A process such as delphi can allow a common language to be forged from the different languages. An example of a delphi-style process is described below. It is included as an interesting demonstration of a process which makes maximum use of idiosyncratic information, yet does so in the interests of eventual consensual decision making. Working individually and without discussion, each person responds to a question which defines the required information. Ideally, this question is specific enough to eliminate most irrelevant information, but otherwise places as few constraints on the information as possible.
Participants collect together in groups of similar people.
They prepare a group list of information arranged in order of importance. Gather the important items from each group on newsprint. To do this, ask each group in turn to contribute the most important item on their list not already on the whole group list. A multiple-vote procedure 2 is used to rank the items from most to least important. A natural cut-off point is chosen between items with high scores, and those with low scores.