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What I need from you

What I Need From You helps teams build clarity, trust, and collaboration by making requests and expectations explicit. 
What Is Made Possible
  • Clear communication across roles and functions: Participants openly express what they need from others to succeed, reducing assumptions and misunderstandings.
  • Breaking down silos: It fosters mutual understanding and coordination between individuals or groups who may not typically collaborate closely.
  • Repairing strained relationships: By surfacing unspoken needs and giving everyone a voice, it helps dissolve long-standing tensions or prejudices.
  • Promoting transparency and integrity: Each person has the opportunity to make a request and receive a direct response, creating a culture of openness and accountability.
  • Strengthening cohesion: The structure encourages empathy and shared purpose, helping teams align around common goals while respecting individual needs.

  • Time needed

    55-70 minutes 

  • Preparation

    1. Miro Board (online) or paper (F2F)
    2. Split into groups (3-7 people) - prepare the rooms online in Teams

  • How to start

    1. Invite participants to ask for what they need from others (often in different functions or disciplines) to be successful in reaching a specific goal
    2. Explain that no answers other than: “yes”, “no”, “I will try”, and “whatever” will be allowed.
    3. “Whatever” means the request was too vague to provide a specific answer

  • Step-by-step and timing

    1. Explain the steps below. Reiterate the goal or challenge being addressed to make sure that the context is the same for all. Emphasize that requests must be clear and specific if they are to receive an unambiguous yes or no response. Place people in the groups (3 min).
    2. Functional clusters use 1-2-All to make a list of their top needs from each of the other functions in the room. Use following form: “What I need from you is __.” Then they reduce their lists to 2 top needs and select a spokesperson to represent the cluster. (5–15 min).
    3. All spokespersons gather in a circle in the middle of the room and one by one state their two needs to each of the other spokespersons around the circle. At this stage, they take notes of requests, but no one gives answers or responses. (15 min).
    4. Working individually (or by conferring with others in their functional cluster), each spokesperson writes down one of four responses to each request: yes, no, I will try, or whatever (5–10 min).
    5. Addressing one spokesperson in the group at a time, every spokesperson in the circle repeats the requests made by him or her, then shares his or her responses (yes, no, I will try, or whatever). No discussion! No elaboration! (10 min).
    6. Debrief with What, So What, Now What? (15 min).

  • Hints

    1. Remind participants that a whatever response means their request was too vague to provide a specific answer
    2. Strictly enforce the “no immediate response” rule
    3. Don’t include more than 7 roles/functions

  • Examples of use

    1. Learn how to articulate functional and/or personal needs clearly
    2. Practice asking for what functions and/or individuals need
    3. Learn how to give clear answers to requests
    4. Reduce frustration by eliminating preconceptions and rumors
    5. Get all the issues out on the table at the same time for everyone to see

  • Link with other Liberating Structures

    Link with:

    1-2-4-All

    Appreciative Interviews

    Ecocycle planning

    Helping heuristics

    Integrated autonomy

    What 3 debrief

  • Link to Liberating Structures page

    What I need from you

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