Tool 214: Weighted Voting

AKA

N/A

Classification

Decision Making (DM)

Tool description

The weighted voting technique quantifies a preference for a particular choice. Each team participant receives a number of votes for distribution across several choices in accordance with the participant's personal choice. Votes are added for each choice to determine what choice the team is leaning toward.

Typical application

• To identify participants' preference for a specific choice, product, or service.

• To team vote one option among many.

• To prepare the team for consensus decision making.

Problem-solving phase

→	Select and define problem or opportunity
→	Identify and analyze causes or potential change
	Develop and plan possible solutions or change
→	Implement and evaluate solution or change
	Measure and report solution or change results
→	Recognize and reward team efforts

Typically used by

	Research/statistics
	Creativity/innovation
	Engineering
	Project management
	Manufacturing
2	Marketing/sales
3	Administration/documentation
	Servicing/support
	Customer/quality metrics
1	Change management

links to other tools

before

• Brainstorming

• Starbursting

• Idea Advocate

• Brainwriting Pool

• Pin Cards Technique

after

• Consensus Decision Making

• Problem Specification

• Solution Matrix

• Nominal Prioritization

• Importance Weighting

Step-by-step procedure

• STEP 1 The team facilitator records all choices to be voted on a flip chart. See example Team Voting to Select a Brainstorming Tool.

• STEP 2 A matrix is constructed listing the participants' names and choices as shown in the example.

• STEP 3 Each participant receives eight votes to be distributed across five choices.

• STEP 4 The facilitator asks each participant for his or her vote distribution for each choice.

• STEP 5 Votes are recorded until all votes have been distributed.

• STEP 6 Lastly, the facilitator totals votes for each choice to display the team preferred choice. The flip chart is dated.

Example of tool application