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3 Ways to Improve Your Decision Making

• Walter Frick

First, be less certain — about everything.

To get better at making decisions, you have to improve your ability to make predictions (how different choices change the likelihood of different outcomes) and your judgment (how desirable each of those outcomes is). While there are countless ways to work on these two skills, there are three simple rules that can help the most. First, be less certain. We’re all more confident about each step of the decision-making process than we ought to be. What else would you think about if you were less sure that A would cause B, or that B is preferable to C? Second, always ask yourself ask “How often does that typically happen?” If you think outcome B is preferable to outcome C, you might ask: How often has that historically been the case? Third, brush up on your understanding of probability. Research has shown that even basic training in probability makes people better forecasters and helps them avoid certain cognitive biases.

To make a good decision, you need to have a sense of two things: how different choices change the likelihood of different outcomes and how desirable each of those outcomes is. In other words, as Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb have written , decision making requires both prediction and judgment.

• Walter Frick is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review , where he was formerly a senior editor and deputy editor of HBR.org. He is the founder of Nonrival , a newsletter where readers make crowdsourced predictions about economics and business. He has been an executive editor at Quartz as well as a Knight Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism and an Assembly Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. He has also written for The Atlantic , MIT Technology Review , The Boston Globe , and the BBC, among other publications.

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10 Problem-solving strategies to turn challenges on their head

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What is an example of problem-solving?

What are the 5 steps to problem-solving, 10 effective problem-solving strategies, what skills do efficient problem solvers have, how to improve your problem-solving skills.

Problems come in all shapes and sizes — from workplace conflict to budget cuts.

Creative problem-solving is one of the most in-demand skills in all roles and industries. It can boost an organization’s human capital and give it a competitive edge. 

Problem-solving strategies are ways of approaching problems that can help you look beyond the obvious answers and find the best solution to your problem . 

Let’s take a look at a five-step problem-solving process and how to combine it with proven problem-solving strategies. This will give you the tools and skills to solve even your most complex problems.

Good problem-solving is an essential part of the decision-making process . To see what a problem-solving process might look like in real life, let’s take a common problem for SaaS brands — decreasing customer churn rates.

To solve this problem, the company must first identify it. In this case, the problem is that the churn rate is too high. 

Next, they need to identify the root causes of the problem. This could be anything from their customer service experience to their email marketing campaigns. If there are several problems, they will need a separate problem-solving process for each one. 

Let’s say the problem is with email marketing — they’re not nurturing existing customers. Now that they’ve identified the problem, they can start using problem-solving strategies to look for solutions. 

This might look like coming up with special offers, discounts, or bonuses for existing customers. They need to find ways to remind them to use their products and services while providing added value. This will encourage customers to keep paying their monthly subscriptions.

They might also want to add incentives, such as access to a premium service at no extra cost after 12 months of membership. They could publish blog posts that help their customers solve common problems and share them as an email newsletter.

The company should set targets and a time frame in which to achieve them. This will allow leaders to measure progress and identify which actions yield the best results.

Perhaps you’ve got a problem you need to tackle. Or maybe you want to be prepared the next time one arises. Either way, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the five steps of problem-solving. 

Use this step-by-step problem-solving method with the strategies in the following section to find possible solutions to your problem.

1. Identify the problem

The first step is to know which problem you need to solve. Then, you need to find the root cause of the problem. 

The best course of action is to gather as much data as possible, speak to the people involved, and separate facts from opinions. 

Once this is done, formulate a statement that describes the problem. Use rational persuasion to make sure your team agrees .

2. Break the problem down 

Identifying the problem allows you to see which steps need to be taken to solve it. 

First, break the problem down into achievable blocks. Then, use strategic planning to set a time frame in which to solve the problem and establish a timeline for the completion of each stage.

3. Generate potential solutions

At this stage, the aim isn’t to evaluate possible solutions but to generate as many ideas as possible. 

Encourage your team to use creative thinking and be patient — the best solution may not be the first or most obvious one.

Use one or more of the different strategies in the following section to help come up with solutions — the more creative, the better.

4. Evaluate the possible solutions

Once you’ve generated potential solutions, narrow them down to a shortlist. Then, evaluate the options on your shortlist. 

There are usually many factors to consider. So when evaluating a solution, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will my team be on board with the proposition?
• Does the solution align with organizational goals ?
• Is the solution likely to achieve the desired outcomes?
• Is the solution realistic and possible with current resources and constraints?
• Will the solution solve the problem without causing additional unintended problems?

5. Implement and monitor the solutions

Once you’ve identified your solution and got buy-in from your team, it’s time to implement it. 

But the work doesn’t stop there. You need to monitor your solution to see whether it actually solves your problem. 

Request regular feedback from the team members involved and have a monitoring and evaluation plan in place to measure progress.

If the solution doesn’t achieve your desired results, start this step-by-step process again.

There are many different ways to approach problem-solving. Each is suitable for different types of problems. 

The most appropriate problem-solving techniques will depend on your specific problem. You may need to experiment with several strategies before you find a workable solution.

Here are 10 effective problem-solving strategies for you to try:

• Use a solution that worked before
• Brainstorming
• Work backward
• Use the Kipling method
• Draw the problem
• Use trial and error
• Sleep on it
• Get advice from your peers
• Use the Pareto principle
• Add successful solutions to your toolkit

Let’s break each of these down.

1. Use a solution that worked before

It might seem obvious, but if you’ve faced similar problems in the past, look back to what worked then. See if any of the solutions could apply to your current situation and, if so, replicate them.

2. Brainstorming

The more people you enlist to help solve the problem, the more potential solutions you can come up with.

Use different brainstorming techniques to workshop potential solutions with your team. They’ll likely bring something you haven’t thought of to the table.

3. Work backward

Working backward is a way to reverse engineer your problem. Imagine your problem has been solved, and make that the starting point.

Then, retrace your steps back to where you are now. This can help you see which course of action may be most effective.

4. Use the Kipling method

This is a method that poses six questions based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “ I Keep Six Honest Serving Men .” 

• What is the problem?
• Why is the problem important?
• When did the problem arise, and when does it need to be solved?
• How did the problem happen?
• Where is the problem occurring?
• Who does the problem affect?

Answering these questions can help you identify possible solutions.

5. Draw the problem

Sometimes it can be difficult to visualize all the components and moving parts of a problem and its solution. Drawing a diagram can help.

This technique is particularly helpful for solving process-related problems. For example, a product development team might want to decrease the time they take to fix bugs and create new iterations. Drawing the processes involved can help you see where improvements can be made.

6. Use trial-and-error

A trial-and-error approach can be useful when you have several possible solutions and want to test them to see which one works best.

7. Sleep on it

Finding the best solution to a problem is a process. Remember to take breaks and get enough rest . Sometimes, a walk around the block can bring inspiration, but you should sleep on it if possible.

A good night’s sleep helps us find creative solutions to problems. This is because when you sleep, your brain sorts through the day’s events and stores them as memories. This enables you to process your ideas at a subconscious level. 

If possible, give yourself a few days to develop and analyze possible solutions. You may find you have greater clarity after sleeping on it. Your mind will also be fresh, so you’ll be able to make better decisions.

8. Get advice from your peers

Getting input from a group of people can help you find solutions you may not have thought of on your own. 

For solo entrepreneurs or freelancers, this might look like hiring a coach or mentor or joining a mastermind group. 

For leaders , it might be consulting other members of the leadership team or working with a business coach .

It’s important to recognize you might not have all the skills, experience, or knowledge necessary to find a solution alone. 

9. Use the Pareto principle

The Pareto principle — also known as the 80/20 rule — can help you identify possible root causes and potential solutions for your problems.

Although it’s not a mathematical law, it’s a principle found throughout many aspects of business and life. For example, 20% of the sales reps in a company might close 80% of the sales. 

You may be able to narrow down the causes of your problem by applying the Pareto principle. This can also help you identify the most appropriate solutions.

10. Add successful solutions to your toolkit

Every situation is different, and the same solutions might not always work. But by keeping a record of successful problem-solving strategies, you can build up a solutions toolkit. 

These solutions may be applicable to future problems. Even if not, they may save you some of the time and work needed to come up with a new solution.

Improving problem-solving skills is essential for professional development — both yours and your team’s. Here are some of the key skills of effective problem solvers:

• Critical thinking and analytical skills
• Communication skills , including active listening
• Decision-making
• Planning and prioritization
• Emotional intelligence , including empathy and emotional regulation
• Time management
• Data analysis
• Research skills
• Project management

And they see problems as opportunities. Everyone is born with problem-solving skills. But accessing these abilities depends on how we view problems. Effective problem-solvers see problems as opportunities to learn and improve.

Ready to work on your problem-solving abilities? Get started with these seven tips.

1. Build your problem-solving skills

One of the best ways to improve your problem-solving skills is to learn from experts. Consider enrolling in organizational training , shadowing a mentor , or working with a coach .

2. Practice

Practice using your new problem-solving skills by applying them to smaller problems you might encounter in your daily life. 

Alternatively, imagine problematic scenarios that might arise at work and use problem-solving strategies to find hypothetical solutions.

3. Don’t try to find a solution right away

Often, the first solution you think of to solve a problem isn’t the most appropriate or effective.

Instead of thinking on the spot, give yourself time and use one or more of the problem-solving strategies above to activate your creative thinking. 

4. Ask for feedback

Receiving feedback is always important for learning and growth. Your perception of your problem-solving skills may be different from that of your colleagues. They can provide insights that help you improve. 

5. Learn new approaches and methodologies

There are entire books written about problem-solving methodologies if you want to take a deep dive into the subject. 

We recommend starting with “ Fixed — How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving ” by Amy E. Herman. 

6. Experiment

Tried-and-tested problem-solving techniques can be useful. However, they don’t teach you how to innovate and develop your own problem-solving approaches. 

Sometimes, an unconventional approach can lead to the development of a brilliant new idea or strategy. So don’t be afraid to suggest your most “out there” ideas.

7. Analyze the success of your competitors

Do you have competitors who have already solved the problem you’re facing? Look at what they did, and work backward to solve your own problem. 

For example, Netflix started in the 1990s as a DVD mail-rental company. Its main competitor at the time was Blockbuster. 

But when streaming became the norm in the early 2000s, both companies faced a crisis. Netflix innovated, unveiling its streaming service in 2007. 

If Blockbuster had followed Netflix’s example, it might have survived. Instead, it declared bankruptcy in 2010.

Use problem-solving strategies to uplevel your business

When facing a problem, it’s worth taking the time to find the right solution. 

Otherwise, we risk either running away from our problems or headlong into solutions. When we do this, we might miss out on other, better options.

Use the problem-solving strategies outlined above to find innovative solutions to your business’ most perplexing problems.

If you’re ready to take problem-solving to the next level, request a demo with BetterUp . Our expert coaches specialize in helping teams develop and implement strategies that work.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

8 creative solutions to your most challenging problems

5 problem-solving questions to prepare you for your next interview, 31 examples of problem solving performance review phrases, what are metacognitive skills examples in everyday life, what is lateral thinking 7 techniques to encourage creative ideas, leadership activities that encourage employee engagement, learn what process mapping is and how to create one (+ examples), how much do distractions cost 8 effects of lack of focus, 10 organizational skills that will put you a step ahead, the pareto principle: how the 80/20 rule can help you do more with less, thinking outside the box: 8 ways to become a creative problem solver, 3 problem statement examples and steps to write your own, 10 examples of principles that can guide your approach to work, contingency planning: 4 steps to prepare for the unexpected, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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29 Decision-making techniques for making effective decisions

In our groups and organizations, we want to move forward and have an impact. We want to get things done, take action and change things in the world. To do that, we need to align on what we will do together, and how. In other words, we need to decide . But what decision making techniques are the most effective at making good decisions quickly and effectively?

Deciding in a group setting is not always easy! In fact, arguments over whether a decision has been taken (and it’s time to implement it) or not yet (so we are still discussing) are one of the most common sources of conflicts in a team.

In this post, we have put together a collection of 27 decision-making techniques you can facilitate to help your team make a decision together!

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What is decision-making? 

Any group process follows a flow, like a story unfolding. We start with a question, a challenge, or a problem to solve. Next, we ideate and brainstorm (aka “diverge”), gathering different ideas on what to do and how to move forward. After a divergent phase comes convergence when we refine and select among different possibilities and choose a direction or solution. At some point, we need to agree that the process is over: we have a decision!* Deciding collectively is not always necessary (see this blog piece for more on decision-making rules and possibilities), but it can be a key to obtaining high levels of buy-in and enthusiasm from all. For high-stake decisions that require many people to participate in implementation, it’s important to know how to involve everyone in the process of deciding together. To be honest, the facilitation community has so far dedicated more attention to the diverging and ideation phase of this process than to the last steps, converging and deciding. That said, there are still a lot of decision making tools you can pick from to support making decisions in a group. 

* A decision is not really the end point of the story, of course. Instead of “happily ever after”, we now get the job of implementing and monitoring the decision, coming back to it in a few days, months or years to see how it’s going, revise, confirm or change it. 

What are the benefits of using decision-making techniques?

Trying to imagine how to reach a decision in a group without the support of facilitated activities or processes is hard indeed! By using agreed-upon tools and methods we can streamline the process, make it efficient, and distribute power in a way that makes sense for the type of decision and organisation we are in. By introducing activities and methods to support a group in weighing up the pros and cons before taking a final decision we can reap a lot of benefits.

Make sure all voices are heard

Many of these activities aim to enable the group to listen to itself, in all its components. At the 2022 Facilitation Impact Awards , co-host Shalaka Gundi reminded the assembly to “encourage the expression of all perspectives, including unconventional ones”. 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. 

Pave the way for easy implementation

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. This is a matter of “buy-in”. Offering activities for participatory decision making will reduce the effort needed later to ensure tasks get done and work goes ahead.

Reduce uncertaint y

By spending time in a decision making process together, it’s easier for a team to identify potential risks in fair advance. Going through structured steps to articulate the possible consequences of a decision improves clarity. Many conflicts are avoided by clearing away potential misunderstandings at the start of the process rather than carrying them with us like dead weights.

When people claim that deciding together is a waste of time, they are probably thinking of unstructured conversations, in which participants take tangents, lose track of the topic, and ultimately agree out of sheer exhaustion. Using facilitated activities, on the other hand, can help reach convergence relatively quickly, even in a large assembly. Furthermore, in a classic paradox familiar to any facilitator, taking more time to work through a process together saves time in the long run. This might not be initially evident, and in fact is the source of much resistance to facilitated processes: they take time. Over and over again though, we see how involving stakeholders and potential users can save a lot of trouble, time and resources in the long run. An exhaustive cost-benefit analysis, for example, can help ensure more intelligent business decisions are made.  

Increase trust 

Through deciding together, a team grows! We learn to understand one another’s needs and concerns better, both in a personal sense and in terms of the needs of the different roles and departments. In the long run, working together towards a shared course of action increases trust and awareness in a group. 

Better decisions!

What makes a decision “good”? Once the results are out, we hope to see that our decisions have been efficient, get us closer to our goals, and in a cost- or resource-effective way. Deciding on our own might be the fastest solution (and is sometimes a perfectly adequate one, see this blog article for more on why), but deciding together leads to more sustainable decisions in time.

The most effective decision-making techniques

Facilitation often focuses on the divergent part of a group process, brainstorming and creativity, but decision-making can be fun and effective as well!

Here are 27 decision making 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.

Decision-making techniques for ranking and prioritization 

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. This sequence can apply, for example, to a consultation process, in which a team lead might ask the group for recommendations on actions to take in the next few months. There does not necessarily need to be “one single answer”, but an indication of interest. In another scenario, the group might be looking for a direction for a proposal. The actual proposal will be worked on by a committee or a delegate and decided upon at a later time. Today, we are looking for ideas on what to base that proposal on. These are two possible situations in which what we are looking for is not yet a decision, but a prioritization. Here are 6 decision-making tools that can help a group indicate preferences and rank alternatives.

This section is all about prioritization, and for prioritization, nothing beats dot-voting! Whether you prefer sheets of sticky dots or just giving people markers, whether you are working in the physical world or with votes online, facilitators love dot-voting! Dot-voting allows a group to clearly and quickly visualize preferences and priorities at a glance. It’s a flexible, basic tool, easy to adapt to online environments as well. There is even a mathematical formula for how many dots to assign. 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. Intrigued by that? Head over to this piece by John Amrhein, over at Michigan State University for a thorough explanation. Also note that it can be perfectly ok to give extra dots to the project lead or team manager, or tweak the system any other way that makes sense for your situation!

Dotmocracy   #action   #decision making   #group prioritization   #hyperisland   #remote-friendly   Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

Impact and Effort Matrix

When inviting people to prioritize, it’s very important to pay attention to the words you use in formulating a question. 

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. 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?”. That gives a clear sense of looking for priority in time, and speaks to unblocking resources and enabling future actions. Another useful tip is to use matrixes such as this one from the Gamestorming innovation toolkit. In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. While this is similar to a cost benefit analysis, one bonus is that this matrix visualizes your various options as a basis for comparison and discussion.

Impact and Effort Matrix   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   #remote-friendly   In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

How-Now-Wow Matrix

The How-Now-Wow matrix follows a similar principle, but while the Impact and Effort matrix is focused on return on investment, this one is designed to select the most innovative and original plans. The X-axis denotes the originality of the idea and the Y-axis shows the ease of implementation, and the group is looking for steps forward toward the most innovative and plausible courses of action. When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. T he 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. 

How-Now-Wow Matrix   #gamestorming   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

Cost Benefit   #decision making   #planning   #strategy   #gamestorming   #action   This game is most probably the most simple collaborative cost benefit analysis ever.It is applicable onto subjects where a group has expert knowledge about costs and/or benefits.

20/20 Vision

This team activity is useful to increase focus and alignment in a team, particularly when there are a lot of possible options, activities or campaigns on the table. 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. Which of these two is more important for the organisation? The question gets repeated, and discussions continue until all proposals are ranked. 

20/20 Vision   #gamestorming   #action   #decision making   The 20/20 Vision game is about getting group clarity around which projects or initiatives should be more of a priority than others. Because employees’ attention is so often divided among multiple projects, it can be refreshing to refocus and realign more intently with the projects that have the biggest bang for the buck. And defining the “bang” together helps ensure that the process of prioritization is quality.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Simple, tried and tested techniques might not be flashy, but they’re still effective ways to help you make a good decision. A Cost/Benefit analysis is among the most universally known way to help a company make a financial decision on how to move forward.

Start by clustering your ideas and then measure each by the cost associated with them as a team. Be sure to involve stakeholders to get an accurate costing, then move onto perceived benefits. Rank your items along these two axes to see which potential decision makes the most sense.

The 100$ Test

Working with restrictions, conditions and limiting factors is very useful to converge on a realistic decision. The 100$ test activity leverages this to speed up decision making and keep discussions grounded in the realities of resource allocation. 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. If this activity had a slogan it would surely be: put your money where your mouth is! 

100$ Test   #gamestorming   #action   #decision making   In this method of prioritization, participants assign relative value to a list of items by spending an imaginary $100 together. By using the concept of cash, the exercise captures more attention and keeps participants more engaged than an arbitrary point or ranking system.

The convergent phase of a decision making process flows best when constraints are clearly identified. The NUF Test helps with this by encouraging team members to test a potential decision against three limiting factors: is it New? Is it Useful? Is it Feasible? This test, which is derived from processes used in patents, consists in a simple matrix written up on a whiteboard. Include a line for each idea, and rank solutions in terms of novelty, feasibility, and usefulness. This kind of simple analysis can really help make comparing pros and cons easier.

NUF Test   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   As a group is developing ideas in a brainstorming session, it may be useful to do a quick “reality check” on proposed ideas. In the NUF Test, participants rate an idea on three criteria: to what degree is it New, Useful, and Feasible?

Decision-making techniques that mitigate the risk of groupthink

One of the most talked-about (and feared!) group dynamics is Groupthink. 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 option—or the option preferred by whoever is in charge! This is truly a dangerous dynamic that can take groups down the rabbit hole of complacency. How to prevent it from happening? In general, groupthink is less likely to happen the more trust there is in the team. In an environment of psychological safety, everyone is encouraged to express their actual thoughts, not what they think others want them to think. Much of the facilitator’s work is directed at creating just such an environment. In the specific context of decision-making, here are 4 decision-making techniques that support psychological safety and will help you avoid groupthink!

1-2-4-all is the essential go-to method to combine in a single, effective flow, individual reflection, paired discussion and shared opinions. 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. 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). It’s that simple!

1-2-4-All   #idea generation   #liberating structures   #issue analysis   With this facilitation technique you can immediately include everyone regardless of how large the group is. You can generate better ideas and more of them faster than ever before. You can tap the know-how and imagination that is distributed widely in places not known in advance. Open, generative conversation unfolds. Ideas and solutions are sifted in rapid fashion. Most importantly, participants own the ideas, so follow-up and implementation is simplified. No buy-in strategies needed! Simple and elegant!

The six thinking hats

In De Bono’s 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. The white hat is for collecting data, and the green hat is for innovative ideas. Avoid groupthink by making sure everyone gets to wear the black hat before making decisions. If a team is afraid to express contrasting views or, perhaps, unwilling to straight-out criticize a plan coming from the manager, a facilitator can make it safer to navigate that territory by explicitly inviting criticism in. In De Bono’s method, this is called the black hat. When we wear the black hat we are looking for risks, weak points and blind spots . Let’s 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 Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. 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.

Remove the obstacles to critical thinking with TRIZ! In this seriously fun method, participants dwell on the question: What could we do to make sure we achieve the absolute worst result possible? 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. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. According to this intriguing article from the Harvard Business Review, avoiding groupthink is all about creating enough trust to be able to constructively challenge the way things have been done so far, and TRIZ is the perfect tool for that! 

Making Space with TRIZ   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #issue resolution   You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

Affinity Map

Conducting an analysis of various solutions and ideas without relying on intuition is a great method to bring to your process. Use an affinity map when you want to see pattens and make recommendations based the data generated from a brainstorm or other idea generation activity.

Start by putting all your ideas and possible solutions on post-its and then cluster them based on relationships and ideas clusters. Once you’ve clustered your ideas, you can then combine, remove and refine in order to move close to a final decision.

Affinity Map   #idea generation   #gamestorming   Most of us are familiar with brainstorming—a method by which a group generates as many ideas around a topic as possible in a limited amount of time. Brainstorming works to get a high quantity of information on the table. But it begs the follow-up question of how to gather meaning from all the data. Using a simple Affinity Diagram technique can help us discover embedded patterns (and sometimes break old patterns) of thinking by sorting and clustering language-based information into relationships. It can also give us a sense of where most people’s thinking is focused

Decision-making techniques to converge upon a solution

In collective decision making it is key to find ways to enable everyone to express their agreement or disagreement with a certain course of action. It’s important to make space to hear different perspectives and evaluate before making decisions. Here are four practical decision making tools you can use to test the waters and enable all participants to make their voices heard.

Agreement-Certainty Matrix

As a precondition to collective decision making, we should know what type of problem we are facing. Different levels of uncertainty require different decision-making rules. If a problem is simple, for example, it’s not worth spending collective energy and time working on. An individual decision will suffice. On the other hand, group decision making is best suited to complicated or complex scenarios which require expertise and diversity. But how do we know what kind of problem we are facing? The Agreement-Certainty practice from Liberating Structures invites participants to sit in small groups with the question “What type of problem are we facing?” Participants are invited to place their current challenges in a matrix based on these two questions: 

• What is the degree of agreement among the participants regarding the challenge and the best way to address it? 
• What is the degree of certainty and predictabilit y about what results will be generated from the solutions proposed for addressing the challenge?

An awareness of the distinctions between simple, complicated, complex and chaotic scenarios is an important part of a team’s journey toward decision making mastery. The Cynefin framework is a more in-depth look into this topic, designed to support leaders to make decisions in context . 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #problem solving   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. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic .  A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate.  It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably.  A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail.  Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward.  A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Let’s Check Resistance

A big obstacle to taking decisions together is a tendency to want to push one’s favorite course of action rather than accept a decision that will work well, but is not everyone’s first preference. 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”. Visualising a wider area of tolerance, rather than limiting choices to a narrow Yes/No binary, makes it easier to find solutions that are acceptable to all parties. Very useful before a final decision is made. 

Collective Decision making: Let's check resistance !   #decision making   #u-certified   #remote-friendly   Objective is to support a group which needs to prioritize and/or decide among various available solutions

Feedback Frames

Feedback Frames are a colorful and fun solution designed by Jason Diceman in 2014 to facilitate the expression and visualization of preferences after a brainstorming or ideation session. Participants rate statements by dropping tokens in a range of slots that are hidden by a cover, with results later revealed as a visual graph of opinions. This simple in-person analog tool (which can be ordered internationally at the Feedback Frames website ) uses secret score voting to recognize nuanced gradients of agreement towards consensus and avoid traditional voting problems such as groupthink and vote-splitting.

Feedback Frames for Prioritizing a Brainstorm   #decision making   #action   A fun and reliable technique for scoring many ideas, with instant visual results. Participants rate statements by dropping tokens in Feedback Frames in a range of slots that are hidden by a cover, with results later revealed as a visual graph of opinions. This simple in-person analog tool uses secret score voting to recognize n uanced gradients of agreement towards consensus and avoid traditional voting problems such as groupthink and vote-splitting, which are common in sticker dot voting.

Gradients of Agreement

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. This tool supports inclusion by ensuring team members have an opportunity to specify the level of their agreement or disagreement with a decision under discussion. By marking their choice of a statement ranging from whole-hearted endorsement to vetoing, participants can express views in a more nuanced way than a mere “yes/no” vote. This version of what is also known as “quality voting” comes from the work of Sam Kaner and associates in the classic Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making.

Gradients of Agreement   #decision making   #consensus building   #convergence   A scale upon which to measure participants’ levels of agreement with a given statement or course of action.

Fist to Five

Fist to Five is a simple series of hand signals solving the problem of how to test for agreement, and move towards convergence, in a way that is easy to communicate, quick to do, and can work for large gatherings. 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. In other cases, it might not be decisive on its own, but can still help decision makers and facilitators decide the next steps. 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.

Fist to five   #decision making   #vote   #empowerment   #practice   Fist to Five is quality voting. It has the elements of consensus built in and can prepare groups to transition into consensus if they wish. Most people are accustomed to the simplicity of “yes” and “no” voting rather than the complex and more community-oriented consensus method of decision making. Fist to Five introduces the element of the quality of the “yes.” A fist is a “no” and any number of fingers is a “yes,” with an indication of how good a “yes” it is. This moves a group away from quantity voting to quality voting, which is considerably more informative. Fist to Five can also be used during consensus decision making as a way to check the “sense of the group,” or to check the quality of the consensus.

Closing activities to turn a decision into action

In closing, it’s useful to support individuals in understanding what individual action they will need to take personally to implement the decision. Once the direction has been set collectively, what are the practical next steps? 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. 

Start, Stop, Continue

Start, Stop, Continue is a very flexible exercise developed by Gamestorming methods . It simply asks participants to share their responses to 3 questions: What do we need to start doing? Stop doing? Continue doing? Use this activity after a decision has been agreed upon to define the practical next steps for its implementation. Sharing what we need to start, stop and continue will of course lead to a discussion. If there is no time left for that, you can still use a variation of the same activity, simply asking each participant for one action they will start, stop and/or continue in order to make sure the decision is implemented effectively. 

Start, Stop, Continue   #gamestorming   #action   #feedback   #decision making   The object of Start, Stop, Continue is to examine aspects of a situation or develop next steps. Additionally, it can be a great framework for feedback

Backcasting

Backcasting is a very effective planning tool to support defining next steps. It makes sense to use it after a decision making process if the decision is long-term and implementation steps are not yet clear. In a bit of time-travel, the facilitator invites participants to describe what success will be like in, say, 5 or 10 years if the decision is implemented. Then, the group moves to ideating what needs to be done in 5, 2, 1 year, in order to put the conditions for success in place. And what about in 6 months? And tomorrow? Backcasting is a wonderful tool for transforming a common goal into a practical plan. 

Backcasting   #define intentions   #create   #design   #action   Backcasting is a method for planning the actions necessary to reach desired future goals. This method is often applied in a workshop format with stakeholders participating. To be used when a future goal (even if it is vague) has been identified.

3 Action Steps

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. In small groups, participants share the overall vision, supporting and hindering factors, and land on defining three next steps to take. This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. 

3 Action Steps   #hyperisland   #action   #remote-friendly   This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group.

15% Solutions

Economist Gareth Morgan popularized the idea of 15% solutions in his 1998 article , where he stated that small actions that can be taken easily have the potential to trigger substantial change. “ What is your 15 percent? Where do you have discretion and freedom to act? What can you do without more resources or authority? ” Use this quick, practical decision making technique to encourage participants to take immediate action to implement a decision they have just taken. Make sure to stress that this is about small, easy actions (a phone call, an email, setting a meeting): taking action immediately is a boost to motivation, empowerment and self-organisation. 

15% Solutions   #action   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference.  15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change.  With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

Training activities to learn about decision-making

Looking for some activities for a training workshop on decision-making? Here are 5 ideas to start with! These are games and simulations designed to help a group think through a decision together. Run them with your team, then settle down to debrief and discuss what works well for you in deciding together!

Delegation levels

It’s important for a team to build a shared understanding of the different possible ways a decision can be taken. Delegation levels is a decision making technique designed to get your group talking about when it is appropriate for a leader to decide on their own, when consultation is necessary, when to decide together. The group over at Management 3.0 has designed handouts and a set of “poker cards” to help you clarify management styles and possible different approaches to decision-making. Having more options in mind allows for more flexibility and adaptability in the team!

Delegation Levels   #leadership   #decision making   #agility   #empowerment   #wondercards   The delegation levels are a model help leaders to find the appropriate level of delegation depending on the assessed situation

Escape hopeland

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. Create a map, which can refer to a real-world situation, a board game, or an online whiteboard with a series of “stations”. Each station represents a decision, a choice, or an ethical dilemma. Participants navigate the map differently based on their choices, then regroup at the end to discuss.

As with all such role-playing games, the debrief part of the activity is crucial. Facilitate a conversation around powerful questions such as: how did you influence one another in deciding?  

Escape Hopeland   #decision making   Plan several stations in your area. Each station will present a ethical dilemma. Participants are traveling in groups and falling to smaller groups as they are choosing different answers. In the end, they all arrive to the final. The reflection is focused on their decision-making process.

Decisions, decisions

Becoming skilled decision-makers also implies being aware of personal biases, styles and approaches in deciding. By learning more about them, we grow in personal awareness, and increase trust and effectiveness in a team. This activity from Thiagi group is designed to open a discussion around risk-taking. 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. 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!

Decisions, Decisions…   #communication   #decision making   #thiagi   #action   #issue analysis   When it comes to decision-making, why are some of us more prone to take risks while others are risk-averse? One explanation might be the way the decision and options were presented.  This exercise, based on Kahneman and Tversky’s classic study , illustrates how the framing effect influences our judgement and our ability to make decisions . The participants are divided into two groups. Both groups are presented with the same problem and two alternative programs for solving them. The two programs both have the same consequences but are presented differently. The debriefing discussion examines how the framing of the program impacted the participant’s decision.

The trolley dilemma

In this simulation meant to stretch our moral and ethics muscles, the group discusses options they would take in a difficult scenario. The debrief focusses on understanding that we make decisions based on different personal sets of values. The implication here is that in order to efficiently make decisions as a group, we need to first clarify our group values, as well as share a general understanding of each other’s value sets, so that they may all be acknowledged and addressed. Shared group values can become north stars to guide and align decision-making.

Trolley Dilemma   #decision making   Very handful exercise to put the participants in the situation where they have to make hard decision under time pressure.

The cushions game

The cushions game is a playful way to start a deep conversation around competition, cooperation, win-win solutions and the importance of clear communication of goals. The facilitator assigns three groups different instructions that appear to be incompatible. There is, in fact, a win-win-win solution , but in order to reach it participants must be willing to start communicating with the perceived adversary and reveal their goal. I’ve led this game innumerable times, and have unforgettable memories of members of a small political party turning it into an unsolvable pillow fight… as well as of conflict resolution students solving it in less than 60 seconds (admirable, albeit anti-climatic). Extremes apart, it is a fun game that can lead to some powerful revelations in the debrief section. 

Cushions game   #decision making   #training   #conflict   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.

Activity flows designed for taking collective decision making

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. Here are four examples of complete workflows going from brainstorming all the way to implementing a shared decision.

Lighting Decision Jam

A very pragmatic, lighting-quick approach to going from ideation to decision comes in this method card contributed by AJ&Smart . 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. Short, focused sessions like this are great for making decisions quickly and effectively as a group.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)   #action   #decision making   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #innovation   #design   #remote-friendly   The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

Sociocratic “Consent” Decision Making

Consent decision-making, as described by practitioners of Sociocracy, is a highly effective way to reach group decisions. Once a team is skilled in using it (which, disclaimer, can take some time and training!), decisions come quickly and efficiently. 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, you’ll find a summary explanation of how consent works in teams. 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. In effect, the proposal is co-designed by the entire team through a structured process. To find more details on sociocracy you can refer to the education organization Sociocracy for All’s website. 

Collective decision making : consent ('sociocratic") decision making   #u-certified   #empowerment   #decision making   ##sociocracy   # #holacracy   This sequence, also called objection-based decision-making, describes the consent decision-making process as the sociocracy movement promotes it

Decision-making meeting

Consent decision-making in practice works as a series of facilitated rounds, designed to refine a proposal and ensure concerns are identified and integrated into an improved decision. Find here a detailed template you can read through and take inspiration from to ferry a group from ideation into deciding based on sociocratic principles. 

How to Facilitate a Quarterly Planning Process (detailed guide)

How to effectively take decisions together while working in a fully remote team? At SessionLab we use a structured decision making process to set priorities and decide what we will work on each quarter. Check out this detailed article to see what works for us, from ideating actions to checking who will do what. 

This is a highly participatory consultation process, as each team manager has the last word as to tasks to prioritize and metrics to assign. We’ve found it an effective way of making business decisions as a team. In the accompanying template you can find further details on how much time to assign to each step. 

How to facilitate a Quarterly Planning Process (Detailed Guide)

What activities have you used to support decision-making? Do they reflect the ones we’ve collected here? If you have any new ones, consider adding them to SessionLab’s library of methods : as mentioned above, facilitators tend to have a richer toolkit for divergence than for convergence, so let’s work on closing that gap!

Deborah Rim Moiso is an Endorsed Facilitator with the  IAF – International Association of Facilitators and former co-chair of the Italian IAF Chapter.

She is the author of a manual and deck of cards on facilitation available in Italian ( Facilitiamoci! ). Deborah has been working with groups since 2009 in the fields of innovation in education, citizen participation, and environmental conflicts.

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