A useful starting point for this stage is to identify the simplest area, or the one on which there is most agreement, and suggest resolving that first, to give a ‘quick win’.

Useful techniques for developing options include brainstorming. At this stage, ‘anything goes’! You then need to help the participants to develop evaluation criteria, which should ideally be objective and in order of importance.

Your role here is chiefly to make sure that all participants are equally involved in generating options and developing evaluation criteria, and that they cover all parts of the problem. Make sure that you are reflecting their opinions and not your own and you can point out linkages between options and/or problems.

Once the options have been evaluated, you’ll need to guide them to a single solution that suits all parties, and help them to fine-tune it if necessary.