Method guide · Progress through phases
15% Solutions
Find a small action you can start within your own discretion, without making an individual responsible for structural obstacles.
- People
- 2–40
- Base procedure time
- 20 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Make a decision; Build working relationships.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A conversation method for finding a small action you can start yourself. Use it when unclear responsibility is holding up a meeting or when the group wants to take a first step towards change. Fifteen percent is a metaphor for the room you currently have to act at your own discretion, not a proportion of the whole problem. Each person writes one action. Small groups do not provide solutions; they respond only with questions that make action easier. People voice commitments to the whole group and record a date to try them. Each person leaves with the smallest action they have chosen. Do not use it where individuals are expected to compensate for structural obstacles, where dangerous or illegal actions are requested, or where a manager will monitor people's commitments.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Define your scope0–2 minutes from the start (2 minutes)
Action: Define. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Write a first step2–7 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Write. Participation: Individually.
Individual record
- Encourage action7–14 minutes from the start (7 minutes)
Action: Encourage. Participation: Groups of 2–4.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- State a commitment14–18 minutes from the start (4 minutes)
Action: State. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
- Record a date to try18–20 minutes from the start (2 minutes)
Action: Record. Participation: Individually.
Individual record
Facilitation steps
- For 2 minutes, present the shared challenge and explain that people are looking for room to act themselves, not for things that need someone else's permission.
- For 5 minutes, each person writes on one card an action they can take responsibility for and begin within 1 week.
- For 7 minutes, in groups of 2–4, take turns reading the cards. Listeners ask, ‘What would make it easier to start?’ Do not give unsolicited advice.
- For 4 minutes, return to the whole group. Only volunteers state their action aloud and write it on the shared surface. Listeners offer a short word of encouragement rather than applause.
- For 2 minutes, each person records the date they will try their action and someone to reflect with afterwards, then takes the card home.
If something changes
If
At least half of the cards make someone else's approval, a budget, or a change in responsibility a prerequisite.
Then
Have each writer restate the action as one observation, contact, or prototype they can undertake in their current role.
If
In a small group, a listener makes suggestions to one person 2 or more times in succession.
Then
The facilitator stops the advice and returns to only the question, ‘What conditions would make it easier to start?’
If
With 2 minutes remaining, no card has a date for trying the action.
Then
Each person provisionally writes the earliest weekday or next activity day and makes any later change themselves.
Preparation
Materials
- Two A6 action cards per person for a 15% solution
- One writing implement per person
- One shared board
- One small card per person for the date they will try their action
Room and setup
- Chairs arranged so 2–4 people can face one another
- A space on a table or on each person's lap where only they can read their action card
- Explain at the outset that advice is given only when requested
Adjust for people and time
With 2 people, read one card at a time, have the listener respond with questions, and then swap roles. With 3–12 people, work in groups of 2–4 so everyone's action is discussed. With 13–40, use groups of 4 as the standard, limit whole-group sharing to 3 volunteers, and have the others take their cards home. Where there are large differences in seniority, do not require managers and their direct reports to stay in the same small group; let people choose a group in which they feel comfortable speaking. Do not transfer responsibility for solving the shared challenge to individuals.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Give advice only when requested, and make whole-group sharing voluntary. Do not transfer responsibility for structural obstacles to individuals, request dangerous or illegal actions, or use commitments for managerial monitoring. Let people choose a comfortable group where differences in seniority could inhibit them.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- For 13–40 people, the Japanese source specifies groups of 4 as the standard but does not give a remainder-allocation rule. This draft preserves that instruction without inventing one.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Liberating Structures Fieldbook (2026) — Henri Lipmanowicz; Keith McCandless; Nancy White
https://www.liberatingstructures.com/15-percent-solutions
Adaptation under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes made
- Creative Commons License — Liberating Structures
https://www.liberatingstructures.com/cc-license
CC-BY-SA-4.0 notice
- CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Licence text
Current-page licence notice
This explanation is an adaptation for Taiwa no Fumen based on the official Liberating Structures page linked below. The manuscript's recorded references are listed separately from the web page checked on 17 October 2026.
Changes: the Japanese explanation and facilitation plan have been edited for Taiwa no Fumen. The English edition translates that Japanese manuscript; it is not a verbatim translation of the official page.
The LS-adapted text on this page, including this site's editorial and translation contributions, is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. When reusing it, credit the creators, identify the source and licence, indicate changes, and follow the licence's ShareAlike terms when sharing adaptations.
This site's notation diagrams and on-screen illustrations explain the facilitation process. They are not presented as official LS icons.
Method names are used to identify their sources. This is not an official LS website, and no endorsement or approval by the creators or rights holders is implied.
This notice does not grant blanket permission to reuse third-party photographs, logos or linked materials. Trademark, personality and other rights are addressed separately.
Materials created before June 2026 may carry different terms. Check the terms attached to an older item before reusing it.
To the extent permitted by law, the source materials and adaptations are provided without warranties. See the legal code for details.
Credits on the checked source page
- Developed by: Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
Related work credited on that page: Gareth Morgan.
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: 15% Solutions.
Source lineage
- Original repertoire (2013): Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
- 2026 Fieldbook: Keith McCandless, Nancy White
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.
Original source log (Japanese)
2026-07-24 · Recorded participant count: 1
2026-07-24の受入宣言に基づく一括記録(15手法)。個別セッションの実測値ではない。