exercise · all tools

Positive Gossip

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

Pairs "gossip" about colleagues — strictly positively: telling stories of what someone did well, as if the person weren't listening. Rounds rotate so everyone gossips and is gossiped about. A fifteen-minute pattern interrupt that starts reversing a culture of corridor negativity by using its own channel.

Practical

Time
15 min
Group
12 · pairs, large-group
Settings
in-person, online
Materials
Standing space for pairs; nothing else
Mechanisms
dialogic-encounter, cognitive-reframing
Change scope
state → skill · repeatable

Origin & where it lives

Neil McCarthy & Keith McCandless (inspired by the Strozzi Institute for Somatics via Tracy Rekart) — Liberating Structures

Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0

In this directory via Liberating Structures · Transition Makers Toolbox

status: checked · added 2026-08-25