Tapping Group Wisdom

… Without Groupthink!

A group may have vast experience, a variety of viewpoints, and impressive intellectual horsepower. It may also have politics, personality clashes, and other more subtle dynamics that get in the way of optimal group problem solving, idea generation, and decision-making. This workshop teaches a technique for harnessing the wisdom of the group, while avoiding many of the pitfalls that plague standard brainstorming-based approaches.

The Group Wisdom Without Groupthink process begins with the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), which allows a group to quickly build a comprehensive list of ideas, issues, options or solutions. NGT works faster than traditional brainstorming, yet generates more complete and higher quality results.

The list of possibilities generated by NGT is then narrowed down to identify the best or most important ideas using DOTS, a form of dot voting. DOTS engages the collective wisdom of the group, while avoiding groupthink and politics. When faced with a choice between a variety of options, this technique facilitates a group decision that will have the broadest support.

This workshop will teach you how to use the Group Wisdom Without Groupthink process by applying it to an issue such as “What makes agile projects succeed (or fail)?”, or some other question of interest to your group.