We've all been there. A meeting is running short of time, you have a presenter queued up waiting for their turn and there's a quick decision to be made. There's a bit of discussion and the agenda moves on. Later when you're reconstructing what happened for the minutes, you know a decision was indeed made, but you're not sure which direction it went.
It's this kind of meeting angst we all want to avoid and it's easily done with a bit a planning and pre-work. Let's begin by working backwards... A decision is a choice or conclusion to a question, direction or problem. It can be made by one or more people and it happens at a specific moment in time.
In order to properly manage decisions, you need to determine what should be decided and who's going to make the decision. Often decisions are something that can be planned for in advance of a meeting. This means adding them to the agenda and potentially providing time for discussion prior to the decision. And of course the decision maker should be in the meeting so that a resolution can be made in a swift fashion. Managing decision makers has already been discussed but it's important to reiterate that as part of the meeting planning, you'll need to negotiate getting the decision maker to the meeting.
If all goes as planned, the decision will be made but this is only half of the journey. The second part is ensuring that the decision is properly captured in notes by the scribe, which in turn resolves the issue of when and where the decision was made. These notes in turn become the more formal meeting minutes that are sent out in order to communicate the decision and ensure everyone understands and is onboard.
This of course is easy to do for large or formal decisions, but what do you do about informal or even ad-hoc decisions that need to be addressed during a meeting? Dealing with these are easy in that you address them just like you would a formal decision. The decision can made in the meeting if the appropriate decision maker is present, otherwise the decision can be made offline or queued up for a future meeting. It's important to capture any and all decisions, as these can be significant to your business and can quickly add up even if they seem trivial.
Remember that the capturing and inclusion of decisions in the meeting minutes isn't just for the folks who attended but also for those who were unable to attend, as well as potentially other stakeholders along the way. By keeping a tight ship in regard to decisions, you ensure that everyone understands what took place and you provide context for any shifts in future business direction. Decisions are an significant aspect of business and should have a high level of focus and importance not just during your meetings, but before as well as after.