How do you best capture all the ideas that are generated in meetings and more importantly decide on the best outcome? Here are a few techniques used by professional facilitators that you can use in your next meeting to get the most out of your team”s time.
Brainstorming
The purpose of brainstorming is to encourage creative thinking and generate a large number of ideas. This technique is one of the best known but is used incorrectly often. The facilitator should ensure that the following rules are agreed upon by all participants at any brainstorming process:
- encourage free thinking and participation
- no criticism or judgements
- no interruptions – one speaker at a time
- no side discussions
- treat everyone with respect
- don’t focus on the details
- feel free to build on the ideas of others
Affinity Diagram
An affinity diagram is used to gather ideas, opinions, issues and organise and prioritise them by sorting into ‘clusters’. There is an emphasis on the steps being conducted in silence so participants have time to reflect. Here’s how it works:
- use the information from a brainstorm session or have individuals generate their own ideas
- one idea, issue or concept is concisely written on a sticky note
- display sticky notes on board or table so that everyone can see them
- move the sticky notes around grouping those that are ‘related’ in some way
- if someone disagrees with the placement of a note, they move it
- create header cards which capture the idea or concept of the ‘cluster’
- discuss the clusters and how they are interrelated
PMI
PMI is a simple tool for making decisions. The participants consider the ‘Plus’, ‘Minus’ and ‘Interesting’ points about an alternative or action.
1:2:4 Group Technique
This is a decision making process that allows participants to reflect and contribute to a group consensus. The steps are:
- The facilitator poses a question and participants record their responses individually
- Divide the participants into pairs and have each partnership agree on a maximum of four points
- Join pairs into groups of four and have each group agree on five points
- Finally the facilitator records one idea from each group, avoiding repetition, until the list is complete
Carousel
This a process for gathering ideas and collecting information. This effective tool enables a group to address a question or issue by building on others’ responses and ideas. How it works….
- The facilitator writes a question, concept or idea as a heading on chart paper (one focus per page) and displays them around the room
- Divide the participants into pairs and have them begin at a ‘station’ and write their responses on the paper
- After a minute or two the facilitator signals the group to move to the next paper and repeat the process
- The facilitator decides on the appropriate number of rotations based on group size and number of ‘stations’
- Finally the pairs return to their original paper to see how other pairs have contributed to their responses
