Troika Consulting

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Help participants gain fresh perspectives and practical advice on current challenges through structured peer consultation.

Use it when: Use when team members face individual roadblocks or operational challenges and need fast peer coaching without formal reporting structures.

Skip it when: Skip when the problems require authoritative technical decisions, confidential personnel disclosures, or when participants lack enough context to offer constructive ideas.

Group arrangement: Trios. If the total head count leaves a remainder, form groups of four where one person acts as client and the other three act as consultants, rotating turns across four slightly shortened rounds or having one participant choose to act solely as a consulting partner.

Timing: Based on the standard 30-minute Liberating Structures session with three 9-minute rounds and 3 minutes for setup and debrief.

Materials and tools

• Chairs arranged in trios without tables
• Scratch paper and pen per person
• One central chime, bell, or digital timer for the facilitator

Before participants arrive

1. Arrange chairs into clusters of three, close together, with no tables between them.
2. Ensure ample space between trios so conversation noise does not overlap excessively.

Say this to open

Welcome. In this session, you will get focused coaching from two colleagues. In your trios, you will each take a turn as the client while the other two serve as your personal consultants. Prepare a real, current challenge and the specific help you need.

How to run it

1. Frame personal challenge 1 minutes

   Each person individually writes down their consulting question: What is your specific challenge, and what kind of help do you need from your peers?

2. Round 1: First consultation 9 minutes

   Person A is the client; B and C are consultants. A presents the challenge (1 to 2 minutes). B and C ask clarifying questions (1 to 2 minutes). Person A turns their chair completely around so their back faces B and C, remaining silent and taking notes. B and C discuss ideas, options, and advice with each other as if A were absent (3 to 4 minutes). Person A turns back around and shares what was most valuable from what they heard (1 to 2 minutes).

3. Round 2: Second consultation 9 minutes

   Rotate roles: Person B becomes the client; A and C act as consultants. Follow the exact same sequence: presentation (1 to 2 minutes), clarifying questions (1 to 2 minutes), client turns back while consultants confer (3 to 4 minutes), and client turns around to state key takeaways (1 to 2 minutes).

4. Round 3: Third consultation 9 minutes

   Rotate roles: Person C becomes the client; A and B act as consultants. Follow the exact same sequence: presentation (1 to 2 minutes), clarifying questions (1 to 2 minutes), client turns back while consultants confer (3 to 4 minutes), and client turns around to state key takeaways (1 to 2 minutes).

5. Close and debrief 2 minutes

   Reconvene the full room. Invite two or three participants to share one practical insight they gained from the peer consulting process.

Debrief questions

• What was it like to listen with your back turned without being able to intervene?
• What kind of question or framing generated the most helpful suggestions?
• What is one immediate step you will take on your challenge based on what you heard?

Finished output: Each participant leaves with written notes containing peer-generated ideas and at least one actionable next step for their personal challenge.

Remote

Run in video breakout rooms of 3 people. When the client turns their back, they turn off their video camera and mute their microphone while continuing to listen and write notes. The two consultants keep cameras on and talk. The client turns video back on and unmutes their microphone for the final takeaway sharing.

Hybrid

Keep in-person participants grouped together in trios and assign remote participants to online breakout rooms of three. Do not mix remote and in-person members within a single trio to avoid acoustic and visibility barriers during the turn-away phase.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose a mild professional challenge or hypothetical operational issue if they prefer not to disclose sensitive work.
• Turning the back can be substituted by closing one's eyes or looking away if physical chair turning is uncomfortable.
• Anyone may opt to serve only as a consultant without presenting a personal client challenge.

If the session gets stuck

The client keeps interrupting the consultants while their back is turned.

Remind clients that their only job while facing away is to listen and take notes; reassure them they will have 1 to 2 minutes to respond at the end.

The consultants jump straight into giving generic advice before understanding the challenge.

Enforce the clarifying question phase explicitly with the central timer so consultants probe the context first.

Terms used here

• Troika: A Russian word meaning a group or set of three.
• Client: The person presenting the challenge and receiving coaching during a round.
• Consultant: A peer offering clarifying questions, advice, and ideas during another's round.