Liberating Structures
Appreciative Interviews
Discover and build on the root causes of success. Appreciative Interviews help groups uncover the conditions that make success possible by sharing real stories of when people were at their best.
Appreciative Interviews
What is made possible - What it unlocks
Appreciative Interviews make it possible to shift a group’s attention from problems to strengths. By surfacing “hidden” stories of success, people recognize what already works, what gives energy, and what conditions enable excellence. This generates optimism, strengthens relationships, and provides a foundation for meaningful change rooted in lived experience rather than abstract ideals.
When to use it
- When morale is low and groups need positive momentum
- To reveal strengths and capabilities that often go unnoticed
- At the start of change efforts to ground them in lived success
- To identify conditions that enable teams or individuals to excel
- When cross-functional groups need to build trust quickly
- During retreats, strategy sessions, or onboarding
- When you want a group to learn from its own positive deviants
🛠️ The five design elements of Appreciative Interviews
Each Liberating Structure consists of five simple design elements to make participation possible for everyone. By shaping these elements with care, you move beyond rigid control or chaos and create space for people to contribute, listen, and co-create.
- 1. The Invitation
- 2. Setup & Materials
- 3. Participation Flow
- 4. Group Configuration
- 5. Sequence & Timing
How you frame the purpose or question that sets the focus and energy of the group.
Invite participants to share a story of a time when they experienced meaningful success related to the challenge at hand:
“Please tell a story about a time when you worked on a challenge with others and you are proud of what you accomplished. What is the story and what made the success possible? Pair up preferably with someone you don’t know well.”
The arrangement of space and which tools or resources are needed to support interaction.
- Pairing space: Chairs for people to sit face-to-face, no tables needed
- Group space: Room for groups of 4 to form and converse comfortably
- Materials: Paper and pens for participants to take notes
- Flip chart: For capturing and displaying success patterns
- Virtual setup: Breakout rooms for pairs, then larger breakout rooms for groups of four
- Wall space: Helpful for creating visual displays of success patterns
Who gets a voice and how everyone is actively included in the process.
This structure creates energy through positive storytelling rather than problem-focused discussions.
- Everyone shares: Each person tells a success story and listens to one
- Equal time: Same interview time for each person
- Sharing a concrete success experience and listen deeply, no judging
- Story reteller: Faithfully represent partner’s story to the group of four
- Pattern hunt: In groups of 4, listen for common success conditions
How people are arranged (alone, small groups, or all together) and how this shifts during the activity.
- Pairs → Groups of four → Whole group
- Encourage diverse pairings across departments, levels, functions
- Unlimited total participants
The step-by-step flow of the activity and the time given to each step to keep energy and focus.
- Describe the sequence of steps and specify a theme or what kind of story participants are expected to tell. (3 min)
- In pairs, participants take turns conducting an interview and telling a success story, paying attention to what made the success possible. (7–10 min. each; 15–20 min. total)
- In groups of 4, each person retells the story of their pair partner. Ask participants to listen for patterns in conditions/assets supporting success and to make note of them. (15 min. for groups of 4)
- Collect insights and patterns for the whole group to see on a flip chart. Summarize if needed. (10-15 min)
- Optional: Ask, “How are we investing in the assets and conditions that foster success?” and “What opportunities do you see to do more?” Use 1-2-4-All to discuss the questions. 10 min.
Total time: 45–55 minutes
Online version
Adapted for virtual use, with the same impact
- Describe the sequence of steps and specify a theme or what kind of story participants are expected to tell. (3 min)
- Open break out rooms for pairs. Participants take turns conducting an interview and telling a success story, paying attention to what made the success possible. (7–10 min. each; 15–20 min. total)
- After the group returns to the main room, merge the breakout rooms so each pair joins another pair. Each person retells the story of their pair partner. Ask participants to listen for patterns in conditions/assets supporting success and to make note of them. (15 min. for groups of 4)
- Collect insights and patterns for the whole group to see on a digital whiteboard. Summarize if needed. (10-15 min)
- Optional: Ask, “How are we investing in the assets and conditions that foster success?” and “What opportunities do you see to do more?” Use 1-2-4-All to discuss the questions. 10 min.
Total time: 45–55 minutes
Solo version
Adapted for individual use and personal development
- Think of a success story and write down which patterns and success factors have made the success possible. (7-10 minutes)
- Ask yourself, “How do I invest in these conditions and factors that promote success?” And “What opportunities do I see to do more of it?”. (3 minutes)
Total time: 10–15 minutes
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- Simple methods for big changes
- Have interactions that truly matter
- Build a culture of innovation step by step
- Involve and activate everyone in the group
Proven over decades
🧠 Why it works
Liberating Structures are not magic tricks—they work because they tap into how people naturally think, connect, and collaborate. Each structure is carefully designed to unlock participation, spark creativity, and build trust, using principles grounded in social science and human interaction.
Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by and adapted from professor David Cooperrider, Case Western Reserve University, and consultant Dr. Tony Suchman.
Positive Deviance
Focusing on times when things went exceptionally well reveals what people actually do when they succeed — often overlooked or unintentional strengths.
Emotional Elevation
Success stories activate reward and bonding systems in the brain, increasing openness, creativity, and willingness to collaborate.
Strengths Activation
Highlighting success conditions makes visible the enabling constraints — relationships, norms, or patterns — that give rise to positive outcomes in the system.
Narrative Coherence
When people retell each other’s stories, shared meaning emerges. The group begins constructing a collective narrative about what makes success possible.
Riffs and Variations
Start with creative constraints to learn this structure and then... go liberate yourself and try some variations.
- Visual storytelling: Participants draw elements of their success story.
- Story gallery: Post stories or key success conditions across the room.
- Theme-focused interviews: Adapt the prompt to innovation, collaboration, safety, leadership, etc.
- Silent interviews: Participants write answers first, then speak.
- Cross-role interviews: Pair people from different functions or hierarchies.
- Multiple rounds: Conduct two interview cycles to deepen patterns.
Tips
Lessons learned from other facilitators.
- Use specific, experience-based prompts. General stories create vague insights; real events create rich patterns.
- Listen for enabling conditions, not just outcomes. Ask: “What made this possible?”
- Encourage vivid storytelling. Details reveal the mechanics of success.
- Retell the partner’s story faithfully. This builds empathy and accuracy.
- Harvest patterns visibly. Externalizing insights strengthens collective ownership.
- Validate emotional elements. Appreciation, pride, connection — these matter.
Traps
Don't make the same mistakes.
- Don’t let stories drift into problem analysis. Keep the focus on what worked, not what didn’t.
- Don’t generalize or abstract too quickly. Stay with real stories before jumping to principles.
- Don’t reduce success conditions to clichés. If it’s not concrete, it’s not useful.
- Don’t retell stories competitively. It’s about learning, not performance.
- Don’t skip the harvest. Without identifying patterns, stories lose their power.
Try it with…
The real power of Liberating Structures emerges when you combine them into "strings." Link different structures together to build on insights and create more powerful results. Here are some nice combinations:
- Min Specs: to convert success conditions into essential rules for future work.
- 15% Solutions: to identify small steps that nurture success conditions immediately.
- Nine Whys: to uncover the deeper purpose behind moments of excellence.
- What, So What, Now What? (W3): to digest patterns and plan next steps.
- Troika Consulting: to help individuals apply success conditions to current challenges.
- Ecocycle Planning: to see where success conditions fit in your activity lifecycle.
Field stories
To get to know Liberating Structures without having used them yourself, it helps to see familiar situations from real-life practice. Chances are that you or your team have faced one of these challenges before. Discover how to approach these kinds of situations in a fresh and engaging way.
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Appreciative Interviews
Discover and build on the root causes of success.
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