In a time of unprecedented diversity and differing expectations, Liberating Structures can help your team connect and engage with each other. We explain what they are and how they can help you create productive work communities.
No matter how much the world changes, teamwork will continue to make the dream work. It also makes the business work, with Culture Amp research finding that highly engaged companies have 40% more high-performing employees.
The trick is facilitating and sustaining that teamwork.
In The 2026 Skills Horizon report, we wrote about the fact that diversity has diversified, which makes the work environment more complex and uncertain:
“Our organisations face unprecedented diversity. You have people from all walks of life, across multiple generations, each with different values and expectations, sharing a space. Diversity extends to individual views about when and where to work, along with what business is for.”
For best results, you need both diversity and belonging.
Liberating Structures offer an easy yet effective way of strengthening your team.
What are Liberating Structures?
Liberating Structures are a set of 33 simple and practical facilitation techniques (or “microstructures”) developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.
They’re designed to boost collaboration, connection, trust, and engagement in meetings, workshops, and at work in general. Basically, all the things you want in your culture.
“Liberating Structures introduce tiny shifts in the way we meet, plan, decide and relate to one another,” Lipmanowicz and McCandless write.
Better networking through liberation
Fostering belonging and creating communities at work is a priority in the modern workplace. One way to make that easier is through Impromptu Networking.
“Loose yet powerful connections are formed in 20 minutes by asking engaging questions. Everyone contributes to shaping the work, noticing patterns together, and discovering local solutions,” Lipmanowicz and McCandless write of this Liberating Structure.
Impromptu Networking enables people to quickly share challenges and expectations—and start forming new connections. Here’s how it works:
- You’ll need an open space, so people can move about freely and stand in pairs.
- Invite people to pair with strangers or colleagues in groups/roles different from their own.
- Ask the room: “What big challenge do you bring to this gathering? What do you hope to get from and give this group or community?” Then let the networking begin!
- There are three rounds. In each round, each person gets 2mins to answer the questions. Everybody plays at once, with the same amount of time and opportunity to contribute.
Give Impromptu Networking a go with your team. In just 20mins, you can start building more inclusive, cohesive, and productive communities at work.