exercise · all tools

Helping Heuristics

Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation1 — host
Trust · group readinessany
Disclosure · what is sharedoptional

Trios practice four escalating patterns of help in rapid rounds: quiet presence, guided questioning, giving advice, and coaching-style inquiry — with a client, a helper, and an observer who names what actually helped. Makes visible how often "helping" serves the helper, and trains asking for and receiving help as skills in their own right.

Practical

Time
15-20 min
Group
3 · triads, large-group
Settings
in-person, online
Materials
Standing or sitting space for trios; no tables
Mechanisms
behavioral-rehearsal, perspective-taking, feedback-mirroring
Change scope
state → skill · repeatable

Origin & where it lives

Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless (drawing on Edgar Schein's helping research) — Liberating Structures

Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0

In this directory via Liberating Structures

status: checked · added 2026-08-25