Nominal Group Technique { NGT }

The nominal group technique (NGT) is a formal approach for group brainstorming that welcomes everyone’s input and allows for rapid consensus on the relative value of topics, questions, or strategies. Members of the team start by writing down their suggestions and then voting on which one they think is the best. When everyone on the team is ready, they each propose their favourite proposal, which is then debated and prioritized by the whole group using a point system. The value scores of individual group participants are combined by NGT to provide the group’s final weighted preferences.

Steps for Nominal Group Technique

• The facilitator greets all of the members and then gives a briefing about the issue that needs to be resolved.
• The participants are given time to write down any thoughts that come to mind concerning the topic that is being addressed. During this time, each participant writes his or her thoughts in private, without sharing them with the others.
• When all of the members have written, they must present their proposals to the rest of the group. At this point, the facilitator writes down the group member’s thoughts on the flip map, allowing everybody a fair chance to express themselves.
• After the main points have been written on the chart, the participants are invited to clarify the points that they believe need to be clarified.

Once all of the points have been explained, the members are invited to vote or rate different proposals with the main issue about which the meeting is being held.