We say yes in the room and no on the shop floor.
Recognize this situation? Below are the Liberating Structures that change it — a concrete example, and the reason this one fits here. New to Liberating Structures? Here's what it is.
What I Need from You (WINFY) lays bare what teams actually expect from each other.
For example: In the steering committee, everyone says "yes" to the new way of working. A month later, half the teams are still working the old way — nobody had ever pinned down what exactly was supposed to change, so everyone filled in the blanks themselves.
Liberating Structures for this situation:
Min Specs
Min Specs makes a "yes" testable by turning it into a short list of non-negotiable rules: everyone first writes down separately what should apply, then the group together cuts it down to only what's truly necessary.
That list is concrete enough to check against afterward — you can literally verify whether a team is sticking to it, instead of guessing whether it's "roughly" following the intent.
What I Need from You (WINFY)
What I Need from You (WINFY) flips the conversation around: instead of a general "yes," each functional group first asks itself what it concretely needs from another department, and phrases that as a specific, actionable request.
The other group then responds explicitly — yes, no, or "huh?" — with no further explanation. A request-and-answer that concrete leaves no room for the silent "no" that would otherwise only show up on the shop floor.
No certification, no lengthy prep — read the steps and try it at your next meeting.
Keep exploring
Browse the full list of 43 structures, or get support if this situation is too complex to facilitate yourself.