exercise · all tools
Wicked Questions
Depth · what it can open●○○○1 — informational
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readiness★any
Disclosure · what is sharednone
Groups articulate the paradoxes they must live with rather than solve, in the template "How is it that we are ___ and we are ___ simultaneously?" Naming both poles as true at once dissolves either-or argument and exposes the real strategic tensions a group tends to argue around instead of about.
Practical
- Time
- 30 min
- Group
- 2–∞ · small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Materials
- Groups of 4–6; paper; question template displayed
- Mechanisms
- cognitive-reframing, systems-sensing
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Origin & where it lives
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless — Liberating Structures (paradox/polarity lineage)
Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0
In this directory via Liberating Structures
Related: polarity map (pairs-with)
status: checked · added 2026-08-25