exercise · all tools

Wise Crowds

Depth · what it can open●●○○2 — reflective
Holding · facilitation2 — facilitator
Trust · group readinessany
Disclosure · what is sharedrequired

Peer consultation at any scale: a client presents a challenge and question, answers clarifying questions, then turns away while their consultants — a quartet or a whole ringed room — advise, riff, and disagree freely. The client harvests aloud what they take. Rapid cycles give everyone a turn at asking for and giving help.

Hold with care
  • Asking for help in front of many is quietly courageous — protect clients from evaluation creep in the advice round

Practical

Time
25-55 min
Group
10 · small-group, large-group
Settings
in-person, online
Materials
Central chairs ringed by satellite clusters; no tables
Mechanisms
dialogic-encounter, feedback-mirroring, perspective-taking
Change scope
state → skill · repeatable

Origin & where it lives

Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless — Liberating Structures (peer-consultation family)

Instructions: open online · CC BY-SA 4.0

In this directory via Liberating Structures

Related: case clinic (alternative-to) · troika consulting (variant-of)

status: checked · added 2026-08-25