Nominal group technique
Have everyone write silently before anyone speaks, then round-robin and rank, so the first speaker does not set the range.
- Time cost
- 90 min
- Output
- A ranked list with the spread of ranks shown.
- Steps
- 5
Use when
- A group must generate and prioritise options in one session.
- One or two people usually dominate the discussion.
- You want Delphi“s anti-anchoring effect without Delphi”s timescale.
Do not use when
- The group is two or three people, where the structure is heavier than the problem.
- The task needs genuine building on each other’s ideas — the silent phase prevents exactly that.
Inputs required
- One clear question
- A facilitator
- 60 to 90 minutes in one room
Procedure
- 01
State the question and go silent
Everyone writes their own answers alone, for five to ten minutes. No discussion. This phase is the whole method.
- 02
Round-robin without comment
Each person contributes one item in turn, recorded verbatim. No evaluation, no discussion, no “that”s the same as'. Continue until everyone passes.
- 03
Clarify only
Now discuss, but only to understand what each item means. Merge duplicates only when the author agrees they are duplicates.
- 04
Rank privately
Each person ranks their top five on paper. Private ranking is what stops the discussion from being re-run as a vote.
- 05
Aggregate and show the spread
Sum the ranks. Show the totals and the disagreement. A high-variance item that two people ranked first is a different finding from one everyone ranked third.
Characteristic failure mode
Worked example
A department must pick three priorities from an open field.
- 01Silent writing produces 47 items from 11 people.
- 02Round-robin surfaces 9 items that the usual discussion had never reached.
- 03Private ranking puts one of those 9 in the top three.
Result
One of the three chosen priorities came from someone who had not spoken in the previous two meetings on the same subject.
Where to go next