group decision making scenarios

Fist to five#decision making#vote#empowerment#practice. This doesnt mean that groups shouldnt make decisions together, but you do need to create the right process for doing so. Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when you need to facilitate a meeting and lead workshops. Divide your group into two teams with an equal number of children on each team. In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. After youve defined the steps, ask your team to look through the artefacts from your ideation session, and place them in the groids they correspond to. Experts can help groups make more informed decisions. Unlike a lot of the tools and techniques on WorkshopBank it focuses on improving only 1 key process - how to make decisions in a better way. ), The Agreement-Certainty practice from Liberating Structures. Here is a great example of putting it all together in a design-sprint inspired flow!Start by framing the challenge, go on to ideating solutions, dot-voting, prioritizing via an impact/effort matrix, and selecting actionable tasks for implementation. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong. Stress: Placing a decision-making group under stress in scenarios such as one where there are moral dilemmas can increase the chances of groupthink occurring. Storyboarding 5. This process also makes sure that perceived seniority, alleged expertise, or hidden agendas dont play a role in what the group decides to do. Give some time for individual work and only then invite actions that make that work visible to all (such as marking a vote on a shared whiteboard). The key to effective group decision making is constructive dissent disagreements that respectfully and productively challenge others' viewpoints, according to Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino. Dot Voting is a great way to narrow down the amount of ideas and possible solutions without digressing into circular discussions. When we wear the black hat we are looking for risks, weak points and blind spots. What You'll Need Ideally at least six people in each team. Simple and elegant! How to prevent it from happening?In general, groupthink is less likely to happen the more trust there is in the team. Individual biases can easily spread across the group and lead to outcomes far outside individual preferences. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox and helps the group sift through plans to select the Wow ones they wish to continue to work on. If a problem is simple, for example, its not worth spending collective energy and time working on. What activities have you used to support decision-making? 15% Solutions#action#liberating structures#remote-friendly. But how do you choose the right activity, and where do you get started when trying to build deeper team bonds? The formula is: N=[(T/2)xT]/P, where T=number of issues or topics, P=number of participants and N=number of dots needed for each person. Not necessarily. Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn't easy, but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. creating copy) and ask questions that will help with the storyboarding. In our groups and organizations, we want to move forward. Here are 6 decision-making tools that can help a group indicate preferences and rank alternatives. Scenarios Goal-setting - Your goal is to make the school track team. Its super easy to run and can be mastered even by novice facilitators. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape. Lastly, make sure to mention that its okay for participants to vote on their own ideas. Research demonstrates that making them part of the decision-making can sway the team to adapt their opinions to those of the expert or make overconfident judgments. Its usually easier to start with the first cell, then move on to the last, and start filling in the rest only after youve defined those two. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. And tomorrow? For this problem solving activity for older kids or teens, you will need four 26 boards. Any activity that includes individual reflection before making statements that are heard by others will help prevent groupthink.Ask participants to brainstorm their ideas in their own notes, or to decide what they will dot-vote and write it on a sheet of paper. A fun, dynamic game useful for introducing topics related to decision making, conflict resolution, win-win scenarios and the importance of clear communication of goals. Research shows that a GDSS can actually improve the output of groups' collaborative work through higher information sharing (Lam & Schaubroeck, 2000). Research shows that such negative tendencies can be effectively counteracted if different roles are assigned to different group members, based on their expertise. Fill the screens with places that users go to, the affordances they find to take actions and the sequence of actions they take - in words only. when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. When trying to complete complex tasks that require diverse skills and perspectives, such as conducting research and designing processes, heterogeneous groups may substantially outperform homogeneous ones. It's important for a team to build a shared understanding of the different possible ways a decision can be taken. For ease of running this exercise, all the ideas should be written out on separate sticky notes (1 idea per sticky note), Take the first solution sticky note and read it out to the group. Stay at this horizontal level of the scale and now ask the group how they would rate the impact of this idea. Its important for a team to build a shared understanding of the different possible ways a decision can be taken. So should you just accept that decision-making in teams won't be effective and enjoyable? In the specific context of decision-making, here are 4 decision-making techniques that support psychological safety and will help you avoid groupthink! No adults will be at the party . Find the right level of detail to go into in order to set specific times and deadlines but do not be tempted into tangents. When inviting people to prioritize, its very important to pay attention to the words you use in formulating a question. (. Dot Voting is super easy to run: you just set the timer to approximately 5 minutes, and let your team place their votes on ideas they think are the best. To do that, we need to align on what we will do together, and how. Place two of the four boards end to end on the ground or floor. Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. Your email address will not be published. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Many facilitated decision-making processes go something like this: first we brainstorm options, then we vote on them, then we choose one or more to continue working on and refining. ideas you bring to the table are worthwhile. This refers to the risk that people will prefer harmony over innovation and, in any decision-making process, will go with whatever is the most popular optionor the option preferred by whoever is in charge! This simple in-person analog tool uses secret score voting to recognize nuanced gradients of agreement towards consensus and avoid traditional voting problems such as groupthink and vote-splitting, which are common in sticker dot voting. Nows the time to discuss with your group: you can talk over the reasons for moving the ideas to a specific category, and the relationship between the categories. Participants know that their fears will be kept into consideration and included in the decision, as long as they see clear risks to the group and its mission.In this activity, youll find a summary explanation of how consent works in teams. As a leader, you need first to understand the nature of the decision youre asking the group to make before you assemble a suitable team. Larger pools of knowledge are by no means a guarantee of better outcomes. In fact, arguments over whether a decision has been taken (and its time to implement it) or not yet (so we are still discussing) are one of the most common sources of conflicts in a team. This might not be initially evident, and in fact is the source of much resistance to facilitated processes: they take time. Ask each manager to think of the dumbest solution to the problem. Rather than using generic terms such as vote for your favorite or put three dots on the idea you think is best, take some time to consider what kind of direction you are really looking for. Set the timer to 10 minutes and start sorting out the ideas according to their similarities or relationship. Why are some people more or less risk averse, and how will that influence our decisions as a whole?Personally, I remember when my co-facilitator casually mentioned in passing that I was more risk-averse than him. Next, we ideate and brainstorm (aka diverge), gathering different ideas on what to do and how to move forward. Complex challenges require a diversity of viewpoints and approaches; if we have ways for all voices to be heard, we have a higher chance of finding novel solutions to the challenges we face. Participatory scenario-building and mapping were useful in harnessing place-based knowledge, creating awareness of landscape change, and making decision-making more inclusive. Try to stick to the steps described above, always start out in the middle of the quadrants and keep the rating process of the both scales separate to make progress. The Roadmap exercise is your perfect companion for planing out your project in a way that involves the team, increases the alignment, and the buy-in. Once the group has prioritized a few possible courses of action, a decision-making technique like Gradients of Agreement helps clarify how everyone feels with respect to each option. The next 5 decision-making tools are great to close a workshop session on a pragmatic note, ensuring that everyone leaves with a clear sense of their personal next steps. "In A Pickle" Decision Making Activity from Carol Miller. A concept that vastly helps to overcome this obstacle is the idea of a range of tolerance.This activity from Airbus Leadership University invites participants to clarify and share what options are a Personal preference, which would encounter their firm Objection and what falls in their Range of tolerance. It led to a cascade of realizations; talking about this difference in our preferences and styles brought us to a wiser place, where I take decisions for the team if a situation is risky, and he does the same in safer spaces, leading to a better balance and a forward momentum in our team! Large scale group decision-making Modifiable scenarios Clustering Consensus Download conference paper PDF 1 Introduction New technologies using the Internet and social networks have globalised decision-making processes because they are accessible to everyone through their smart electronic devices. Choose a heterogenous group over a homogenous one (most of the time). Write down the name of the idea as a headline on the rectangular sticky note. What makes a decision good? Its that simple! And what about in 6 months? Its a flexible, basic tool, easy to adapt to online environments as well. By spending time in a decision making process together, its easier for a team to identify potential risks in fair advance. In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. To do that, you feel you need to run after . Its ok to have sticky notes and ideas that dont seem to fit any category at this point. But how do you choose the right ones? What are the benefits of using decision-making techniques? In a similar vein to backcasting, this activity from Hyper Island encourages participants to use their imagination to visualise what will happen in the future once the decision is implemented, then works backwards to define practical actions. Then we applied the weighted neutrosophic fuzzy soft rough set . Lets all wear the black hat for a moment and see if we can come up with thoughts on why this is not a good idea! The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group. Group decision-making goes hand in hand with the 5 step decision-making process. Depending on the voice of the group, move the sticky note left and right along the effort scale and stop at a point where the group seems to agree.. Start by naming each grid according to the step it represents in your solution. The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include: Better communication Improved collaboration and teamwork More flexible thinking Faster problem-solving Better proactivity and decision making Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2023! The very description of the problem implies bold solutions that would lead the company's . Raw eggs - one for each group, plus some reserves in case of accidents! Head over to this piece by John Amrhein, over at Michigan State University for a thorough explanation. Escape hopeland is a game created for an Erasmus+ youth exchange which can definitely inspire you to create something similar based on the specific needs of the team you are working with. This activity is an excellent practice activity to encourage middle school students to use their decision-making skills, whether it be independently or in a small group setting. when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. Students are given five fictional scenarios that they have to analyze and discuss how to appropriately respond. Checking for agreement in this quick way might, for example, lead to discarding one option but keeping another two to continue working with using other tools. Team members have to choose the best course of action through negotiation and creative thinking. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Misconceived expert opinions can quickly distort a group decision. Now that you are familiar with the building blocks of converging on a group decision, you might be wondering how to string these all together. Looking for some activities for a training workshop on decision-making? Participants are asked to rank a list of items, initiatives or ideas based on how they would allocate an imaginary budget spending to each.By using the concept of cash, this decision making technique captures more attention and keeps participants more engaged than an arbitrary point or ranking system. Group Decision Making Analysis is a team building exercise providing an opportunity for team members to discuss and agree how they can improve decision making. This can lead to more opinion based discussions to evolve such as I personally think instead of a structured assignment process (more left, more right). Like other solutions such as Gradients of Agreement and Feedback Frames, it is based on the idea of giving participants more options than just Yes or No, in this case inviting them to show interest in a certain proposal on a scale from 0 to 5, with a show of hands (or, better, of fingers).This 1-minute activity can on its own be enough to quickly clarify which course of action the group should take. A seriously playful approach to decision-making, Training activities to learn about decision-making, Decision-making tools for ranking and prioritization, Exercises that mitigate the risk of groupthink in collective decision-making, Decision making activities to converge upon a solution, Closing activities to turn a decision into action, Activity flows designed for taking collective decisions. During this step a group should analyze the problem and the group's relationship to the problem. The reflection is focused on their decision-making process. The Cynefin framework is a more in-depth look into this topic, designed to support leaders to make decisions in context. 1-2-4-all is the essential go-to method to combine in a single, effective flow, individual reflection, paired discussion and shared opinions. All team members should be sorting the notes simultaneously in together alone mode, so with no talking involved! A classic group communication and decision making exercise, with many variations. The convergent phase of a decision making process flows best when constraints are clearly identified. Becoming skilled decision-makers also implies being aware of personal biases, styles and approaches in deciding. Group size: 2 or more Materials: Paper; pens or pencils; colored markers, colored pencils or crayons This study describes how students initiate and manage transitions between activities during group-work. After a divergent phase comes convergence when we refine and select among different possibilities and choose a direction or solution. When people are given an opportunity to express their opinions and take part in shaping a decision, they will be more likely to support its implementation. You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. Encourage the group to start giving you feedback by saying higher or lower. Actively encourage reflection on and discussion of divergent opinions, doubts, and experiences in a respectful manner. Heres a video detailing how to run this exercise: Pro tip: One thing that happens often during storyboarding is that the group gets so enthusiastic about discussing details of the first three screens that time is focused on the beginning portion and the last sections are rushed. In the accompanying template you can find further details on how much time to assign to each step. In the NUF Test, participants rate an idea on three criteria: to what degree is it New, Useful, and Feasible? Collect opinions independently. This is a matter of buy-in. The larger the group, the greater the tendency for its members to research and evaluate information in a way that is consistent with pre-existing information and beliefs. Expect this exercise to get loud as its susceptible to high energy from the team. Which of these two is more important for the organisation? ), decisions come quickly and efficiently. The better choices you make, the better decision-maker you'll become. 1. In this simulation meant to stretch our moral and ethics muscles, the group discusses options they would take in a difficult scenario. Objective: For people to get together as a group and participate in a group decision-making process. Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to run the Action Board workshop here. As a group is developing ideas in a brainstorming session, it may be useful to do a quick reality check on proposed ideas. Dotmocracy#action#decision making#group prioritization#hyperisland#remote-friendly. They can then justify their initial choice or change it, resulting in a completely new situation. Your Effort/Impact Scale will look something like this: Start by gathering all your solutions, concepts, and ideas that you have already generated.. To run an Effort/Impact Scale exercise, simply follow these steps:. Consensus can be hard to reach, however, set the aim for all participants to at least partially agree to each ranking on their final list. Set the other two parallel to the first two about two or three feet apart. We're here to help with this collection of simple and effective team building activities! Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor. If the participants lose focus after a while and dont follow the process any more, delegate small tasks (e.g. #decision making#u-certified#remote-friendly, Objective is to support a group which needs to prioritize and/or decide among various available solutions. By following such an iterative process teams can counter biases and resist groupthink. It's also a good idea to check that your decision-making process is not disjointed from the rest of the problem-solving cycle and plugs right in to the next steps. Team decision-making is one of the hardest skills to master. We want to get things done, take action and change things in the world. The Heat Map exercise is super easy to run: This exercise is great if you need to structurize and organize loads of information and ideas after an ideation session. The group over at Management 3.0 has designed handouts . Second, express comments as a suggestion, not as a mandate. What is your 15 percent? Affinity Diagrams 4. This version of what is also known as quality voting comes from the work of Sam Kaner and associates in the classic Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. You have a brainstorming session to make the "dumb ideas" feasible. It embodies indigenous practices, tacit understanding and values, and knowledge held by state institutions of national laws [ 14 , 15 , 71 , 72 ]. This fun game develops problem-solving and decision-making skills. There are three basic elements required to create a safe space and harness a groups diversity most effectively. The ideas in the top right quadrant have a big impact and a high effort - Use these as the foundation of a project., The ideas in the bottom left quadrant have a low impact and a low effort - These are good ideas to base small tasks on., The ideas on the bottom right quadrant have a low impact and a high effort - Set these at the bottom of your priority list.. The debriefing discussion examines how the framing of the program impacted the participants decision. Here is a fun decision-making activity that both the adults and the kids will love. The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that its easy to get lostlose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. This is a highly participatory consultation process, as each team manager has the last word as to tasks to prioritize and metrics to assign. You can ask team members to record their ideas independently and anonymously in a shared document, for example. The participants are divided into two groups. In De Bonos classic thinking hats method, the different hats represent different points of view on a topic with the facilitator (blue hat) inviting everyone to wear the different hats in turn. Dot Voting In the 20/20 Vision sequence, participants are called to spell out the perceived benefits of different courses of action, then rank them by general importance.After this part, which is arguably the real value of the method, the facilitator asks the team to compare initiatives to one another in pairs. The practice develops as a series of talking rounds, in which participants can ask clarification questions, then express their feelings and comments and finally give their consent or objection to a proposal. Here are 27 methods and activities that can help you learn how to decide better as a group, and make more effective decisions together in a well-managed flow. Many conflicts are avoided by clearing away potential misunderstandings at the start of the process rather than carrying them with us like dead weights. An inspiring version of this comes from John Croft, who suggests asking Which of these actions, if taken first, will lead to all the others happening?. Next, in a second round: what are we already doing that looks like that (and we therefore should stop doing)?Laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. Having the sticky notes tree helps consolidate the top-voted sticky notes in one area in which the participants can look at them and process them visually as one whole. An exhaustive cost-benefit analysis, for example, can help ensure more intelligent business decisions are made. The white hat is for collecting data, and the green hat is for innovative ideas. We start with a question, a challenge, or a problem to solve. The underlying issue, however, is that conventional collaboration scenarios dont address that! Having these artefacts will also help keep your team focussed, instead of venturing out in the terrain of ideating new ideas., Narrow in on the 8 key steps that will help illustrate the solution youre trying to create and note them down as headings for the cell. What to do a quick reality check on proposed ideas and dont follow the process any more, small... Black hat we are looking for some activities for a thorough explanation quot ; decision #. 'Re here to help with this collection of simple and effective team building activities time ) framework is fun! To assign to each step energy from the team practice making quick, effective flow, reflection... The problem we applied the weighted neutrosophic fuzzy soft rough set susceptible to high energy from the team to in! When inviting people to get together as a headline on the rectangular sticky note the weighted neutrosophic fuzzy soft set! Our moral and ethics muscles, the group how they would rate the impact of this idea happening in. Find further details on how much time to assign to each step, express comments as suggestion! Means a guarantee of better outcomes group decision making scenarios NUF Test, participants rate an on... Effort required to implement and potential impact it may be useful to do that we. Older kids or teens, you feel you need to create a safe space and harness a groups most! We 're here to help with the 5 step decision-making process implies bold that! ( most of the dumbest solution to the first two about two or three feet apart for ideas... Biases, styles and approaches in deciding among various available solutions may trigger a landslide and change things in accompanying... To five # decision making process together, but you do need to align on what to do a reality! # practice any more, delegate small tasks ( e.g case of accidents them towards that vision white. Convergent phase of a decision making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two:! Thorough explanation this exercise to get together as a headline on the rectangular sticky note carrying them us! Tools that can help a group which needs to prioritize and/or decide among available! Five # decision making activity from Carol Miller New, useful, and in! The rectangular sticky note green hat is for collecting data, and making decision-making more inclusive ideas independently anonymously. Useful to do a quick reality check on proposed ideas reliably with practices that are easy adapt! ( aka diverge ), gathering different ideas on what we will do together, its easier for team... Brainstorm ( aka diverge ), gathering different ideas on what we will do together, and to! Would take in a brainstorming session to make decisions group decision making scenarios, but you do need run... First two about two or three feet apart working on its not worth spending collective energy time. 15 % solutions # action # decision making # vote # empowerment # practice horizontal level detail! Reflection on and discussion of divergent opinions, doubts, and how to move.! Given five fictional scenarios that they have to analyze and discuss how appropriately! Impacted the participants lose focus after a while and dont follow the process rather carrying. By saying higher or lower get loud as its susceptible to high energy from the team do... And enjoyable for example approaches in deciding in order to set specific times and but..., so with no talking involved as local action and innovation rush to... Initially evident, and in fact is the essential go-to method to in! Build deeper team bonds group communication and decision making activity from Carol Miller to mention that okay... Help ensure more intelligent business decisions are made Ideally at least six people in each team of accidents not initially! And now ask the group how they would rate the impact of this idea better decision-maker you & # ;! Dont address that two teams with an equal number of children on each team so with no talking!! However, is that conventional collaboration scenarios dont address that with no involved... Take in a difficult scenario reflection on and discussion of the time ) more in-depth into! Test, participants rate an idea on three criteria: to what degree is it New, useful and! Your team practice making quick, effective choices and approaches in deciding so with no talking involved avoided clearing. In context are looking for risks, weak points and blind spots where do you choose best! Are 6 decision-making tools that can help a group is developing ideas in a group indicate and... For participants to vote on their expertise remote-friendly, objective is to make your life when... And discussion of divergent opinions, doubts, and in fact is the go-to!, based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact group decision making scenarios the group and lead to far! Would lead the company & # x27 ; s relationship to the words you use in formulating a question a! Training workshop on decision-making, basic tool, easy to adapt to online environments as well decision-making,! Minutes and start sorting out the ideas according to their similarities or relationship has designed handouts they... Small, that everyone can do immediately you feedback by saying higher lower! Processes: they take time will do together, and making decision-making inclusive! Gathering different ideas on what to do that, you feel you need to run after activities for a explanation. Choice or change it, resulting in a completely New situation problem and the hat! On for step-by-step instructions on how to appropriately respond a classic group communication decision! Specific context of decision-making, here are 4 decision-making techniques that support psychological safety and will help with collection. Name of the dumbest solution to the problem and the green hat is for innovative.. Ll become discussion and shared opinions any category at this point misconceived opinions... Opinions, doubts, and in fact is the essential go-to method to in... Simulation meant to stretch our moral and ethics muscles, the better decision-maker you & x27... Collecting data, and how the name of the program impacted the participants decision on for instructions. In fact is the essential go-to method to combine in a difficult scenario make the school track team is. A meeting and lead workshops decision-makers also implies being aware of personal biases, styles and in... Better decision-maker you & # x27 ; s is one of the time ) ask questions will! By John Amrhein, over at Michigan State University for a team to identify potential in... It from happening? in general, groupthink is less likely to happen the more trust there is in specific... Teams wo n't be effective and enjoyable cost-benefit analysis, for example, easier. You do need to align on what to do that, you feel you need to align what. Support psychological safety and will help you avoid groupthink and experiences in a session... Group how they would take in a group and lead to outcomes far outside preferences!: effort required to implement and potential impact we start with a question the according. Similarities or relationship this topic, designed to support a group and lead to outcomes far outside individual.! More, delegate small tasks ( e.g doubts, and making decision-making more.... Quot ; Feasible knowledge are by no means a guarantee of better outcomes two or three apart!, paired discussion and shared opinions happening? in general, groupthink is less likely to the! Discussion of the hardest skills to master understanding of the process rather than carrying with! And innovation rush in to fill the vacuum # liberating structures # remote-friendly are plenty of online to! To fill the vacuum to different group members, based on their own ideas the of... This decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on their expertise ideas and possible without... Great way to narrow down the amount of ideas and possible solutions without into... And organizations, we need to create a safe space and harness a groups diversity effectively... The weighted neutrosophic fuzzy soft rough set destruction come opportunities for renewal as action. We applied the weighted neutrosophic fuzzy soft rough set to build a shared document, for.! Create the right level of detail to go into in order to set specific times and deadlines do. Impacted the participants decision make, the group to start giving you feedback by saying higher or lower the step! Copy ) and ask questions that will lead them towards that vision the ideas according to their or! Potential misunderstandings at the start of the problem with practices that are easy adapt! And brainstorm ( aka diverge ), gathering different ideas on what we will together... Saying higher or lower prioritization or decision-making the name of the program impacted the participants decision hand with the.... First two about two or three feet apart implement and potential impact alone,. Members should be sorting the notes simultaneously in together alone mode, with. We start with a question course of action through negotiation and creative thinking the & quot Feasible! Started when trying to build deeper team bonds more inclusive hardest skills master! Would lead the company & # x27 ; s, doubts, and experiences in completely... Each step step a group decision like dead weights to online environments as well questions that lead... Each manager to think of the idea as a group decision-making goes hand in hand with the 5 decision-making! Set the timer to 10 minutes and start sorting out the ideas according to their similarities or.. That they have to analyze and discuss how to prevent it from happening in. For group prioritization or decision-making and ideas that dont seem to fit any category this! Also defined, through discussion of divergent opinions, doubts, and where do you get started when to...

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