Rapidly Generate and Sift a Group’s Most Powerful Actionable Ideas with 25/10 Crowd Sourcing

25/10 Crowd Sourcing is a structure that allows you to rapidly generate and sift through a group’s boldest actionable ideas in less than 30 minutes. Not only is it an innovative way to identify bold, ‘out of the box’-solutions, it is also appreciated by participants for its highly active nature.

With 25/10 Crowd Sourcing, you can spread innovations “out and up” as everyone notices the patterns in what emerges. Though it is fun, fast, and casual, it is a serious and valid way to generate an uncensored set of bold ideas and then to tap the wisdom of the whole group to identify the top ten.

Four Structural Elements

1. Structuring Invitation

• Invite participants to think big and bold and discover the most attractive of their ideas together by asking, “If you were ten times bolder, what big idea would you recommend? What first step would you take to get started?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Open space without chairs or tables
• Participants will be standing and milling about
• Index cards, one for each participant

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everyone is included and participates at the same time
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
• Individually to generate bold idea and first step and write on index card
• Everyone standing to pass cards around
• Pairs to exchange thoughts
• Individually to score the card participants have in their hand
• Whole group for sharing highest final scores and ideas

4. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Explain the process. First, every participant writes on an index card his or her bold idea and first step. Then people mill around and cards are passed from person to person. “Mill and Pass only. No reading.” When the bell rings, people stop passing cards and pair up to exchange thoughts on the cards in their hands. [Another good option is to read the card with no talking]. Then participants individually rate the idea/step on their card with a score of 1 to 5 (1 for low and 5 for high) and write it on the back of the card. This is called “Read and Score.” When the bell rings, cards are passed around a second time “Mill and Pass” until the bell rings and the “Read and Score” scoring cycle repeats. This is done for a total of five scoring rounds. At the end of cycle five, participants add the five scores on the back of the last card they are holding. Finally, the ideas with the top ten scores are identified and shared with the whole group. 3 min.

Demonstrate one exchange-and-scoring interaction using a sample index card to clarify what is expected during the milling, namely no reading of the cards, only passing the cards from person to person so that each person has one and only one card in hand. The process can be confusing for some people. 2 min.

• Invite each participant to write a big idea and first step on his or her card. 5 min.
• Conduct five 3-minute exchange-and-scoring rounds with time for milling in between. 15 min.
• Ask participants to add the 5 scores on the back of the card they are holding
• Find the best-scoring ideas with the whole group by conducting a countdown. Ask, “Who has a 25?” Invite each participant, if any, holding a card scored 25 to read out the idea and action step. Continue with “Who has a 24?,” “Who has a 23”…. Stop when the top ten ideas have been identified and shared. 5 min.
• End by asking, “What caught your attention about 25/10?” 2 min.

Purposes and Objectives

• Develop a group’s ability to quickly tap their own very diverse sources of wisdom
• Obtain results that are more likely to endure because they were generated transparently from within and without imported advice
• Spark synergy among diverse views while building coherence
• Encourage novice innovators to think boldly and come up with practical first steps and testable hypotheses
• Create an environment in which good ideas and focused experiments can bubble up

Tips

• This Liberating Structure tends to get noisy fast. In order to quickly regain control at the end of a round, use a horn or Tingsha bells
• Put the highest scoring cards on a wall that is visible throughout the workshop or training
• Don’t discard ideas that ranked lower. They can still offer valuable input for future sessions, or when the high-ranked ideas have been implemented

Examples

• For illuminating bold ideas at the start of a conference or task-force meeting
• For wrapping up an important meeting
• For a closing circle to share ideas and reinforce bonds among group members