Agree your priorities

Overview

Great for groups looking to agree on priorities amongst their shared goals. It offers people the chance to assign their personal 'value' to each item, resulting in a list that reflects the group's shared values.

Preparation

• A summary of the items needing prioritisation.

Materials

• The list of items - one per person, plus pens and a score sheet to score the results.

What you do

• Start with a list of items to be prioritised (activities/ideas/initiatives/changes).
• Give the list and a pen to each participant. Run through the list, checking everyone understands each item.
• Working alone, each participant is assigned 20 points to distribute amongst the items. They must assign 0, 1, 2 or 3 points (maximum) to each item. (Tip: Change the total points to a lower amount, e.g. 15 points, if you are prioritising a smaller list of items than our example).
• Give everyone time to assign points to the items. Timings will vary depending on the number of items.
• Gather the lists from each participant and enter the scores in a table following the example activity sheet.
• Calculate the total points for each item. Use this score to determine the group's prioritisation of the items, with the highest scoring item being most important.
• Discuss the results and adjust as necessary. (It can be surprising what comes out at the top, but it is a good starting point for understanding what people value.)

Top tips for your group activities

• Be well prepared
• Consider changing your usual meeting environment
• Know what you want to come away with before you start
• Break the ice with a warm up
• Give people enough time to get into and do the activities
• Keep people engaged and motivated
• Encourage and proactively get input from everyone
• Think about how your going to capture the notes
• Use flip charts, coloured post its, coloured pens, paper, stickers
• If possible use a flexible and effective facilitator

Activity worksheet download

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worksheet
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worksheet
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