In this guide, you will learn how to select the best ideas during a meeting. We explain two methods: the fast way, and the in-depth way.

📚 This guide is part of a series on how to facilitate meetings.

Quick & easy #

Prioritisation tools help you spot quickly which ideas people think are urgent, important or useful. In this section we offer several quick and easy methods to gauge people’s opinion.

When using prioritisation tools, bear in mind that this is not the same as a majority vote. People may be happy to let go of ideas which aren't a priority for a majority of the group. However, if an idea matters a lot to one or two people, it is important not to dismiss it without discussion.Rather than automatically dropping the less popular ideas, you could ask people to explain why they are important and potentially keep them on the agenda.

It can help to keep a record of all the ideas. Even if you don't have the capacity to address them all immediately, they can feed in to later discussions.

Show of hands #

2 - 5 minutes; any number of people

Obvious but effective. Run through your list or agenda and get a preliminary show of hands on how important each item is to everyone. Those options that have less support are good candidates for being set aside.

Temperature check #

3 - 5 minutes; any number of people

Another quick and visual way of testing the range of opinion within the group. You can also use this tool to bring out differences of opinion that aren’t being voiced.

Process #

1. Ask the group a question, e.g. “How keen are you on this idea?”, or “Do people need a break?”

2. Then ask people to:

• raise their hand high if they are very keen

• drop their hand low if they are not at all keen

• hold their hand somewhere in the middle if they have mixed feelings or no strong preference.

1. In a large group where people can't see each other well, you might choose to restrict the scale to three simple options: high, low and middle. Otherwise, people can express themselves on a whole spectrum of keen-ness, for example raising their hand medium high to show they are moderately into an idea.

2. If all the hands are up, you know the group likes the idea. If all of them are on the floor, it’s not going to work. If there's a wide range of different responses you have the starting point for a conversation!

Remember that a temperature check isn’t a majority vote. For example, if only one person really needs a break, it could still be a good time to stop!

Prioritisation dots #

5 - 10 minutes; up to 50 people

This tool helps to whittle down a long list of options to something more manageable, for example for choosing a few topics from an ideastorm to focus on. It creates a more detailed visual picture than asking people to put their hands up.

It is also a way of getting people moving if they have been sitting down for a long time. Make sure to include an option for people who don't want to move, for example they could instruct someone else to place their dots.

It can be done during a break to use as little session time as possible.

Write up a list of the ideas. Give everyone the same number of dots, 1–6 usually works. The dots could be stickers or simply marks they make with their pen. People can 'spend' their dots on their priority items. If you give multiple dots or stickers, people have the choice of spending them all on one item that they feel is really important/urgent, or spreading them across a number of options.

In-depth #

These tools enable you to explore ideas in much more depth, compared to the 'quick and easy' prioritisation tools above.

In most cases it is useful to remember that your options aren't necessarily limited to the ones that are currently on the table. If you can't decide between two ideas, can you find a new option that combines the benefits of both, and addresses key concerns?

You can use these tools to get a better understanding of everyone's priorities, even if you don't end up going ahead with any of the options exactly as they are.

Be aware that these exercises are very structured, which will work very well for some people, and will feel too constrained for others. You could try 'softening' the structure with a bit of flexibility, e.g. giving people permission to say things they really can't hold in, even if it doesn't totally fit the structure you are imposing.

Pros & cons #

15 - 30 minutes; 3 - 20 people per group

This tool can be used to decide between different options and to identify different needs and priorities around an issue.

For each idea list the benefits (pros) and drawbacks (cons) and compare the results. Most group will benefit from a third category of 'other' or 'interesting' to mop up any points which aren't obviously a pro or a con. You could do this in the form of a table or a mind map.

This can be done as a full group, in pairs or small groups with feedback. You could also task small groups to work on the pros and cons of a different idea each and then report back to the group.

Sometimes groups find it helpful to score the pros and cons according to how significant a benefit/problem they are. For example, if a shared household was choosing a new kitchen table 'we can't afford it' might be ranked as 9/10, and 'we don't like the colour' might only rank 2/10 because it could be re-painted.

Things to be aware of #

You may find that you don't all agree on what is a pro and what is a con. Or you might have different views on which pros and cons are most significant. This can be a great starting point for discussion about your differences. However, it helps to think in advance how you will take differences into account when recording people's answers. For example, record the same point in both the pros and cons column if people don't agree. Or instead of trying to find a definitive whole-group score to measure how significant each point is, use a tool that allows each person to give their own answer. For example see Temperature checks.

'Pros and Cons' may not be the best language for every situation. Alternatives include: pluses and minuses, strengths and downsides, opportunities and challenges etc.

Urgent/Important grid #

10 - 20 minutes; 3 - 50 people

A classic time-management tool that can be applied to group prioritisation! The group maps ideas according to their urgency and importance. You can use this tool on paper, or drawn out on the floor. If you are using the floor, it is best to mark the lines using string or masking tape, so that it is easy to see the whole grid. Add labels at the end of the lines to remind people what they mean.

Ranking #

10 - 20 minutes; 5 - 20 people

This is a great technique for using in small groups. Write each option on a card or post-it note and give each group a full set of cards/notes. Set a time limit and ask the groups to rank the options, or reduce the options to, say, three. Having a facilitator in each small group will help. It’s also helpful to set out clear criteria at the start - for example: “You’ve got 15 minutes. We’re looking for options that need to be done most urgently, are most important, and yet realistic within our budget. Also we’ve only got a week to make it happen, so please think about what we can realistically achieve in the time available.”

Six thinking hats #

30 minutes - 1 hour; 5 - 20 people per group

This tool encourages a group to look at a situation from a new angle. Each 'hat' represents a different way of looking at something. The roles the 'hats' bring give you a chance to thoroughly examine every option and to prioritise or choose the best one(s).

There are a number of ways to do this exercise. For example, individuals within the group can wear different hats whilst the group discuss an issue. Another alternative is thatthe whole group can 'wear' each of the hats in turn in order to look at the same issue in lots of different ways. As facilitator you may want to think about the order in which the group wear the different 'thinking hats'.

Below is one possible order for a creative problem solving process.

• White hat: White hatted people concentrate on the facts - what information and knowledge do you know about the situation? What can you learn about the situation from this information? What info is missing? Can you plug the gap? If not can you take it into account when discussing the situation? What can you learn from past trends?

• Green hat: Green hat people think creatively in a no-criticism, free-form thinking kind of way.

• Red hat: Red hats are the emotional input of the discussion. They allow themselves to be intuitive and act as much on hunches as fact. They are sensitive to the emotional responses of others in the group.

• Black hat: Black hatted people evaluate ideas logically, and look for reasons to be cautious.

• Yellow hat: Yellow hats should think optimistically - looking for the value in every possibility. What benefits does it bring?

• Blue hat: The blue hat is worn by the facilitator(s). They concentrate on process, calling on the other hats to add in their thinking as and when it's appropriate and making sure that each option is scrutinised from all perspectives. They are neutral, helping the group achieve it's task without trying to shape the decision.

This tool actively seeks out the optimistic analysis, the pessimistic analysis etc., so every idea is thoroughly tested and when the decision is made, it's made on the basis of a creative and thorough process.

Attribution #

In this guide, the following sources have been reused:

• Facilitation Tools for meetings and workshops by Seeds for Change