{"id":256,"date":"2019-05-01T13:54:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T13:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/?p=256"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:08:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:08:21","slug":"inspired-by-liberating-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/inspired-by-liberating-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by Liberating Structures&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yesterday, I attended a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/Liberating-Structures-Cardiff\/\">Meetup with the Cardiff Liberating Structures<\/a> group. I found out about it because of an advert from Meetup. Through Meetup, I help organise the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/Cardiff-R-User-Group\/\">CaRdiff User Group<\/a> (an informal R learning group) and Meetup alerts me to new groups. For some reason, my interest was piqued. I can\u2019t really remember why&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did a bit of \u2018research\u2019 \u2013 searching webpages and the like. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.liberatingstructures.com\/\">Liberating Structures website<\/a> talks about 33 different kind of interaction and promotes them as alternatives to conventional structures which are either too inhibiting or too loose.  Again, I felt intrigued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The graphic on the webpage shows some of the funky names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/Screenshot-2019-05-01-14.03.38-1024x872.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/Screenshot-2019-05-01-14.03.38-1024x872.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/Screenshot-2019-05-01-14.03.38-300x255.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/Screenshot-2019-05-01-14.03.38-768x654.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/Screenshot-2019-05-01-14.03.38.png 1478w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are descriptions on the website but they don&#8217;t always make it easy to understand how to use the particular structure. Inspired, I bought the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"982\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0008-1024x982.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0008-1024x982.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0008-300x288.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0008-768x737.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I found the book inspiring. Key quotes that resonate with me are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;Liberating Structures are specifically designed to include, engage and unleash everyone in contributing ideas and shaping their future.&#8221; Page 21.<\/li><li>&#8220;The Liberating Leadership practice we advocate is to <strong><em>include people before the fact<\/em><\/strong>&#8221; Page 55.<\/li><li>&#8220;To build a high-performing organization, the quality of interactions between people is at least as important as the quality of the people themselves, if not more so.&#8221; Page 59.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I headed to yesterday&#8217;s meeting, I was excited. The meeting was focussed on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.liberatingstructures.com\/31-ecocycle-planning\/\">Ecocycle planning<\/a> facilitated by Alexis Pal\u00e1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alexis started with a Principles Walkaround as a starter activity. The Liberating Structures principles were placed on the floor and we were invited to read them and stand by one. A short discussion ensued. This was repeated three times. Afterwards, we reflected. The reflection questions were interesting (I can remember two):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;What did you notice?&#8221;<\/li><li>&#8220;How would you use it?&#8221;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About the Principles Walkaround, we commented that it was a nice safe start to the session and didn&#8217;t require us to share any personal information at this time. Nice. Also it was active, I moved and talked to three different people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My first <a href=\"http:\/\/www.liberatingstructures.com\/31-ecocycle-planning\/\">Ecocycle planning<\/a> encourage me to look at my own work. As mentioned on the website, I looked at my &#8220;portfolio of activities, identifying which elements are starving for resources and which ones are rigid and hampering progress&#8221;. It was interesting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0007-1024x556.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0007-1024x556.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0007-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0007-768x417.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Parts of my job that are working and some not so well&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a group, we also reflected on our Liberating Structures skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"849\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0003-1024x849.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0003-1024x849.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0003-300x249.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/256\/2019\/05\/IMG_0003-768x637.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In reflection, we discussed how Ecocycle planning could be used as a way to evaluate projects, as a mentoring tool or invigorate organisational processes.  All very interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I woke up this morning inspired by the options provided by Liberating Structures and wondering how I can integrate them into my workshops and teaching. I really enjoyed meeting all the participants. I am looking forward to another session. I hope I can make it. Thanks to Alexis and all the other participants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday, I attended a Meetup with the Cardiff Liberating Structures group. I found out about it because of an advert from Meetup. Through Meetup, I help organise the CaRdiff User [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberating-structures","category-self-development","category-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4tWbY-48","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/brennanpincardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}