exercise · all tools
Talking with Pixies
Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readiness★★some
Disclosure · what is sharednone
A playful externalization of competing inner voices: in quartets, one person describes a stalled ambition while two others voice the "pixies" — contrasting inner voices, one urging change, the other protecting current commitments — making the competing whispers audible, ownable, and examinable. Rounds rotate; laughter does half the loosening.
Hold with care
- Hearing one's inner critic voiced by colleagues is potent — keep the pixie voices playful and generic, never diagnostic of the person
Practical
- Time
- 30-95 min
- Group
- 4–∞ · small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Groups of four; interviewer questions displayed
- Mechanisms
- cognitive-reframing, perspective-taking, creative-expression
- Change scope
- state · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- liberatingstructures.com/talking-with-pixies — 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
Ian Prinsloo & Keith McCandless, with the Seattle LS user group — Liberating Structures
In this directory via Liberating Structures
Related: Immunity to Change Map (pairs-with)
status: checked · added 2026-08-25