Image of notes on a wall prior to silent sorting and creating an affinity diagram

#041 – Silent Sorting – Affinity Diagrams

Gain new insights into situations by allowing patterns to emerge – Use affinity diagrams to drive greater participation and ownershipImage of notes on a wall prior to silent sorting and creating an affinity diagram

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The benefits of silent sorting and affinity diagrams

Why take this challenge?

Build more cohesive understanding of the way forward…

… and greater commitment to pursue it

Inspire higher levels of participation and engagement in meetings

 

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For those who are already aware of the power of the affinity diagram, this will be a very easy week (unless you want to take the opportunity of this adventure to introduce it to others).

For those who have never used an affinity diagram before, we hope this adventure will help you discover a new way of identifying different subgroups and patterns within collections of information.

These collections can be the results of a brainstorm, or jobs to be done, or things to achieve, or anything. However, to use the affinity technique, each item needs to be on a separate card or sticky-note (or virtual equivalent) that can be moved around independently.

This movement of ideas and information makes the Affinity diagram an ideal tool for ensuring participation in meetings, and for building consensus and commitment toward its outcomes (a topic we address in our article ‘Meeting is a Verb’)

There are a few simple rules for the affinity diagram, the key one of which is absolute silence. These rules make it (relatively) easy for people to see and take on board the perspectives of other people. And through this to be part of evolving a shared perspective. Albeit, one perspective of many that could be taken.

 

Graphic image reflecting the idea of a Pack of resources to support the adventurer in the challenge

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

 

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Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

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