The outcomes we want from meetings are:
- To make decisions; and/or
- To agree actions – who is doing what, by when
So, when we are making notes in meetings, these are the two most important things to document.
The easiest/quickest way to do this is to have a template which looks like this.
Decisions made
Actions agreed
Who |
What |
When |
And use it as follows:
- At the start of your meeting, someone opens this blank template
- During the meeting, they populate it every time a decision or action is agreed
- As soon as the meeting finishes, they copy/paste this now-completed template, and share it with everyone
For point #2 – to make it as easy as possible for the note-taker – it’s usually better to agree the decisions/actions after each agenda item. So, don’t save them all until the end – they’ll be forgotten. Instead, after each item, say “So what are our decisions/actions?”
And that’s it. Super-easy. Super-quick. Super-effective.
Action Point
For your first meeting today:
- Decide who will be the note-taker
- They complete and circulate the template as above…
- … and then, of course, hold everyone to account for doing their actions!