Keith McCandless co-wrote The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures. I asked him how simple structures for working together can make a team safer, more creative and more resilient.
1-2-4-All
Keith walks through 1-2-4-All. Each person thinks alone first, then in pairs, then in fours, and then the whole group comes together. Quiet people and loud people both contribute, and the group finds ideas that no single person brought into the room.
Respect and participation
Early on, someone thanked Keith for the respect a structure showed them. It told them their contribution mattered from the first minute. We also talk about protecting focus, cognitive drain, red teaming, and a grief walk in Seattle that showed how shared experience helps people heal.
What happened first
Keith helped me explain something I had struggled with for a long time. A debrief has to start with what happened before anyone talks about what the team should do next. In the cockpit, looking back is how we learn to see what is happening now.
Where could your next meeting give everyone a minute to think on their own first?
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Written by Ponch Rivera with AI assistance in production. The full conversation is in the player below.