Multi-Voting is a useful technique for helping your team rank or prioritize a list of options.  It is particularly useful if the first choice or top priority is clear, but you can’t get your group to agree on the 2nd and subsequent priorities. 

The basic premise is quite simple: each participant gets to cast multiple votes on a list of options.  If the list is static, one not generated by the group, this can even be done before a brainstorming meeting. 

The Card Sort: if you have a pre-defined list of options and want to have a clear idea of priorities before the meeting starts, use the Card Sort.  Provide each meeting attendee with a list of options and ask them to sort the options in order of their preference.  This can be done literally, by providing each participant with a stack of index cards (one option written on each card) and ask them to rank the cards.  This can also be done virtually, by sending out a spreadsheet and asking participants to identify the options as their first choice, second choice, etc.  On online survey tool will allow participants to submit their rankings anonymously, if that is important to you group.  Regardless of how you get the information, you will benefit by understanding what your group is thinking before your meeting starts.  If you come in to a brainstorming session with your priorities already identified, you can spend your time thinking about those options instead of coming to agreement on what they are. 

The Poker Game: multi-voting in its truest sense allows participants to cast more than one vote on a list of options the group has created.  There are generally two rules: each participant gets the same number of votes, usually 3 or 5, and can only vote for a certain idea so many times.  Casting votes can be as simple as each participant putting a dot or check mark by the options of their choice, or can involve each participant getting certain number of relics (for example, poker chips) to spend on the options they like best. 

Target Exercise: this technique can help your team identify not only what the priorities are, but what options should be put on the backburner.  For each option under consideration, draw a target on a whiteboard or large piece of butcher paper, with each circle marked as follows:

  • Center circle – CRITICAL
  • 2nd circle – Somewhat Important
  • 3rd circle – Marginally Important
  • Outer circle – Unimportant

Give each participant a large marker, a stack of post-it notes or a sheet of sticky dots.  For every option, each participant puts a dot in the circle that best represents their feelings about that option.  This allows the group to quickly see which options the group is in agreement on (whether they feel the option is important or unimportant) and which options might need more consideration or discussion because they group lacks consensus.

 This concludes my team creativity series.  I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.