems
What if we moved beyond the confines of a conference room and thought about these structures at a much bigger scale? What if we considered how our systems can be structured to enable more liberation instead of restriction? Imagine if the core elements of liberating structures could be found within our systems:
- Thoughtful invitations to participate in collective discussions on important societal topics, such as education, health care, and climate
- Mechanisms to ensure equal participation, which may involve raising up some voices that have been historically excluded and quieting those who have been loudest
- Dedicated space and groupings to ensure people are comfortable sharing their insights and experiences
- A thoughtful sequencing of time and activities to ensure groups develop an output collaboratively
For these liberating structures to take root, the government would have to play a different role in our public discourse. Instead of being an enforcer of rules and regulations, government would become a convenor of diverse perspectives that builds relationships among people who collectively problem solve, ensuring that marginalized groups that are traditionally left out of this process would have structured opportunities to meaningfully contribute. Civil servants would become practiced in the skill of sustained collaboration — listening to others, empathizing with them, and supporting their ideas.
In a world where structures are highly influential, it is important to consider what a more liberating model might look like beyond hierarchies. By providing everyone an equal opportunity to contribute meaningfully, liberating structures provide an inspiring alternative that can spur a movement towards a more participatory, democratic future.
