Silent ideas, round-robin sharing, then a private vote: a fair way for a group to generate and choose.
The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) is a structured meeting for generating ideas and agreeing on priorities. It's called “nominal” because for much of the session the group is a group in name only: people think and vote on their own, and come together only to share and clarify.
It runs in four stages. Silent generation: everyone writes ideas alone. Round-robin: people share one idea at a time, in turn, and every idea is written up. Clarification: the group makes sure each idea is understood, without debating it. Private voting: each person ranks their favorites, and the scores are added up.
The structure is the point. Nobody can dominate, nobody gets skipped, and the final ranking reflects everyone's view, not just the most confident speaker's.
Use it when the group mixes ranks or strong personalities, the topic is sensitive, people need to leave with a priority list they trust, or past meetings ended with the loudest idea winning.
Thinking happens alone, sharing in turns and deciding in private, so no single voice can dominate.
Choose a part of the diagram or a tab to explore each stage.
What are all your answers to the question, written on your own?
What's your next idea that isn't already on the board?
Is there any idea on the list you don't understand?
Which five ideas matter most to you, in order?
What does the group's ranking say, and does it hold up?
NGT gives up some free-flowing conversation and gets fairness, focus and a clear result in return.
When people speak first and think later, early ideas anchor everyone else. Writing silently first means each person forms a view before hearing anyone else's, so the list captures the whole group's range.
Round-robin sharing gives every person the same number of turns. Senior people can't take over, quiet people aren't skipped, and ideas are heard because they're next in line, not because their author was loud.
Separating “what does this mean?” from “is it any good?” stops a debate from settling the outcome before the vote. Ideas are judged on their merits, not on who argued best.
Ranking on cards, out of sight, removes the pressure to agree with the boss or with friends. The tally shows the group's real priorities, and how strongly each one is held.
Write a question that invites many answers, such as “What stops us from solving a customer's problem the first time?” Test it on a colleague. Display it where everyone can see it throughout.
Everyone writes ideas alone, as short phrases. No talking and no peeking. The facilitator holds the silence. Early finishers wait quietly or keep adding.
Go around the group. Each person reads one idea from their list, and the facilitator writes it on the flipchart, numbered, in the speaker's words. Continue until every list is empty. People may pass.
Walk through the list in order. Anyone can ask what an idea means, and anyone can answer. No arguing for or against. Merge clear duplicates only if their authors agree.
Each person chooses their top five ideas and writes each on a card with a score: 5 for the most important, down to 1. Collect the cards.
Add up the points and count how many people voted for each idea. Show the ranking and discuss surprises. If the top is close, talk briefly and revote on the leaders. Then plan the winner with a How-How Diagram diagram.
A flipchart, index cards for voting, a timer, the question on display and a firm facilitator. Online: chat for ideas, a private poll for votes. With AI, use the prompt below.
Team: a seven-person customer support team and its lead. Question: “What stops us from solving a customer's problem on the first contact?” Format: 10 minutes of silence, four round-robin turns, a top-five vote.
Each person wrote 6–9 ideas. The newest agent wrote “I don't know who owns billing questions”, something she'd never have said in a meeting.
Four turns around the table put 31 numbered ideas on the flipchart. The lead went last in each round, so she didn't set the tone.
“#17, macros?” “Our saved replies are out of date, so we send the wrong steps.” Two pairs of duplicates were merged, with their authors' agreement.
Each person wrote their top five on cards, scored 5 to 1, and handed them in face down. Nobody saw anyone else's choices.
The top idea surprised the lead: unclear ownership of billing questions, ranked by seven of the eight people in the room.
From 31 ideas to a ranked top three in under an hour, with every vote counted equally.
1. Nobody clearly owns billing questions (31 points). 2. Saved replies are out of date (24). 3. No quick way to check an order's status (19). The team fixed #2 that week and named a billing owner by month's end.
NGT works because it controls who speaks, when and how. AI fits that discipline well. Alone, you can have it simulate a varied panel that writes, shares and votes independently of you. With a team, it can sharpen the question beforehand and do the counting afterward. It should never become the loudest voice.
A vague question wrecks NGT. Ask AI to test yours first.
Is this a good NGT question? Show 3 ways people might misread it and suggest 2 sharper versions: [question]
Working alone? Have AI play panelists who write and vote independently of you.
Play 5 panelists with different roles. Each writes 5 ideas silently. Show them only after I share mine.
Ask AI to spot vague or overlapping ideas before the vote, without judging them.
Which of these 30 ideas are unclear or overlap? For each, suggest a question to ask its author.
Type in the vote cards and get totals, voter counts and a ranked table.
Here are 8 people's top-5 votes (5 = best). Tally points and number of voters per idea, and rank them.
Describe your question, pick a mode, then copy the prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. In coach mode the AI runs the four stages with you, plays a panel of other participants if you're alone, and tallies the private vote.
The “Open in” links put the prompt in the web address. If your challenge includes anything sensitive, copy and paste instead.
After the session, click one to copy it, then paste it into the same chat.