This final tool is designed for decisions that have consequences beyond your own desk. You’re not using it to outsource responsibility or run an endless consultation. You’re using it to surface constraints and build ownership before the ways forward you have devised and explored in the previous step hardens into an implementation plan.

Here’s a simple agenda you can reuse for a 45–60 minute session with one or more colleagues who should be involved in co-creating next steps.

1. Open (5–10 min)

• State the decision in one sentence.
• Share the problem you’re trying to solve and your draft success criteria.
• Say explicitly: This isn’t finished. I’d like us to shape it together.

2. Surface concerns and opportunities (15–20 min)

Ask:

• What looks promising about this?
• What worries you or feels unrealistic?
• What failure modes do you see that I may be underestimating?

Capture themes somewhere visible (usually, a shared document works well; if you are in a group setting, a whiteboard, physical or digital, is the way to go).

3. Improve it together (15–20 min)

Ask:

• What would we change to make this more workable?
• What could a safer first step or pilot look like?
• What support would you need for this to succeed in practice?

You should aim to leave with:

• A refined version of the decision / approach
• A concrete first step or experiment