Page 204 - Make Work Great

Mobilizing Groups

meeting specifi cation, you need to employ these lists in such a way
that they’re constantly visible to all attendees—either posted on the
wall during face-to-face gatherings or made available electronically
during virtual meetings.

• Decisions made and/or key points discussed are captured in
what are often called the meeting minutes. The format of this list can
vary widely depending on the meeting’s purpose and the attendees’
needs. The important point to remember is that, when a key conclu-
sion is reached, it should immediately be written down for everyone
to see and endorse as part of the meeting’s permanent record. This
minimizes the otherwise-common problem of individuals later claim-
ing they either don’t remember or don’t agree with certain decisions
or facts.
• Individual actions to be taken—sometimes also called action
items (AIs) or action requirements (ARs)—are the commitments
made by meeting participants to do something for the group: “Bobby
will ask our manager if he’d like to receive the notes from our meeting
and let Sue know by Tuesday,” or “Larry will bring a chart of our
annual expenditures to our follow-up meeting next week.” Such a list
ensures accountability for output and deadlines at the individual level,
because it’s visible to everyone and reviewed on a regular basis.
• Future discussion items, sometimes called an agenda horizon,
often arise in situations like the fi nancial subcommittee example
we’ve been using. Real-time adjustments to the current meeting’s
schedule, new issues that need attention, or key milestones related
to external factors (such as the last subcommittee meeting before the
board meeting) all make it necessary to plan items for future meeting
fl ows in advance.
• Topics of later interest—sometimes called bin items or parking
lot issues—are similar to future discussion items except they don’t
warrant scheduling actual meeting time. They are often “good points”
that are off-topic at the moment but may arise again later or can be
handled outside the meeting. By capturing them on a list of future
concerns and then periodically reviewing that list with the group, the

185