Learning objective
Facilitate silent idea generation, ordered sharing and private ranking without treating votes as proof.
Why it matters
Status and verbal confidence dominate a meeting, hiding minority options and genuine disagreement.
Core concept
Participants write independently, share one idea at a time in a round robin, clarify without lobbying, and rank options privately. The ranking informs a legitimate decision; it does not itself confer authority or consensus.
Scenario
A research cooperative must allocate scarce lab time. Famous senior members dominate open discussion and junior safety concerns do not reach the agenda.
Worked decision
Run anonymous independent idea generation and private ranking, publish the score spread and require the allocation owner to address safety objections explicitly.
Decision rule
Rank privately, display the spread and hand the result to the decision owner.
Ethical boundary
Calling a ranked list consensus or allowing the facilitator to reword minority ideas away.
AI lens
Use AI to organize evidence, then verify its source and keep decision authority with people.
Quick check
What would invalidate the first proposed action? Calling a ranked list consensus or allowing the facilitator to reword minority ideas away.
Next step
Complete the Nominal Group Technique case.