To facilitate consensus around simple decision-making, consider the following scenario and do not forget to help the group articulate the purpose of the project your meeting supports.
Let us say for example that four of us are taking a trip from Minneapolis to New Orleans. Therefore, consider why we are going, the options, and how we might get there. Moreover, take into account the WHY WHAT HOW of any decision.
Options (HOW)
WHY WHAT HOW
- Airplane
- Automobile (motorized 4-wheel vehicle)
- Bicycle
- Boat (or, canoe)
- Bus
- Hitchhike
- Horseback
- Limousine rental
- Taxi cab
- Walk
- Etc.
Consequently, to decide among the competing options we would consider the constraints and requirements. Therefore, let us call those considerations, the decision criteria. Because they provide an understanding of WHAT we must consider in our decision. Additionally, consider some of the decision criteria, as follows:
Criteria (WHAT)
- Accessibility
- Comfort
- Cost
- Ecological impact
- Expected arrival date (if any)
- Fears or phobias
- Length of trip
- Quality of participants (e.g., physical vitality)
- Quantity of participants
- Time of year
- Etc.
Purpose (WHY)
To effectively build consensus around which option to select, the criteria are essential. However, we are missing a primary component; i.e., WHY are we taking the trip? Frequently, groups fail to understand or build the necessary purpose statement that underlies effective decision-making. As facilitators and participants, since the purpose may be clear in our own minds, we assume that everyone else’s purpose is the same as ours.
Prove it. Make certain you facilitate and codify a purpose statement, whether using the MGRUSH Purpose Tool or some other method; the purpose of the trip is essential to deciding HOW we are going to get to our destination.
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Terrence Metz, MBA, CSM, CSPF, PSP01, HTTO1, is the Managing Director of MG RUSH Facilitation Leadership, Training, and Meeting Design, an acknowledged leader in structured facilitation training, and author of “Meetings That Get Results – A Facilitator’s Guide to Building Better Meetings.” His FAST Facilitation Best Practices blog features nearly 300 articles on facilitation skills and tools aimed at helping others lead meetings that produce clear and actionable results. His clients include Agilists, Scrum teams, program and project managers, senior officers, and the business analyst community among numerous private and public companies and global corporations. As an undergraduate of Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) and an MBA graduate from NWU’s Kellogg School of Management, his professional experience has focused on process improvement and product development. He continually aspires to make it easier for others to succeed.
