Method guide · Progress through phases
Wise Crowds
Let several advisers build on each other's ideas while the client listens and chooses which advice to use.
- People
- 5–100
- Base procedure time
- 30 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Explore through dialogue; Build working relationships.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A method in which several people offer advice on a client's challenge and the client chooses only what they want to use. Use it when several experienced people are available, but asking them separately does not bring their knowledge together and the response tends to reflect only one perspective. The client temporarily takes a listening-only role so advisers can build on each other's ideas without time being spent on rebuttal or explanation. The client chooses which advice to use and does not need to explain why they reject other advice. The result is selected advice and a first step to try. The format is unnecessarily elaborate for technical questions with simple answers, and discussion will not deepen where advisers have little experience or diversity of perspective.
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.
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- Confirm the process0–2 minutes from the start (2 minutes)
Action: Confirm. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Ask about the facts2–7 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Ask. Participation: 4 people in the centre.
Shared record
- Build on advice7–16 minutes from the start (9 minutes)
Action: Build. Participation: 4 people in the centre.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Exchange insights16–24 minutes from the start (8 minutes)
Action: Exchange. Participation: Satellite groups of 3.
Shared record
- Choose advice24–30 minutes from the start (6 minutes)
Action: Choose. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 2 minutes, explain the process while each person privately chooses a current challenge.
- For 5 minutes, the client describes the challenge and the advisers in the centre ask only questions that clarify the facts.
- For 9 minutes, the client turns away and listens while the advisers build on each other's ideas and offer advice.
- For 8 minutes, the satellite groups discuss their insights, then return and share them loudly enough for the client to hear.
- For 6 minutes, the client turns back, chooses the advice they will use, and writes it on their card.
If something changes
If
During the advice period, the client turns around and argues back on 2 occasions.
Then
The facilitator reminds the client of the listening-only agreement and turns the client's chair away again.
If
When the challenge-selection period ends, nobody has volunteered to be the client.
Then
The facilitator nominates one person whose challenge they heard about in advance and begins.
If
The advisers debate among themselves for 2 minutes and stop addressing the client.
Then
The last adviser to speak calls the client by name and directs the next idea to the client.
Preparation
Materials
- One client-challenge note sheet per person
- One advice-recording card per person, with a field for advice they choose to use
- One displayed process guide per group
- One dark-coloured pen per person
Room and setup
- One set of 4 chairs in the centre per group, with no table
- One set of satellite chairs surrounding the centre per group, with no tables
Adjust for people and time
Do not use this method with fewer than 5 people, because the central and satellite roles cannot be separated. With 5–100, treat 4 central participants and the satellite groups as one set. Divide the participants into groups according to the number of sets and run the same process simultaneously in each. Add any remaining participants who do not make a full set to the satellite side of the nearest set.
Safety and non-applicable situations
The client chooses which advice to use and need not explain why other advice is not used. Do not treat listening to advice as agreement to adopt it. This format is not proportionate for simple technical questions, and it needs advisers with relevant experience and varied perspectives.
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.
- The source specifies satellite groups of 3, but its minimum of 5 participants with 4 in the centre leaves only one satellite participant. Its scaling text also does not define the size of a complete set or how to choose the number of sets. All statements are preserved without inventing a set-size or remainder algorithm.
- The no-volunteer branch instructs the facilitator to nominate a person whose challenge was heard in advance; it does not state an additional consent check or refusal option. This draft preserves the instruction without claiming participation is voluntary.
- The guide says a first step remains at the end, but the final written step explicitly records selected advice only. This draft does not add a first-step recording instruction to that step.
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): Wise Crowds — Henri Lipmanowicz / Keith McCandless / Nancy White
https://www.liberatingstructures.com/wise-crowds
Adaptation under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes made
- CC BY-SA 4.0
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.
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Credits on the checked source page
- Developed by: Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
Related work credited on that page: Clearness committees.
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Wise Crowds.
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.