exercise · all tools
Agreement & Certainty Matrix
Depth · what it can open●○○○1 — informational
Holding · facilitation1 — host
Trust · group readiness★any
Disclosure · what is sharednone
Groups sort their challenges onto a 2×2: how much do we agree about what to do, and how certain are we about cause and effect? Simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic work each get matched to fitting approaches — ending the habit of managing complex problems with complicated-problem tools (plans, experts, more control).
Practical
- Time
- 50 min
- Group
- 1–∞ · individual, small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Matrix visual; sticky notes; small tables
- Mechanisms
- cognitive-reframing, systems-sensing
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Origin & where it lives
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless (adapted from Brenda Zimmerman's version of Ralph Stacey's matrix) — Liberating Structures / complexity science
Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0
In this directory via Liberating Structures
status: checked · added 2026-08-25