About the course
This high-impact, one-day masterclass provides a deep-dive into the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), a proven, structured method for effective group ideation, problem-solving, and consensus-building. We move past the limitations of traditional brainstorming - where the loudest voices often dominate - to ensure 100% participation and unlock the full, diverse intelligence of any team.
Through guided, hands-on practice, you will learn the step-by-step facilitation process: from defining the focus question to silent individual responses, clarification, consolidation, and weighted ranking. You will gain the confidence to apply NGT immediately to critical business challenges, such as program risk identification, goal setting, or strategic problem-solving, ensuring faster consensus, higher commitment, and a list of truly actionable, top-ranked ideas.
Instructor-led in-house and online face-to-face options are available - as part of a wider customised training programme, or as a standalone workshop, on-site at your offices or at one of many flexible meeting spaces in the UK and around the World.
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- Draw out the best thinking in a group.
- • Diagnose Brainstorming Flaws: Recognize and articulate why traditional brainstorming fails to capture full group intelligence.
- • Define the Focus: Learn to craft the specific, unambiguous question required to set up a successful NGT session.
- • Facilitate Full Participation: Successfully manage the Individual Response phase to ensure every member contributes equally and without social interference.
- • Consolidate and Cluster: Lead the group through the critical phase of clarifying, consolidating, and clumping similar ideas into actionable themes.
- • Manage the Constraint: Effectively set and manage the budget for the weighted Ranking phase to produce a finite, actionable list.
- • Drive Buy-in: Understand how the NGT structure inherently generates higher commitment and ownership of the final results.
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This course is for Program Managers, Project Leaders, Facilitators, Team Managers, and Business Analysts - anyone responsible for leading structured meetings, driving decisions, or achieving group consensus on high-stakes issues.
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Attendees should have experience leading or participating in group meetings but require no specific background in facilitation theory.
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This Nominal Group Technique (NGT) course is available for private / custom delivery for your team - as an in-house face-to-face workshop at your location of choice, or as online instructor-led training via MS Teams (or your own preferred platform).
Get in touch to find out how we can deliver tailored training which focuses on your project requirements and learning goals.
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Day 1: Mastering the NGT Process
The problem with traditional brainstorming
The hidden risks: Social loafing, groupthink, senior deference, and extrovert domination.
The Goal of NGT: Drawing out group intelligence in a way that build support for action
Introduction to the four structured phases: Individual, Clarification, Ranking, and Output.
The NGT Process
Setup: Introduce the technique, rules and steps in the process.
Define the question the group is going to ideate on
Individual Responses: This is the part that ensures everyone participates.
Clarification and Consolidation: turning individual thought into the output of the group
Ranking: constraining the ideas to a subset for action
Output: a finite list of the best ideas from this group
Facilitation Tactics: Managing group attempts to debate or redefine the problem during the setup phase, how to set the budget to balance action and breadth
In-person hands-on exercise:
This module builds confidence to run the process for real.
Practice Run: Participants generate ideas for a shared, low-stakes problem.
Discussion on issues encountered
Recommended Option: Dive into a real challenge you are facing as a team
Using NGT with dispersed teams
Techniques to run NGT online, including over several days as part of wider project and program management processes
Use of Templates to structure longer processes with multiple sessions
Hands-on exercise with Microsoft Teams Whiteboard
Action Planning
Developing a plan to implement the NGT technique in an upcoming meeting, workshop, project or other setting
Discussion on best methods, likely issues
Wrap up
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