Page 168 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

with rather nortow l‘ iieht fl problems. Wl li I I IF( )1) 1(1111
is more comple., ()I when it is difficult to arrive at a sold
Lion, interactive technique, especially storyboarding, ay
be more beneficial.

Experiences with the Process

Many firms use the NGT for a variety of purposes. It has
been used to identify difficulties faced by organizational
development (OD) professionals in making OD part of or-
ganizational strategy,46 in strategic planning for an integrated
information system in a large firm with many divisions, 47

4" When the top man- andievlopgstrcdabe.
agers of Incentive magazine sponsored an NGT session to
create a more formal incentive program for the magazine's
editors and production staff, more than fifty ideas were gen-
erated. These were later pared down to a small list. 49

Variations on Nominal Group

The Improved Nominal Group Technique essentially com-
bines Delphi (explained earlier) with NGT. Participants' in-
puts are submitted in advance of the meeting. This elimi-
nates the identification of the idea with the person submit-
ting it, as happens in the verbal, one-at-a-time scenario used
in NGT. It also can involve a change in voting procedure to
allow one negative vote to block an idea.'"

SUMMARY OF STEPS

1. The problem is identified.
2. Participants are given a specified period to write down their so-

lutions to the problem.
3. Ideas are recorded on a large surface in round-robin fashion.
4. As the process continues, participants will eventually pass as all

their ideas have been written on the board.
5. The leader goes down the list of ideas, asking if any need clarifi-

cation. If they do, then the introducer of the idea has 15 to 30
seconds to explain, but not sell, the idea.
6. Participants vote on the ideas by secret ballot. Usually two rounds
of voting are necessary.