25/10 Crowd Sourcing

Rapidly generate and sift a group’s most powerful actionable ideas

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

“If you were ten times bolder, what big idea would you recommend? What first step would you take to get started? Let’s generate and sort your bold ideas for action and spread innovations as everyone notices the patterns in what emerges.”

2. Space and Materials

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

3. Participation Distribution

• Roles include host and participants.
• Minimum group size is fifteen.
• Everyone is invited and has an equal opportunity to contribute.

4. Group Configuration

• 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

5. Steps and Time Allocation

Intro: Share the structuring invitation and describe a shared challenge. (3 min.)

Generate Bold Ideas: Participants think of bold ideas for responding to the shared challenge. They write their boldest idea and the first step to implement it on an index card. Encourage people to write briefly and clearly. Tell them that spelling and grammar are much less important than their ideas! (5 min.)

Move and Pass Cards: Participants take their card and a pen and move around the room. Each time they pass another person, they trade cards without looking at the new card. After one minute, they will hear a signal to stop moving. They will read the card in their hand, rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 for low, 5 for high), and write their rating on the back. They should not look at any previous ratings until they have decided on a score. They will raise their cards in the air to signal they are ready for the next round. Demonstrate the process to clarify expectations. (2–3 min.) Invite participants to start Round 1. Repeat this process for five rounds. (5 min.)

Add Scores: Participants add up the scores on the card they are holding. (2 min.)

Countdown: Find the best-scoring ideas by counting down, beginning with “Who has a 25?” Stop when the top ten ideas have been identified and shared. (3–5 min.)

Wrap-Up: Ask two questions to wrap up: Are you holding a wild-card idea that did not get a high score but is an intriguing option or long shot? Looking at everything we’ve come up with, where might these ideas take root and gather momentum? (2 min.) Taking It Online

25/10 Crowdsourcing is not recommended for online use due to logistics.

WHY? Purposes

• 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 and Traps

• Make sure participants are not reading the cards as they pass them or peeking at scores before they make their own score.
• Scoring may be erratic; if a card has fewer or more than five ratings after Round 5, they can find the average and multiply by 5.
  
• Invite the group to choose one big idea and first-action step and revise it so that it is expressed even more clearly and compellingly
• Suggest a seriously fun but clear rating scale, for example: 1 = not your cup of tea to 5 = sends me over the moon. The crowd needs to understand and agree with the rating system if it is to be used for decisions.
• As you start and demonstrate one exchange-and-scoring interaction, take your time and ask for feedback, particularly if it is a large group.
• To make it hard to peek at scoring from earlier rounds, cover the back of the card with a Post-it note
• Post all the cards on a wall or on tapestry paper, with the highest-scoring cards on the top

Riffs and Variations

• Use a different rating scale, such as “1 = not my cup of tea” to “5 = sends me over the moon.”
• Instead of asking for bold ideas, change the question to something like “If you could unmake one decision that is holding you back, what would it be, and what is your first step to unmake it?” or “What courageous conversation are you not having, and what first step could spark your courage?”
• Begin a meeting with 25/10 Crowdsourcing and then repeat it at the end, asking what ideas participants have that may be bolder and more actionable.
• Move to developing action plans or to Options Place with your Top 10
• Give more scoring weight to ideas or experiments with testable hypotheses. What evidence would show your idea works? How will you test your idea?
  
• Array your Top 10 in an Agreement-Certainty Matrix or in the Ecocycle
  

Examples

• For prioritizing ideas and galvanizing the community after an Open Space Technology or “Unconference” (participant-driven) meeting
• For illuminating bold ideas at the start of a conference or task-force meeting
• For wrapping up an important meeting

Optional String

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by improvisationalists, including Keith Johnstone.

Source: Liberating Structures