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
Origin & where it lives
Ian Prinsloo & Keith McCandless, with the Seattle LS user group — Liberating Structures
Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0
In this directory via Liberating Structures
Related: immunity to change (pairs-with)
status: checked · added 2026-08-25