The Intelligent Organization

Snow Card Technique 1

The Tool

The Snow Card Technique is a means by which brainstormed ideas are filed into clusters of similarity. Those clusters are then identified as categories which are sorted in some meaningful manner.

In doing so, the diverse ideas of a group of contributors can be aligned in ways that represent the overall group notions and agreements for particular issues.

Specifically, the technique uses the following process. 1) Participants are faced with a question and write down possible answers on a sheet of paper. 2) Participants choose a handful of their best answers and write them, one each, on large white cards. 3) The facilitator takes all cards and attaches them to a board or wall in clusters of similarity. 4) The group chooses a category name to represent each cluster and the facilitator labels them as such. 5) Participants, as a group, are given the chance to rearrange cards, refine categories, and remove redundancies. 6) Participants, as a group, order the clusters in some meaningful way such as in order of importance or temporally. 7) Participants, as a group, discuss the results with respect to the original question, hopefully arriving at further insights through comparison and contrast. 8) The categories and their elements are transcribed and provided to group members.

Use in the Planning Process

Bryson (2004) recommends the use of the Snow Card Technique when performing a Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges (SWOC) analysis early in the strategic planning process.

Because the technique begins with a single question for the group to answer, Bryson suggests that it can be used four times – once for each element of SWOC. The first use would cover, “What are the strengths of our organization?” with the rest following. The primary strength of this technique is that it elicits many ideas from participants and gets them in front of the group without anyone shooting them down prematurely. The tendency for some participants to refrain from contributing ideas for fear that they are the only one that holds them is mitigated here because clusters of similar answers may emerge routinely.

Participants can feel validated as they discover that their ideas are shared by others in a non-threatening fashion. Another of its strengths is that it gives participants an opportunity to expand their perspectives on a given question through the highly visual representation of diverse ideas.

James Maxlow – EPPL 602 Snow Card Technique 2

Cautions and Limitations

One caution is that the group may not be able to agree on either the emergent categories of similarity or on a meaningful order for those categories. The facilitator guides the initial sorting, but as participants are allowed to refine and reorganize there is no explicit means for resolving disputes. With regards to order, again there may be a lack of agreement that cannot be resolved. In some instances participants may even become emotionally attached to the placement of their ideas, and may react negatively. Fortunately, since the categories and ideas are provided in text form to participants, each participant is free to later make their own sense of the elements, reorganizing for themselves as desired.

The main goal of the technique – to promote fruitful discussion of various ideas that will ultimately lead to consensus – can occur despite conflicts in idea placement and category ordering.

Example

Although Bryson recommends that the technique be used for SWOC analysis, it can actually be used for any part of the process that involves a weighty question to be explored. For example, consider a

K-12 strategic planning process. After the identification of strategic issues and goals, strategies are brainstormed. Either before the strategy development, or immediately after, a facilitator can ask the group, “What are the characteristics of a good strategy?” The ultimate answer to that question will improve the quality and alignment of the group’s strategies, either during strategy brainstorming itself or during strategy review. Therefore, the technique can be used to establish clusters of ideas tied to good strategy characteristics that are then provided to participants. Its use can eliminate time wasted on brainstorming bad strategies, can make the strategy review process more rigorous and effective, or both.

Other possible uses with strategic planning questions might be, “What do we seek to communicate about ourselves with our vision statement?” or “What are possible performance indicators for this particular strategy?”

James Maxlow – EPPL 602 Snow Card Technique 3

References

Bryson, J. M. (2004). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

James Maxlow – EPPL 602