Effective Group Decision-Making Techniques

Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) facilitates decision-making, objective setting, and alternative generation. This structured brainstorming method yields focused results, proving valuable when aiming for common conclusions or proposals. NGT helps overcome obstacles in achieving unanimous agreements and clearly defining collective objectives. Ideally used with groups of up to twelve people, NGT sessions combine individual reflection with group interaction.

NGT works best with homogenous groups striving for consensus on a specific action plan. If conflicting viewpoints arise, separate nominal groups representing different perspectives can be formed. A typical NGT session follows these steps:

1. The leader introduces the topic (preferably in writing).
2. Participants engage in individual reflection (10-15 minutes), jotting down their ideas.
3. Each member shares their ideas, which are recorded on a board. Participants can add new ideas during their turn, but comments or critiques on presented ideas are reserved for later.
4. Each idea is analyzed. Clarifying questions are welcome, but resolving disagreements is postponed. Related ideas are grouped and summarized.
5. Participants express their preferences or agreement with the ideas through voting or ranking.
6. A final vote narrows down the proposals to the most valuable ones. Individual votes can be weighted (e.g., ranking ideas within categories).

Brainwriting

Brainwriting, similar to NGT, follows these steps:

1. The leader introduces the topic.
2. Participants write their ideas on individual sheets of paper.
3. The leader places a stack of papers in the center of the table. Participants exchange their sheets, adding new ideas to the ones they receive. This continues until everyone has reviewed all the generated ideas.
4. The group discusses the collected ideas and selects the most important ones.

Meeting Whispers

Meeting Whispers is a technique to encourage participation during meetings. It's useful for gathering multiple perspectives on a topic, obtaining quick input and opinions, and promoting immediate engagement.

1. The leader presents a topic or question.
2. The group divides into pairs (without needing to move), each person speaking with their neighbor.
3. After a short interval, each pair summarizes their discussion to the larger group.

This method is particularly effective for introducing topics and re-engaging the group after lengthy presentations.