# Breaking the Shell

  Facilitator kit  Allow 60 minutes for the core exercise, or 90–120 minutes to explore disagreements and develop actions.   Print / save this kit as PDF   Download editable text  ·  Printable category cards  ·  Presentation sequence    1. Set a purpose · 5 minutes  Agree a clear, simple description of what you want to achieve. Keep it visible.    2. Surface the barriers · 15 minutes  Ask: ‘What stands in the way?’ Let people write independently, one barrier per note, then hear the contributions. Invite additional barriers prompted by what others say.    3. Pause · 10 minutes  Allow a short break. Resist resolving or dismissing the concerns before people have had space to express them.    4. Introduce the four categories · 5 minutes  Brick walls are constraints to work within; paper walls may give way when tested; partition walls need joint or management effort; mindset issues involve shared assumptions.    5. Sort and group · 10 minutes  Ask people to place each barrier, group related concerns, and notice disagreement. Classification depends on whose ability to act and what timeframe you mean.    6. Discuss and choose action · 15 minutes, then extend  Ask what makes a barrier belong in that category, what evidence could change the judgement, and who could act. Do not use the categories to dismiss a person’s experience. Agree an action, owner, and date for the barriers you will work on.   Provenance  Adapted from RedQuadrant’s ‘Breaking the shell’ overview and its original 5/15/10/5/10/15-minute sequence. The source makes the method available under a Creative Commons licence with attribution required; it does not identify a licence version. Credit RedQuadrant and retain this provenance when reusing the kit. Contact us to clarify terms for further redistribution.