Pathways to Leadership

Our Mission is to unleash the verybest in People, Teams and Organizations.

Capturing Decisions and Closing a Meeting Successfully
by Steven W. Vannoy and Craig Ross

In a previous article, we shared how to open a meeting in such a way that all participants are focused, non-defensive, energized and ready to contribute. (See Meeting Agendas That Work) .

Following the outline of questions in the previous article, your meeting has been very positive with high energy and contributions all around. Everyone understands the "what, why, where, when and how" of the subject under discussion. But you may have recognized resistance to some of the changes needed to accomplish the goal.

There are three conditions that will support the necessary changes and create the buy-in of team members. You have already established the first condition by building your team member's self-esteem.

The second condition - the change involves their ideas - you addressed earlier with the question "What are your thoughts about that?

This proved extremely effective for Pete Linder, of Gerber Products Company. He writes, "Here is one success that happened immediately after returning to the office following our initial Pathways training. I met with our purchasing management group and by using the 3 Conditions that Support Change we were able to co-create a list of additional cost savings opportunities that either replaced projects that did not materialize or were new projects that will help us surpass our $3.7 million savings targets for the coming year."

The third condition is that the change involves their motivations. You can discover their motivations by asking this question about the assignment: "What is the reason you feel this is important to our team/work/customers/mission, etc.?" Getting at their motivations should make the follow-through much smoother.

Mike Seneksi from Ford Motor Company in Dearborn had great success in a meeting involving the participants' motivations in the decision making process. He told us that working up the annual Engineering budget is an often painful, painstaking process by department. "This could have been extremely negative. Instead, the whole Outfitters group was focused on success and the positive aspect of having a budget that people can be held accountable for - because everyone wants to be great and contribute to the company's success. We used the 3 Conditions that Support Change, and kept our focus firmly on the positive side of the Energy Circle (What's working?), which helped deliver the $80M and 200 heads."

Remember the Foundation For Success? It is vital that each person in the meeting commits to coming to the meeting on time, on-a-roll, non-defensive, and deeply connected to their passion to serve team members and clients. And they have to truly be open to seeing each meeting attendee as valuable. The meeting leader has used an appropriate Meeting Opener and focused the team on the purpose of the meeting. Now it's time to wrap it up.

Closing the Meeting

In order to capture all the information and assignments that have been covered and close the meeting, try asking the following questions. (Remember, all parties should be writing this down).

"What are our main decisions and agreements where we are in alignment with a plan to go forward? What are some of the items that we are going to put on the back burner to perhaps discuss later?" (Use your highlighter here!)

Getting Back on Track:

When the process described in "Meeting Agendas That Work" and the steps in this article are used fully, you will have set the team up for success by creating a crystal clear, co-created path, plus you have set the stage for natural accountability and commitment.