Deciding How to Decide

OVERVIEW

In this activity, participants consider the different ways a group might make decisions. They will brainstorm the benefits and consequences of varying approaches and decision-making tools in order to make suitable and intentional decisions moving forward.

OBJECTIVES

• To discuss and detail the benefits and consequences of different approaches to group decision-making

• To lead to intentional decision-making processes

SUGGESTED SUPPLIES

• Chart paper

• A handout of the different decision-making approaches outlined below, or chart paper that lists these approaches

• Markers

STEP-BY-STEP FACILITATION GUIDE

Step 1: Introducing the Activity

Explain to participants that working as a collective or in a group project often involves making decisions collaboratively. We make decisions all the time -- with others and on our own -- and this activity helps to think more deeply about how we make decisions. Emphasize that during the program, there will be smaller and bigger decisions participants make together regularly. It’s important to have a conversation about different tools, strategies, and approaches to group decision-making.

Outline that there are various ways to make decisions. Review the following formats (on a chart paper or in a handout): Consensus, Majority Rule, Most/Least Comparison, Double Pros and Cons, and Who feels most strongly?

After detailing these five approaches, reiterate that the goal of the workshop is to think more deeply about how participants will make decisions during the program.

Step 2: Facilitating the Activity

Ask the group if they know other ways to make decisions. Maybe this is how they make decisions in their communities or families. As they share suggestions, make notes of their different approaches on a chart paper.

Divide participants into groups of 3-4 and assign each group one or two decision-making approaches. You can include approaches that they suggested.

Using chart paper and markers, have each group discuss the benefits of their assigned approach(es). The groups should spend 5-10 minutes brainstorming benefits, using one chart paper per approach. Then, invite them to brainstorm some consequences of their assigned approach(es) for 5-10 more minutes. Ask: What does the approach miss or forget?

Step 3: Debriefing the Activity

Invite each group to share what was discussed in their small groups to the full group.

After each group has shared, ask:

• What did this make you realize that you hadn’t thought about before?

• What decision-making approach do you feel works well?

• What decision-making approach do you worry about?

Explain that the goal of the exercise is not to finalize how the group will always make decisions. Given the decision, different approaches may be more suitable. The goal is to, (1) be more intentional about how the group makes decisions together, (2) offer different approaches, tools, and strategies to make decisions, and (3) avoid the idea that everyone needs to agree in order to reach a decision.

Close by inviting participants to offer any final thoughts or questions on decision-making.

APPROACHES TO DECISION MAKING

Consensus: An approach to making decisions that requires all decision-makers to agree to the same option or terms. Consensus is often reached through a guided discussion or debate.

• Usually consensus can feel like the best decision-making approach. Although it is often framed as the most “fair” way to make a decision, meaningfully reaching consensus takes a very long time. Additionally, it creates a pressure to agree that can coerce people into a decision. As a facilitator, challenge the notion that consensus is a full-proof approach.

Majority Rule: An approach that involves a vote, where the option that receives the most votes is chosen.

Most/Least Comparison: Another way to make decisions that plots a graph to show how options compare to one another and to a most-to-least scale. The labels on the scale can vary based on the decision being made. For the purposes of explanation, the group may want to consider which options are most/least possible (or feasible) and most/least interesting (or liked).

To create a most/least comparison scale, begin by drawing a vertical line that is labelled at the highest point “most possible” and at the lowest point “least possible”. Draw a perpendicular line; label the point furthest away from the vertical line “most interesting”, and the point closest to the vertical line “least interesting”. Each participant can use a sticker or marker to indicate where different options plot onto the graph. This spatially indicates the options that are most suitable - ideally, the option that is most possible and most interesting. Again, the labels may vary, e.g., “most/least relevant”, “most/least time-sensitive”, “most/least expensive”, etc. This tool considers and reveals the suitability of options.

• Most/Least Comparison: Possibility vs. Interest

Double Pros and Cons: A tool to consider the advantages and disadvantages of an option. Rather than the conventional pros and cons list, a double pros and cons list outlines the benefits and consequences of making or not making a particular choice. To do so, interrogate a choice with the following questions:

• What are the pros of choosing this option?

• What are the cons of choosing this option?

• What are the pros of not choosing this option?

• What are the cons of not choosing this option?

List these responses in a grid, as exemplified in the template below. If a group is weighing multiple options, they can make a double pros and cons list for each option. The grids can guide a discussion on the most advantageous option.

Who feels most strongly?: An approach that assigns a decision to the person or people who most care about what is being decided. Unlike consensus or majority rule, the goal is not to have every participant weigh into every decision. Instead, decision-makers are determined by those who feel most strongly about the decision at hand.

• This approach does not require everyone’s input nor approval, but leaves a decision to the person or people who feel most strongly about the choice at hand.

• The “who feels most strongly?” approach works well in groups where there is a lot of trust, which takes time to develop. It also is more appropriate in groups where there aren’t competing or conflicting priorities. The group should be comfortable with the decision being made by a select few participants.
  

The suggested decision-making approaches are from a workshop facilitated in Eve Tuck’s Making Sense of Movement project, an after-school research program with Black and Indigenous youth co-researchers.