exercise · all tools

Generative Relationships STAR

Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readiness★★some
Disclosure · what is sharedoptional

Working groups assess their own interaction pattern on the STAR compass — Separateness (diversity of perspective), Tuning (listening and reflecting), Action (joint activity), and Reason (shared purpose) — first alone, then in quartets, plotting where the group actually sits and agreeing what to shift. A team looking honestly at how it generates (or kills) value together.

Hold with care
  • Self-assessing the team's own pattern in front of each other requires enough safety that low scores can be said aloud

Practical

Time
25 min
Group
4 · small-group, large-group
Settings
in-person, online
Materials
STAR compass template on an open wall
Mechanisms
feedback-mirroring, systems-sensing, dialogic-encounter
Change scope
state · repeatable

Origin & where it lives

Brenda Zimmerman (STAR model, with Bryan Hayday); adapted by Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless — Liberating Structures / complexity science

Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0

In this directory via Liberating Structures

status: checked · added 2026-08-25