Liberating Structures

Creative Destruction (TRIZ)

Stop counterproductive activities and behaviors to make space for innovation. This playfully serious approach helps groups safely challenge “sacred cows” and rethink habits that block creativity — clearing the way for fresh thinking and collaboration.

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Creative Destruction (TRIZ)

Stop counterproductive activities and behaviors to make space for innovation.

Reveal

In person & Online

Group & Solo

35 min

What is made possible - What it unlocks

Creative Destruction (f.k.a. TRIZ) makes it possible for groups to uncover and eliminate activities that undermine success. By humorously exploring “how to guarantee failure,” participants reveal patterns and behaviors that need to stop. This collective “creative destruction” breaks inertia and opens space for new ideas, making it easier to innovate and move forward together.

When to use it

When a group feels stuck or caught in unhelpful routines
To safely address taboo or politically sensitive issues
Before ideation or planning to clear mental space
When innovation efforts stall or bureaucracy blocks progress
To challenge the “way we’ve always done it” mindset
Before vision sessions to make room for renewal

🛠️ The five design elements of Creative Destruction (TRIZ)

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

1. The Invitation

How you frame the purpose or question that sets the focus and energy of the group.

“Let’s identify what we could do to achieve the worst possible result for our challenge. (And then find out which of those things we’re actually doing.)”

2. Setup & Materials

The arrangement of space and which tools or resources are needed to support interaction.

Unlimited number of small groups of 4 to 7 chairs, with or without small tables
Large wall, digital board, or flip charts
Paper and pens for participants to record
Optional: Sticky notes and markers
Optional: humor or playful props to lower tension

3. Participation Flow

Who gets a voice and how everyone is actively included in the process.

Everyone contributes equally through the 1–2-4-All process
All voices are heard in a safe, nonjudgmental way, since the focus is first on exaggeration and humor
Everybody involved in the work is included

4. Group Configuration

How people are arranged (alone, small groups, or all together) and how this shifts during the activity.

Individuals → pairs → groups of four → whole group for sharing
Groups with 4 to 7 participants
Established teams or mixed groups

5. Sequence & Timing

The step-by-step flow of the activity and the time given to each step to keep energy and focus.

After introduction, three phases, 10 minutes for each phase, using 1-2-4-All.

Phase 1 – Worst-Case Brainstorm (10 min)
Ask: “What could we do to ensure we achieve the worst possible result for our goal? Go wild and make a list of all you can do, using 1–2-4-All.”
Phase 2 – Reality Check (10 min)
List current unhelpful actions or patterns. “Go down this list item by item and ask yourselves, ‘Is there anything that I am / we are currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?’ Be brutally honest to make a second list by underlining all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.”
Phase 3 – Stop Actions (10 min)
Choose and share on what to stop immediately. Circle those items you want to stop.

Total time: 35 minutes

Online version

Adapted for virtual use, with the same impact

Phase 1 – Worst-Case Brainstorm (10 min)
Prepare break out rooms for groups of 4
Ask: “What could we do to ensure we achieve the worst possible result for our goal? Go wild and make a list of all you can do.” using 1–4-All.
Open the break out rooms after 1-2 minutes of making the lists
Phase 2 – Reality Check (5-10 min)
You can do this phase plenary in the main room (1-All) or use 1-4-All and the same break out rooms as in phase 1
List current unhelpful actions or patterns. “Go down this list item by item and ask yourselves, ‘Is there anything that I am / we are currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?’ Be brutally honest to make a second list by underlining all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.”
Phase 3 – Stop Actions (5-10 min)
You can do this phase plenary in the main room (1-All) or use 1-4-All and the same break out rooms as in phase 1
Choose and share on what to stop immediately. Circle those items you want to stop.

Total time: 20-35 minutes

Solo version

Adapted for individual use and personal development

Write all your answers in a journal so you can save it for later use and re-use.

Phase 1 – Worst-Case Brainstorm (2 min)
Ask yourself: “What could I do to ensure I achieve the worst possible result for my goal?”
Go wild and make a list of all you can do.
Phase 2 – Reality Check (2 min)
Go down your list, item by item and ask yourself, “Is there anything that I am currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?”
Be brutally honest and make a second list by underlining all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.
Phase 3 – Stop Actions (1 min)
Choose what items to stop immediately. Circle those items you want to stop.

Total time: 5 minutes

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All Liberating Structures in 1 e-book

All Liberating Structures (44!) including explanations, visual step-by-step guide, and worksheets in a handy workbook for € 11,-

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

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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: Inspired by one small element of the eponymous Russian engineering approach Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch. Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

Playful Truth-Telling

Behavioral science shows humor lowers defensiveness. Creative Destruction (TRIZ) uses play to surface uncomfortable truths safely.

Creative Destruction

Systems thinking emphasizes that innovation depends on clearing outdated elements. Creative Destruction (TRIZ) institutionalizes this “letting go.”

Bias Disruption

Cognitive psychology notes that framing problems in reverse helps bypass confirmation bias, allowing new insights to emerge.

Resource Reallocation

Complexity science highlights that energy trapped in rigid patterns must be released for renewal. Creative Destruction (TRIZ) redirects that energy toward adaptation.

Riffs and Variations

Start with creative constraints to learn this structure and then... go liberate yourself and try some variations.

Rapid Creative Destruction (TRIZ): 15-minute version with one 1–2-4-All round
Harvest & Commit: Adding an extra round of 1-2-4-All to share and agree on what to stop immediately, using the format: “I/we will stop…” and number each item.
First Steps: Adding an extra round brainstorming on: “What first steps will help us stop doing these counterproductive things?” In this case: Focus on stopping, not starting. Identify concrete “stop” actions.
Domain-specific Creative Destruction (TRIZ): Apply to leadership, innovation, or team collaboration
Written version: Collect responses anonymously for sensitive topics

Tips

Lessons learned from other facilitators.

Enter into Creative Destruction (TRIZ) with a spirit of serious fun — playfulness is essential for surfacing uncomfortable truths
Begin with a VERY unwanted result and quickly confirm your suggestion with the group to set the tone
Take time for groups to identify similarities to what they are doing now and explore how this is harmful
Include the people who will be involved in stopping the activities that emerge, and ask: “Who else needs to be included?”
Make real decisions about what will be stopped — number them (1, 2, 3…) in the form of “I will stop…” and “We will stop…”

Traps

Don't make the same mistakes.

Accepting ideas for doing something new or additional — be sure suggestions are about stopping activities or behaviors, not starting new things
Turning Creative Destruction (TRIZ) into a complaint session rather than a generative exercise
Stopping too early without clear, numbered commitments
Allowing defensiveness to shut down honest reflection — maintain the playful tone
Skipping the reality check phase — the power is in recognizing what you’re already doing
Failing to follow through on stop actions — Creative Destruction (TRIZ) only works if commitments become real changes

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:

1-2-4-All: Generate ideas for what to stop before moving to solutions
15% Solutions: Identify and share immediate stop actions within your control
Appreciative Interviews: Combining ‘stop actions’ and ‘continue-actions’ creates a solid start for a change-plan
Ecocycle Planning: Map “stop” items to the creative destruction quadrant
Nine Whys: Clarify purpose before deciding what no longer serves it
25/10 Crowd Sourcing: Prioritize which stop actions matter most
Troika Consulting: Act on stop actions (also possible with Wise Crowds)

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.

Practice deep respect for people and local solutions

Practice deep respect for people and local solutions with Liberating Structures – Appreciative Interviews. A Field Story about how a team coach used Appreciative Interviews to surface local knowledge and turn respect into action—discovering that solutions were already present, just waiting for the right structure.

Invite Creative Destruction to Make Space for Innovation

Invite Creative Destruction to Make Space for Innovation with Liberating Structures – TRIZ. A Field Story about how a team used TRIZ to dismantle ingrained patterns and learned to critically examine their own actions.

Include and Engage Everyone

Include and Engage Everyone with Liberating Structures – 1-2-4-All. A field story about influence without power — and how one experiment became a new habit

Engage in Seriously Playful Curiosity

Engage in Seriously Playful Curiosity with Liberating Structures – Drawing Together. A Field Story about how Drawing Together activated curiosity, broke open stuck conversations, and made play serious in collaboration.

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Group & Solo

25 min