Tip
Use the 1-2-4-All technique to quickly achieve alignment in large meetings. Based on the divide-and-conquer principle, each participant begins by generating their own idea, solution, or identifying a problem. They then collaborate sequentially: first with one other person, then a group of two, followed by four, and finally with the entire group to reach consensus.
Description
Imagine leading a meeting with 20 participants, each offering multiple ideas about the root cause of a problem—potentially generating 40 different possibilities. The discussion quickly devolves into everyone debating which issue is most important, resulting in a heated exchange but no clear, actionable conclusions. The meeting ends with valuable insights shared but no concrete outcomes.
The “1,2,4, All” facilitation technique breaks the alignment process into progressively larger groups over four rounds. The first round beings with everyone writing down their own ideas, which should take just a minute. In the second round, attendees pair up. They discuss their individual ideas and agree on the top item(s). This round should take about five minutes. In the third round, pairs join with another pair to form groups of four. Within 5-10 minutes, they discuss the aligned item(s). In the final round, each group of four shares their top item(s) with the whole meeting. At this stage, only the ideas that emerged from the small-group discussions are presented and become part of the discussion.
This technique also works well in smaller and medium size meetings by skipping the third round and making it a 1,2, All technique.