How do you use facilitation tools and techniques to support creative problem-solving and decision-making?

1 Define the problem

Before you can solve a problem or make a decision, you need to have a clear and shared understanding of what the problem or challenge is. A facilitation tool that can help you with this is the problem statement, which is a concise and specific description of the current situation, the desired situation, and the gap between them. To create a problem statement, you can use the 5W1H technique, which asks you to answer the following questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

2 Generate ideas

Once you have defined the problem, you need to generate possible solutions or alternatives. A facilitation technique that can help you with this is brainstorming, which is a process of generating as many ideas as possible without judging or evaluating them. To facilitate a brainstorming session, you can use the following steps: set a clear goal and time limit, encourage quantity and diversity of ideas, write down every idea on a sticky note or a flip chart, and avoid criticism or discussion.

3 Evaluate ideas

After you have generated a lot of ideas, you need to evaluate them and select the best ones. A facilitation tool that can help you with this is the criteria matrix, which is a table that compares the ideas based on a set of criteria and scores them accordingly. To create a criteria matrix, you can use the following steps: identify the criteria that are relevant and important for the problem or decision, assign a weight to each criterion based on its priority, rate each idea on each criterion on a scale of 1 to 5, multiply the ratings by the weights and sum up the scores for each idea, and rank the ideas from highest to lowest score.

4 Test ideas

Before you implement the selected ideas, you need to test them and get feedback. A facilitation technique that can help you with this is prototyping, which is a process of creating a simple and low-cost version of the solution or alternative and testing it with real or potential users or stakeholders. To facilitate a prototyping session, you can use the following steps: define the key features and assumptions of the solution or alternative, choose a suitable format and material for the prototype, such as paper, cardboard, or digital tools, create the prototype and make it as realistic as possible, invite users or stakeholders to interact with the prototype and observe their reactions and feedback, and refine or improve the prototype based on the feedback.

5 Decide and act

After you have tested the ideas and collected feedback, you need to decide which idea or alternative to implement and take action. A facilitation tool that can help you with this is the action plan, which is a document that outlines the steps, responsibilities, resources, and deadlines for implementing the solution or alternative. To create an action plan, you can use the following steps: break down the solution or alternative into manageable tasks, assign roles and responsibilities for each task, identify the resources and support needed for each task, set realistic and measurable deadlines for each task, and monitor and review the progress and results of each task.

6 Review and reflect

After you have implemented the solution or alternative, you need to review and reflect on the process and the outcome. A facilitation technique that can help you with this is the after action review, which is a structured debriefing session that evaluates what went well, what went wrong, what can be learned, and what can be improved. To facilitate an after action review, you can use the following steps: gather the team and stakeholders involved in the problem-solving or decision-making process, ask them to share their observations and opinions on what happened, what worked, what didn't work, what they learned, and what they would do differently, summarize the key findings and lessons learned, and document and share the results and recommendations.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?