Meetings that lead to decisions
The most common feedback in leadership trainings is about meetings: too many, too long, too little outcome. The usual cause is a missing agreement on why the group is meeting at all.
Three kinds of meeting
There are meetings to inform, meetings to work something out and meetings to decide. Each needs different preparation, a different set of people and a different length.
Most meetings fail because all three purposes sit in one slot. Twelve people are in the room, four of whom can decide, and the information takes the time the decision needed.
What to settle before the meeting
- Why we are meeting: to inform, to work something out or to decide
- Which decision should stand at the end, written out word for word
- Who decides, and who is heard
- What is circulated in advance so nothing is read aloud in the room
- What happens if we do not reach agreement
In the meeting
- Start with the decision question rather than the review
- Collect all views first, discuss afterwards
- Ask the quiet people before the round closes
- Repeat the decision out loud and have it written down
- Note who does what by when, visible to everyone
The last point decides
A decision nobody wrote down gets discussed again next time. Two minutes at the end of the meeting save half an hour at the next one.
Someone who has spoken once in a group speaks up more easily later. A short opening round where each person says something is worth the time, also in large groups.
How we work on this
In leadership training we take a real meeting series from your organisation apart and rebuild it. After that participants facilitate their own formats in the room, with feedback from the group.
Does that sound like your situation?
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