Overview

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What is this for? This activity guides a group of people to quickly make a decision together while still allowing all opinions to be heard and considered. Mindset and core principles Including diverse perspectives: Inviting multiple people to share their perspectives Note & Vote: Using stickies and voting tools to collect diverse opinions and narrow down to a collective decision. Using a Decider: Assigning one key sponsor to act as a tie-breaker

The steps below refer to the activity shown in this Mural template.

To try the activity yourself open the template and click "Create Mural from template".

Tips before you start

Create a new Mural from the above template
Invite all participants to the Mural (5-8 people is ideal) (e.g. include the "visitor link" in the meeting invitation)
Write the "objective" in the Mural (e.g. "Decide next steps for project X", or "Choose the location of the Christmas party")
Choose someone to act as a Decider (e.g. meeting organizer, project lead, key sponsor...)

Step 1: Share ideas

Explain briefly how the activity works:

Read the "objective" out loud and explain that they should try to come up with multiple ideas/alternatives to reach that objective.
They have the opportunity to put forward pre-existing ideas, or to think of new ones in the moment

Set a timer for 5 mins
In silence, participants should each write multiple ideas on stickies (1 idea per sticky)

Example from a real session (double click to view larger image)

Step 2: Group vote

Start a voting session (icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen) and allocate 3 votes per person

Set a timer for 5 minutes (in the same toolbar)
In silence the participants should read over all the stickies and click to vote on the ideas/alternatives they think are the most important / promising

Step 3: Decider vote

The Decider acts as a tie-breaker and helps to narrow down the options after the group has voted
The group's votes should act as a guide to help the Decider understand important opinions However they are allowed to choose stickies that don't have the highest number of votes. Read more about the Decider role here.
The Decider should consult the group:

Ask questions to gain clarity about the group's opinions,
share their own thoughts,
...and ask for feedback before making a final decision

The Decider places the "decider dot" on their final choice The dot can be duplicated if more than one solution is useful

Try it now!

Open the Mural template and take a look right now!
Click "Create Mural from template" to create your own editable version of the template
Think about your next meetings or current projects you're working on. Is there anything coming up where you think this activity could help?
If you're feeling unsure, try starting with a simple topic and a small group (e.g. 3-5 people) you feel comfortable with
Include the Mural link in a calendar invitation or send it by email so other team memebrs

Additional Resources

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Recommended reading

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Related workshop activities

Note & Vote