"Welcoming All Voices"-HCD and Liberating Structures learning from each other

Build to Learn by Failing Forward - an excerpt from THIS article.

Christi Zuber, PhD, RN Founder and Managing Director, Aspen Labs

Those of you who know me know I'm a fan girl of a few things that I will talk about and refer to non-stop. Incessantly perhaps. Two of those things are Human-Centered Design and Liberating Structures. Well, when my friend and colleague, Keith McCandless, asked me to contribute to an article he was pulling together on LS principles (the first of its kind), you can imagine my elation. Yes please! He brought in a handful of people to contribute a few words and below is my contribution. I'd highly recommend you dig into the larger article and think about what principles and tools we all can use to help create a world that welcomes ALL voices.

In the meantime, enjoy this excerpt.

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With a background in nursing and design, Christi founded and grew a Human Centered Design and Innovation practice at Kaiser Permanente (serving an organization of 210,000 people in the US). With conviction and caring, she puts the human being at the center of every innovation effort. And, she has experience blending LS and HCD methods.

Liberating Structures are deceptively simple in how they present themselves. Learning how to use them with groups is amazingly easy. However, the conversations and emotions that they unleash are anything but simple. Over the course of my 20 years as a Human Centered Design (HCD) practitioner in large and complex healthcare organizations, I have gained a real appreciation of how important it is to introduce and support approaches that are easy to learn and apply. I believe this is how long-lasting change occurs.

HCD has 3 anchor phases to it, creating a shared empathy for each other, (re)framing possibilities, and generating creative ideas that are prototyped and evolved over time. When HCD is led well, all people can participate, contribute, and create new ideas and solutions together. However, there is a limitation. For people who have not been “trained well” in HCD methods/practices, it can be quite difficult to facilitate. The methods are often very nuanced and there is a definite learning curve to them. This is where LS shines. I believe that the LS principle of “Include and Unleash Everyone” is not just about the OUTCOMES of the work, but how it can actually be LEARNED AND APPLIED by everyone.

The LS principle of “Learn by Failing Forward” is the final principle I wanted to discuss, as this is a principle that I believe can be brought to life more by the use of Human Centered Design methods. The HCD Principle “Build to Learn” is made a reality in over a dozen core prototyping approaches that help groups bring new workflows, technologies, tools, roles, services, even policies to life quickly so they can be shaped by those ultimately affected by them.

Building workforce and community capacity is vitally important to building a world that welcomes all voices.

Diverse voices should not just be invited to the table, but they also need the opportunity to host it. Further, diverse hands need approaches to bring shape and form to their ideas to give them life.

Imagine how much can be achieved when the accessibility inherent in the LS practices and the expansive range of form-making prototyping approaches in HCD come to life together. I know I will keep striving for this.

I welcome you to read more in the provocative and insightful article led by my amazing colleague Keith McCandless, co-creator and author of Liberating Structures. Don't miss out. Grab a tea or coffee, sit back and open your mind.