Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent of all participants. Consensus may be defined professionally as an acceptable resolution, one that can be supported, even if not the "favorite" of each individual. Below are a number of consensus building tools.
Each person is given 10 "points" that they can "spend" on any idea.
No more than 4 points can be used on any one idea.
All 10 points must be used by each participant
Once the votes are done, add the total points on each item to generate your top 10 list of items to tackle. Assign teams to work on the top items on your list.
Suggestions for use
Number the ideas for easy reference. Have the group spend a few minutes to determine where they want to spend their points. Then, in rotation, have each team member tell you how they want their points distributed. Ensure that each person spends all 10 points and no more than 4 on any one item. (No saving points for future consideration.) Once the votes are done, add the total points on each item to generate your top 10 list of items to tackle. Assign teams to work on the top items on your list.
The 10-4 voting system can be used with sticky dots. Each person is given 10 dots, and can put their dots on any item with a maximum of 4 on any one item.
Fist to Five
To use this technique the Team Leader restates a decision the group may make and asks everyone to show their level of support. Each person responds by showing a fist or a number of fingers that corresponds to their opinion.
Fist -- A no vote - a way to block consensus. I need to talk more on the proposal and require changes for it to pass.
1 Finger -- I still need to discuss certain issues and suggest changes that should be made.
2 Fingers -- I am more comfortable with the proposal but would like to discuss some minor issues.
3 Fingers -- I’m not in total agreement but feel comfortable to let this decision or a proposal pass without further discussion.
4 Fingers -- I think it’s a good idea/decision and will work for it.
5 Fingers -- It’s a great idea and I will be one of the leaders in implementing it.
If anyone holds up fewer than three fingers, they should be given the opportunity to state their objections and the team should address their concerns. Teams continue the Fist-to-Five process until they achieve consensus (a minimum of three fingers or higher) or determine they must move on to the next issue.
Affinity Diagrams
Affinity diagrams are used to discover meaningful groups of ideas within a raw list.
Affinity diagrams refine a brainstorm into something that makes sense and can be dealt with more easily.
Affinity diagram are useful when:
facts or thoughts are uncertain and need to be organized
preexisting ideas or paradigms need to be overcome
ideas need to be clarified
unity within a team needs to be created
To create an affinity diagram, you sort a brainstormed list, moving ideas from the brainstorm into affinity sets, and creating groups of related ideas. As you sort ideas:
Rapidly group ideas that seem to belong together.
It isn't important to define why they belong together.
Clarify any ideas in question.
Copy an idea into in more than one affinity set if appropriate.
Look for small sets. Should they belong in a larger group?
Do large sets need to be broken down more precisely?
When most of the ideas have been sorted, you can start to enter titles for each affinity set.
Example
Multivoting
Multivoting is a group decision-making technique used to reduce a long list of items to a manageable number by means of a structured series of votes. The result is a short list identifying what is important to the team. Use Multivoting whenever a brainstorming session has generated a list of items that is too extensive for all items to be addressed at once. Because Multivoting provides a quick and easy way for a team to identify the most popular or highest priority items on a list—those that are worthy of immediate attention—this tool can be helpful when you need to:
Reduce a large list of items to a workable number quickly, with limited discussion and little difficulty.
Prioritize a large list without creating a situation in which there are winners and losers in the group that generated the list.
Identify the important or popular items on a large list.
Follow these steps to conduct Multivoting:1. Work from a large list of items developed by brainstorming or another appropriate idea-generating technique. 2. Assign a letter to each item to avoid confusion of item designations with the vote tally. 3. Vote
Each team member selects the most important one-third (or no more than one half) of the items by listing the letters which appear next to those items. For example, if there are 60 items, each person should choose the 20 items (one third of the total) he or she thinks are most important.
Each team member may cast only one vote per idea and must cast all allotted votes.
Voting may be done either by a show of hands or by paper ballot when the team chooses to preserve confidentiality.
4. Tally the votes. Place a check mark next to each item for each vote it received. Retain the items with the most votes for the next round of voting. Rule of Thumb for deciding how many items to eliminate in each round, depending on the size of the group:
If the team has 5 or fewer members, eliminate those items that receive 2 or fewer votes.
If the team has 6 to 15 members, eliminate all items that receive 3 or fewer votes.
If the team has more than 15 members, eliminate all items that receive 4 or fewer votes.
5. Repeat. In the second round, each person again selects the top one-third of the items. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until only a few items remain. Never multi vote down to only one item. The items that were not identified as priorities should be retained as backup data or for future use by the team in its improvement efforts.
Rating Voting
With Rating Voting each option is rated based on a preset scale. For example:
1-5 (Strongly Against … Strongly For)
1-5 (Least … Most)
1-5 (Weak … Strong)
1-5 (Low … High)
Team members rate each item based on the scale and the scores for each item are then tallied.
Nominal Group Techniques
Nominal Group Technique, or NGT, is a weighted ranking method that enables a group to generate and prioritize a large number of issues within a structure that gives everyone an equal voice. The tool is called nominal because there is limited interaction between members of the group during the NGT process. When should a team use NGT? When a team needs to create a list of options and rank them, using NGT effectively neutralizes the domination of the loudest person, or the person with the most authority, over the decision-making process. This tool can also help a team achieve consensus about the relative importance of issues. The final result may not be everyone's first priority, but they can live with it.
NGT is a good tool to use when dealing with controversial or emotional issues, or when a group is stuck. It is particularly useful when you need to:
Reduce the number of issues for easier handling.
Get input from all team members.
Rank items in priority order.
NGT is a facilitated process that has two parts.
NGT PART I - The issue is defined and the team generates ideas 1. Introduce and clarify the issue to be addressed by the team. Write the issue on a chartpack where everybody can see it. Allow for clarification, but do not let the group engage in a discussion of the issue itself. Remember to define unclear terms.
2. Generate ideas to address the issue at hand.
Working in silence, each team member writes down his or her ideas on a piece of paper. People should not confer with each other and should sit quietly until everyone finishes writing.
Depending on the complexity of the topic, 5 to 10 minutes should be allowed for the silent process. People need to have enough time to get the broad, general ideas down, but not enough to create long, detailed lists.
3. Collect the team's ideas. Each team member in turn reads out one of his or her ideas. Write each idea on the chartpack. This round robin should continue until all of the ideas have been offered and recorded. There should be no discussion or side conversations during this part of the session.
NOTE: If post-its are available, you may want to ask the participants to write TM each of their ideas on a separate sheet and hand them in. You can display the ideas randomly, rather than writing them down. These post-its can be used TM later to create an Affinity Diagram.
4.Clarify ideas. Read each idea out loud. If clarification is needed, the person who provided the idea should explain it now. This is an opportunity to clean up the wording of any unclear statements. Others may contribute if necessary.
5.Combine ideas. Combine like ideas when feasible, but only if both originators agree to it. If they cannot agree, leave the two ideas separate.
NGT PART 2 - The team makes a selection
1.Assign a letter designation to each separate idea. As with Multivoting, the facilitator assigns a letter to avoid confusion with the vote tally.
2.Rank the ideas independently. Each team member writes down the items by their letter designations and assigns them a numeric value based on his or her judgment of what is most important and what is least important. The highest number is assigned to the most important idea and the lowest to the least important idea. or example, if there are 8 items lettered A to H, the most important receives an 8 and the least important, a 1.
3.Collate the rankings. T he facilitator transcribes the team members’ rankings onto a chartpack, writing each number next to the corresponding idea.
4.Add the rankings. The facilitator adds the numbers across. The idea with the highest point total is the one of most importance to the whole team. It is the highest priority item.
5.Rewrite the list. The facilitator rewrites the list of ideas in the order of their importance to the team.
6.Perform a sanity check. Does the prioritization make sense?
Six Hats Consensus Building Six Thinking Hats is a time-tested, proven and practical thinking tool. It provides a framework to help people think clearly and thoroughly by directing their thinking attention in one direction at a time--white hat facts, green hat creativity, yellow hat benefits, black cautions, red hat feelings, and blue hat process. Dr. de Bono wrote this international best selling book in 1985.
It's a simple mental metaphor. Hats are easy to put on and to take off. Each hat is a different color which signals the thinking ingredient. In a group setting each member thinks using the same thinking hat, at the same time, on the same thinking challenge—we call this focused parallel thinking--a tool that facilitates creativity and collaboration. It enables each person's unique point of view to be included and considered. Argument and endless discussion become a thing of the past. Thinking becomes more thorough.
The Six Thinking Hats Tool Kit
Blue hat.jpg
Blue Hat Thinking- Process
Thinking about thinking
What thinking is needed?
Organizing the thinking
Planning for action
external image thinking-hat-white.jpg
White Hat Thinking- Facts
Information and data
Neutral and objective
What do I know?
What do I need to find out?
How will I get the information I need?
external image thinking-hat-green.jpg
Green Hat Thinking - Creativity
Ideas, alternative, possibilities
Provocation - "PO"
Solutions to black hat problems
external image thinking-hat-yellow.jpg
Yellow Hat Thinking- Benefits
Positives, plus points
Logical reasons are given.
Why an idea is useful
external image thinking-hat-black.jpg
Black Hat Thinking - Cautions
Difficulties, weaknesses, dangers
Logical reasons are given.
Spotting the risks
external image thinking-hat-red.jpg
Red Hat Thinking - Feelings
Intuition, hunches, gut instinct
My feelings right now.
Feelings can change.
No reasons are given.
Using the Hats
Use any hat, as often as needed
Sequence can be preset or evolving
Not necessary to use every hat
Time under each hat is generally, short
Requires discipline from each person
While using it, stay in the idiom
Adds an element of play, play along
Can be used by individuals and groups
Sequence Use There is no right or wrong sequence for using the hats. Below are some ideas for possible sequences.
Seeking an Idea
White: Gather available information
Green: Explore and generate alternatives
Yellow: Assess the benefits and feasibility of each alternative
Black: Assess the weaknesses of each alternative
Green: Further develop the most promising alternatives and make a choice
Blue: Summarize and assess what has been achieved so far
Black: Make the final judgment on the chosen alternative
Red: Find out the feelings on the outcome
Reacting to a Presented Idea
Red: Find out the existing feelings about the idea
Yellow: Find out the benefits of the idea
Black: Point out the weaknesses, problems and dangers in the idea
Green: See if the idea can be modified to strengthen the yellow-hat benefits and to overcome the black-hat problems
White: See if available information can help in modifying the idea to make it more acceptable
Green: Develop the final suggestion
Black: Judge the final suggestion
Red: Find out the feelings about the outcome
Short Sequences Yellow/Black/Red: Quick assessment (idea)White/Green: Generate ideas
Black/Green: Improve an existing idea
Blue/Green: Summarize & suggest alternatives
Blue/Yellow: Any benefits? (e.g. the idea)
10/4 Voting
Fist to Five
Affinity Diagrams
Multi Voting
Rating Voting
Nominal Group Techniques
Six Hats Consensus Building
10/4 Voting
Used to determine highest priority for ideasSuggestions for use
Number the ideas for easy reference. Have the group spend a few minutes to determine where they want to spend their points. Then, in rotation, have each team member tell you how they want their points distributed. Ensure that each person spends all 10 points and no more than 4 on any one item. (No saving points for future consideration.) Once the votes are done, add the total points on each item to generate your top 10 list of items to tackle. Assign teams to work on the top items on your list.
The 10-4 voting system can be used with sticky dots. Each person is given 10 dots, and can put their dots on any item with a maximum of 4 on any one item.
Fist to Five
To use this technique the Team Leader restates a decision the group may make and asks everyone to show their level of support. Each person responds by showing a fist or a number of fingers that corresponds to their opinion.If anyone holds up fewer than three fingers, they should be given the opportunity to state their objections and the team should address their concerns. Teams continue the Fist-to-Five process until they achieve consensus (a minimum of three fingers or higher) or determine they must move on to the next issue.
Affinity Diagrams
To create an affinity diagram, you sort a brainstormed list, moving ideas from the brainstorm into affinity sets, and creating groups of related ideas. As you sort ideas:
Example
Multivoting
Multivoting is a group decision-making technique used to reduce a long list of items to a manageable number by means of a structured series of votes. The result is a short list identifying what is important to the team.Use Multivoting whenever a brainstorming session has generated a list of items that is too extensive for all items to be addressed at once. Because Multivoting provides a quick and easy way for a team to identify the most popular or highest priority items on a list—those that are worthy of immediate attention—this tool can be helpful when you need to:
Follow these steps to conduct Multivoting:1. Work from a large list of items developed by brainstorming or another appropriate idea-generating technique.
2. Assign a letter to each item to avoid confusion of item designations with the vote tally.
3. Vote
4. Tally the votes. Place a check mark next to each item for each vote it received. Retain the items with the most votes for the next round of voting.
Rule of Thumb for deciding how many items to eliminate in each round, depending on the size of the group:
5. Repeat. In the second round, each person again selects the top one-third of the items. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until only a few items remain. Never multi vote down to only one item. The items that were not identified as priorities should be retained as backup data or for future use by the team in its improvement efforts.
Rating Voting
With Rating Voting each option is rated based on a preset scale. For example:1-5 (Strongly Against … Strongly For)
1-5 (Least … Most)
1-5 (Weak … Strong)
1-5 (Low … High)
Team members rate each item based on the scale and the scores for each item are then tallied.
Nominal Group Techniques
Nominal Group Technique, or NGT, is a weighted ranking method that enables a group to generate and prioritize a large number of issues within a structure that gives everyone an equal voice. The tool is called nominal because there is limited interaction between members of the group during the NGT process.When should a team use NGT?
When a team needs to create a list of options and rank them, using NGT effectively neutralizes the domination of the loudest person, or the person with the most authority, over the decision-making process. This tool can also help a team achieve consensus about the relative importance of issues. The final result may not be everyone's first priority, but they can live with it.
NGT is a good tool to use when dealing with controversial or emotional issues, or when a group is stuck. It is particularly useful when you need to:
NGT is a facilitated process that has two parts.
NGT PART I - The issue is defined and the team generates ideas
1. Introduce and clarify the issue to be addressed by the team. Write the issue on a chartpack where everybody can see it. Allow for clarification, but do not let the group engage in a discussion of the issue itself. Remember to define unclear terms.
2. Generate ideas to address the issue at hand.
3. Collect the team's ideas. Each team member in turn reads out one of his or her ideas. Write each idea on the chartpack. This round robin should continue until all of the ideas have been offered and recorded. There should be no discussion or side conversations during this part of the session.
4.Clarify ideas. Read each idea out loud. If clarification is needed, the person who provided the idea should explain it now. This is an opportunity to clean up the wording of any unclear statements. Others may contribute if necessary.
5.Combine ideas. Combine like ideas when feasible, but only if both originators agree to it. If they cannot agree, leave the two ideas separate.
NGT PART 2 - The team makes a selection
1.Assign a letter designation to each separate idea. As with Multivoting, the facilitator assigns a letter to avoid confusion with the vote tally.
2.Rank the ideas independently. Each team member writes down the items by their letter designations and assigns them a numeric value based on his or her judgment of what is most important and what is least important. The highest number is assigned to the most important idea and the lowest to the least important idea. or example, if there are 8 items lettered A to H, the most important receives an 8 and the least important, a 1.
3.Collate the rankings. T he facilitator transcribes the team members’ rankings onto a chartpack, writing each number next to the corresponding idea.
4.Add the rankings. The facilitator adds the numbers across. The idea with the highest point total is the one of most importance to the whole team. It is the highest priority item.
5.Rewrite the list. The facilitator rewrites the list of ideas in the order of their importance to the team.
6.Perform a sanity check. Does the prioritization make sense?
Six Hats Consensus Building
Six Thinking Hats is a time-tested, proven and practical thinking tool. It provides a framework to help people think clearly and thoroughly by directing their thinking attention in one direction at a time--white hat facts, green hat creativity, yellow hat benefits, black cautions, red hat feelings, and blue hat process. Dr. de Bono wrote this international best selling book in 1985.
It's a simple mental metaphor. Hats are easy to put on and to take off. Each hat is a different color which signals the thinking ingredient. In a group setting each member thinks using the same thinking hat, at the same time, on the same thinking challenge—we call this focused parallel thinking--a tool that facilitates creativity and collaboration. It enables each person's unique point of view to be included and considered. Argument and endless discussion become a thing of the past. Thinking becomes more thorough.
The Six Thinking Hats Tool Kit
Using the Hats
Sequence Use
There is no right or wrong sequence for using the hats. Below are some ideas for possible sequences.
Seeking an Idea
White: Gather available information
Green: Explore and generate alternatives
Yellow: Assess the benefits and feasibility of each alternative
Black: Assess the weaknesses of each alternative
Green: Further develop the most promising alternatives and make a choice
Blue: Summarize and assess what has been achieved so far
Black: Make the final judgment on the chosen alternative
Red: Find out the feelings on the outcome
Reacting to a Presented Idea
Red: Find out the existing feelings about the idea
Yellow: Find out the benefits of the idea
Black: Point out the weaknesses, problems and dangers in the idea
Green: See if the idea can be modified to strengthen the yellow-hat benefits and to overcome the black-hat problems
White: See if available information can help in modifying the idea to make it more acceptable
Green: Develop the final suggestion
Black: Judge the final suggestion
Red: Find out the feelings about the outcome
Short Sequences
Yellow/Black/Red: Quick assessment (idea)White/Green: Generate ideas
Black/Green: Improve an existing idea
Blue/Green: Summarize & suggest alternatives
Blue/Yellow: Any benefits? (e.g. the idea)