Tip of the Week
Possible Solutions
Seek agreement on the criteria by which your group judges possible solutions before making a final decision. For example, if your group is deciding on the location for an off-site meeting, you may decide that the criteria by which to judge a meeting location are: convenience, availability of media services and size of meeting rooms. After your group has brainstormed possible solutions, apply the criteria to each of your alternatives to arrive at your final solution.
So What?
This approach makes the selection process more systematic and objective. Additionally, by discussing the criteria and applying it to all the possibilities, you better understand the preferences of the group members and why they may disagree with a particular solution. This is not apparent when the group relies on a simple vote to arrive at a decision.