Productive Discussions: Brainstorming and Prioritization ... · • Give each person 5 to 10 pieces of paper or post-it notes • Describe the problem and pose the question/issue

Productive Discussions: Brainstorming and Prioritization

Techniques

April 4, 2017

2017 Employee Engagement & Development Department of Human Resources

Productive Discussions:

Brainstorming & Prioritization

Techniques

Agenda

• Welcome & warm-up activity

• Purpose of the discussion

• Facilitator’s role

• Setting the scene/environment

• Examples of techniques for generating

ideas/discussion

• Examples of techniques for prioritization of ideas

• Wrap-up

Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources 1

Warm-up Activity

Small group discussion

• From your perspective, what are the factors that

lead to having unproductive discussions?

• Identify up to 5 factors. Record on the post-it

notes provided (1 item per post-it note)

Productive Group Discussions – Key

Ingredients for Success

Facilitator Environment Participants

Methods

/ProcessQuestions


Facilitator’s Role

• The facilitator is responsible for the process of the meeting

(how participants work together)

• The facilitator:

– Sets the tone for the discussion

– Provides structure for group discussions

– Remains neutral on issues

– Keeps the group focused

– Keeps track of time

– Draws out participation & ensures balanced participation

– Helps the group resolve conflict/reach consensus in a productive

way

– Capitalizes on differences

– Records/ensures recording of ideas

Techniques

• Verbal – Encouraging divergent

views

– Shifting perspectives

– Summarizing

– Asking questions

– Probing

– Paraphrasing

– Redirecting

questions/comments

– Referencing back

– Giving positive

reinforcement

• Non-verbal– Active listening

– Voice

– Eye contact

– Facial expressions

– Silence

– Position and movement in

the room

– Enthusiasm


Establish a Clear Purpose

• Identify the purpose of the discussion

– What are you trying to achieve?

• Based on the purpose determine methodology

• Based on group size and methodology,

determine room set-up, location, required

materials and preparatory reading for

participants (if applicable)

Set the Tone for the Discussion

• Clarify the purpose and expected outcomes

• Provide an overview of the agenda

• Suggest guidelines for the meeting and obtain

agreement

• Introduce the “parking lot” (if applicable)

Examples of Guidelines

• Confidentiality

• Open discussions

• Respect diversity of opinions

• Focus – stay focused on the task at hand


EXAMPLES OF TECHNIQUES FOR

GENERATING IDEAS/DISCUSSION

Brainstorming

• Tool used in a group setting to generate a large

number of ideas about a specific problem/topic

• Benefits:

– Encourages creative thinking

– Generates enthusiasm

– Encourages participation by all group members

– Creates a sense of ownership in the outcome

– Avoids “paralysis by analysis”


Brainstorming Guidelines

• Active participation by all members

• No criticism/discussion of ideas as they are

brought forward

• Build on the ideas of others

• Write and display ideas

• Set a time limit

Process for Brainstorming

• Review the guidelines

• Set the time limit

• State the question/topic of the brainstorming

• Explain process

• Give people a few minutes to think quietly and

record their ideas

• Collect ideas

– Freewheeling brainstorming (unstructured)

– Structured brainstorming (large or small group)

• Write down ideas so everyone can see


After Brainstorming

• Clarify ideas

• Combine ideas that are similar

• Prioritize ideas

Dot Voting

Picture source - http://www.creativehuddle.co.uk/project/dot-voting

Use this

technique to

identify/outline

group

preferences to

assist in further

discussion

Large Group

Activity


Process

• Give each person a set number of dot stickers to

represent their votes

• Each person sticks their dots next to their

personal choice(s). Each person is allowed to

use their dots as they want to:

– All dots on their favourite choice

– Add1 dot to several of their favourite choices

– Add 2 or more dots for their top choice.

• Tally up the dots to determine areas of priority

Large Group Activity

• Review the factors that were brought forward

during the warm-up activity

• Place a dot next to the reasons that from your

perspective are the most important factors that

lead to unproductive discussions


Other Examples of Structured

Brainstorming Techniques

• Carrousel Brainstorming/Knowledge Café

• T-chart brainstorming

• Stop, Start, Continue

• Affinity Grouping

Carousel BrainstormingExample: Best practices to

enhance the student experience

What are

examples of best

practices that

support career

exploration and

job search?

What are

examples of best

practices that

support the

mental well-being

of students?

What are

examples of

best practices

that promote

collaborative

learning?

What are examples

of best practices

that support

research skill

development?


Knowledge Café (World Café)

• Similar to Carousel Brainstorming

• Steps:

– Participants are divided into groups of 4 or 5

– Each table is given a topic/question for discussion

– Each table is asked to select a recorder

– Once the time is up, all members but the recorder

move to another table. The recorder stays behind to

summarize the ideas generated by the group. A new

recorder is selected. New ideas are added.

– Process is followed until everyone has rotated

through the tables. Last recorder summarizes the

work of all participants.

T-chart

• Helps people look at the issue being discussed

from 2 dimensions

• Presents the information in a visually clear way

• Can be used to compare and contrast, discuss

pros and cons of a proposal, etc.


Small Group Activity

• Select someone in your group to facilitate the small

group discussion and record the brainstorming.

• Fictitious Situation: The University of Windsor is

exploring moving all of the career development sessions

(resume writing, preparing for interview, etc) from face to

face sessions to webinars. Your group has been asked

to identify the pros and cons associated with delivering

these sessions to students only in webinar format.

• Use the T-chart technique to capture the discussion.

Stop, Start, Continue or

Stop, Start, Continue and Change

Good technique for:

• Change implementation

• Evaluation of

programs/projects

• Assessment of a current

situation

• Implementation of

strategic/operational

plans/goals

Picture source: https://myagilequality.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/retrospective-techniques/


Small Group Activity

T-Chart

Pros Cons


Example – Program Evaluation

STOP

What do we need to stop doing? What is not

working/effective?

START

What do we need to start doing to enhance the program?

CONTINUE

What are the things that we need to continue doing that are

aligned and consistent with the goals of this initiative?

CHANGE

What is working to some extent and would benefit from

minor changes?

Self-Reflection Activity

Reflect on a program/activity that you are working on or recently

completed. From your perspective….

• STOP - What do you need to stop doing as it is not working or

adding value to the activity? (what it is not working)

• START - What can you start doing to make the program/activity

more successful? (what we could do to enhance it)

• CONTINUE - What actions do you need to continue in the future as

they have contributed to the success of the program/activity? (what

do we need to continue doing)


Self-Reflection Activity Stop, Start, Continue (SSC)

STOP

START

CONTINUE


Affinity Diagram/Grouping

Picture source: https://www.spcforexcel.com/knowledge/process-improvement/affinity-diagrams

Affinity Diagram

• Group brainstorming exercise used to organize

ideas into common themes (items that have

affinity – a natural relationship or likeness)

• Helps to synthesize large amounts of data by

finding relationships between ideas in order to

focus on analysis and decision making


Example of Steps

• Give each person 5 to 10 pieces of paper or post-it notes

• Describe the problem and pose the question/issue to the

group

• Generate ideas by brainstorming - ask each person to

write 1 idea/thought per piece of paper

• Each person shares ideas and they are posted on the

wall

• Group reviews ideas and starts grouping ideas that have

affinity

• Group agrees on headings of groupings (keep number of

headers small) Variation – after ideas are identified, ask the

group for emerging themes/groupings. Group

ideas based on emerging themes.

Examples of Other Techniques for the

Prioritization of Ideas


Show of hands

• This technique is effective when working with

small groups and with a small list of items to

prioritize

• Process

– Go through each item on the list

– Ask each person by a show of hands to vote on the

items that are important

– Keep track of how many people voted for each item

– Use this to prioritize and/or eliminate ideas

Prioritization Grid

• Can be used to

prioritize ideas based

on feasibility and impact

• You can change the

criteria based on what

you are trying to

achieve

Picture source - https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/1.-planning-and-prioritizing/1.4-considerations-for-

prioritizing


Next Steps

Resources Consulted

Books

• Rees, Fran. The Facilitator Excellence Handbook, 2005.

• Schwartz, Roger. The Skilled Facilitator, 2017.

Articles and Guides (retrieved from the internet)

• Balance Scorecard Institute. Basic Tools for Process Improvement

https://www.balancedscorecard.org

• MindTools. Brainstorming Toolkit http://www.integratingengineering.org

• University of Wisconsin-Madison. Facilitator’s Toolkit. http://oqi.wisc.edu

• Office of Quality Management. Facilitator’s Toolkit. https://www.uspto.gov

• Heartland Area Education Agency. Strategies and Tools for Group

Processing. http://learningteams.pbworks.com


https://www.balancedscorecard.org/

http://www.integratingengineering.org/

http://oqi.wisc.edu/

https://www.uspto.gov/

http://learningteams.pbworks.com/

Documents

Productive Discussions: Brainstorming and Prioritization ... · • Give each person 5 to 10 pieces of paper or post-it notes • Describe the problem and pose the question/issue