Protocol15One shared decision
Rank 15 items from most to least important. Different priorities must become one list the team can commit to.
For facilitators
A structured team decision exercise that gives you reasoning, disagreement, and influence to observe.
Teams face a survival ranking exercise: 15 items, limited time, and one shared decision. You watch how they reach it, then help them reflect on what happened and what feels familiar from work.
Typical session: ~45–65 minutes total. Participants join free, no accounts needed.
Why this format works
Moving one item up means moving another down. Participants must explain what they would prioritize and why. Each team has to work through different judgments and commit to one shared ranking.
The ranking gives disagreement consequences within the exercise: a preferred option may lose its place. With limited time and incomplete information, the group must decide which reasons to accept and which risks to take.
Reasoning meets resistance
A proposal needs others to accept it. Listen for how people defend a position, negotiate a tradeoff, or reconsider.
You have moments to return to
The shared decision and the discussion you observe give the debrief a concrete starting point.
In-the-room interventions
Let disagreement develop when it is useful. If participation narrows or the team stalls, use a light prompt and leave the decision with the group.
One voice dominates
Pause the ranking and ask each person to name one priority or concern before the controller moves another item.
Some perspectives remain unheard
Ask for one view that has not been heard yet, then give the group a few silent seconds before anyone answers.
The team gets stuck
Name the unresolved tradeoff and ask which risk the group is more willing to accept. Set a short decision deadline.
One person keeps control
Remind the room that control is an input role, not authority. Ask the controller to release it, or use Pass editing control in the Host Console to hand editing to another participant after the next agreed move.
What you actually do
Protocol15 handles joining, teams, the timer, ranking mechanics, scoring, and the reveal. That frees your attention for shifts in reasoning, quiet influence, and uncertainty the group leaves unresolved. You decide which moments to explore and help participants learn from them.
Your attention in the room
- Set the task: one ranking the whole team can commit to
- Listen for assumptions and shifts in reasoning
- Notice whose ideas shape the decision, including quieter voices
- Judge when to invite another view or leave a tradeoff unresolved
- Help the group reflect and connect the experience to work
Useful moments to discuss
Listen for moments like these during the discussion. Bring back what you observed, then ask how participants experienced it. The ranking alone cannot tell you why it happened.
The group commits before every perspective is heard
Someone stops objecting and the group calls it agreement
An assumption becomes a fact without being questioned
A quieter participant makes an argument that changes minds
A late comment changes the direction of the discussion
As time runs out, the group switches from reasoning to voting
Debrief prompts
Start with a moment you noticed and invite the group to reconstruct it. The reference ranking offers another perspective on the scenario, not a verdict on teamwork. Use it to question assumptions, then explore how the team reached its decision.
How did you resolve the disagreement that mattered most?
Which assumption shaped your decision most?
What argument led someone to change their mind?
Where did you rush toward agreement?
What felt familiar about how you make decisions at work?
Who influenced the final decision, and how?
Back to real work
Ask where the group recognizes its everyday habits, and where the exercise was different. Help participants choose one thing to try in their next real decision: test an assumption, invite dissent, or check what agreement means. The experience supplies the material; your debrief helps the group make use of it.
Browse ScenariosWorks in a normal session block
Allow 45-65 minutes for the example above, including 25-35 minutes for ranking and 10-20 minutes for the debrief. Protect time to explore the process and connect it to work.
Use within your workshop
- Decision-making workshop
- Leadership development session
- Team development workshop
- Facilitated offsite
- Remote team discussion
- Cross-functional exercise