Meetings can be a source of frustration, especially when they are unproductive and time-consuming. However, meetings are an essential part of any team or organisation, and they can be improved by using facilitation techniques. Two great places to start to find these techniques are Liberating Structures and Design Sprint exercises.

Why Facilitation?

Research has shown that effective facilitation can have many benefits in the workplace. For instance, facilitation can encourage collaboration and teamwork, break down barriers, and promote creativity and innovation. It can also help to increase employee engagement and job satisfaction, leading to greater productivity and retention.

Blog: What is Facilitation?

Liberating Structures

Liberating Structures are a set of facilitation techniques designed to enhance creativity, collaboration, and engagement in group settings. These techniques are designed to break down traditional power dynamics and encourage participation from all members of a group. They can be used in a variety of settings, including meetings, workshops, and team-building activities.

One example of a Liberating Structure is called "1-2-4-All." In this exercise, participants are asked to reflect on a question or prompt individually for one minute, then share their thoughts with a partner for two minutes. After that, partners join another pair to discuss their combined ideas for four minutes. Finally, the entire group comes together to share their collective thoughts and ideas.

Liberating Structures can be a powerful tool for improving meetings by encouraging participation from all attendees and providing a structured approach to problem-solving and decision-making.

Design Sprint Exercises

Design Sprint exercises are a series of activities that help teams rapidly prototype and test new ideas. These exercises are designed to be highly collaborative and iterative, with a focus on delivering working solutions quickly. They were developed by Google Ventures and are intended to help teams move quickly from ideation to prototyping to testing.

One example of a Design Sprint exercise is called "Crazy 8s." In this exercise, participants are asked to fold a piece of paper into eight sections and then sketch eight ideas related to a specific prompt in each section for one minute. This exercise encourages rapid ideation and can help teams generate a large number of ideas in a short amount of time.

Design Sprint exercises can be a valuable tool for improving meetings by providing a structured approach to problem-solving and encouraging rapid ideation and prototyping.

Meetings don't have to be a source of frustration and unproductivity. By using facilitation techniques like Liberating Structures and Design Sprint exercises, meetings can become more engaging, collaborative, and effective. These techniques provide a structured approach to problem-solving and decision-making, encourage participation from all attendees, and can help teams generate a large number of ideas in a short amount of time. Research has shown that effective facilitation can have many benefits in the workplace, including increased collaboration, innovation, and employee engagement. Next time you plan a meeting, consider incorporating these facilitation techniques to improve its overall effectiveness.