exercise · all tools
9 Whys
Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation1 — host
Trust · group readiness★any
Disclosure · what is sharedoptional
Pairs interview each other about their work on a shared challenge, asking "why is that important to you?" again and again — up to nine times — until the answer reaches bedrock purpose. Insights consolidate through quartets to the whole group. Makes the purpose of working together unignorable.
Hold with care
- Repeated whys can reach surprisingly personal ground — interviewers hold curiosity, not interrogation
Practical
- Time
- 25-30 min
- Group
- 2–∞ · pairs, small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Chair pairs, no tables; paper
- Mechanisms
- values-clarification, dialogic-encounter, narrative-identity
- Change scope
- state · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- liberatingstructures.com/nine-whys — Liberating Structures, open
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 28 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless & Nancy White — Liberating Structures
In this directory via Liberating Structures
Related: Values Check-in (pairs-with)
status: checked · added 2026-08-25