I’m not working with entirely top-down or fully bottom-up companies in most of my workshop facilitation. In fact, most of the time, it’s a mix of both. Here are a few tips on mixing those approaches to get the best of both without creating frustration.

I used the same elements to run a workshop with 130 participants, including 10 decision-makers.

1. Be clear upfront: I’m very clear in the introduction and invitations to the workshop that this isn’t a democratic project. To ensure that I clearly state what the workshop is and isn’t. And to explain what it is I show which part is a consultation that inspires decision-makers and which part is a decision from the decision-makers

2. Remind it often: Workshops are co-creative, so once you are deep in them, you can get the wrong feeling that they are democratic. It’s important to remind people often that this isn’t democratic. It’s a consultation.

3. Bring decision makers: Decision makers should attend the workshop and observe how people generate ideas.

4. Diverge in bottom-up: Use the crowd’s strength to come up with many different solutions and ensure that the crowd doesn’t make decisions.

5. Converge with decision-makers: Use the decision-makers to narrow down the possibilities and make them explain their choice.

6. Share briefings from decision-makers: The crowd can do several rounds of iteration, and between each round, decision-makers can give a new brief to challenge the crowd.