Chapter 4 of 4
Meetings Worth Attending
A meeting needs a decision, or it needs cancelling.
5 min read
Every item is one of three things
- Decision: we choose between named options today.
- Discussion: we need several minds before a decision can exist.
- Information: this could have been an email, so it should be.
Put the type next to each item on the agenda. Information items disappear on their own once labelled.
Write the agenda as questions
"Assessment" tells nobody how to prepare. "Should Year 8 assessments move to fortnightly, and who writes them?" lets people arrive ready, and makes it obvious when the item is finished.
Protect the last five minutes
Read back every decision, its owner, and its date. If you cannot fill five minutes with decisions, the meeting was a discussion — which is fine, but say so, and name what happens next.
Give time back
Ending at 3:50 when you booked until 4:15 buys more goodwill than almost anything else a leader does. Teachers judge meetings on whether their time was respected, and they are right to.
Practice exercises
0 of 3 complete1.An agenda item that is purely information should be…
2.Agenda items are most useful when written as…
3.Rewrite your next meeting agenda: label each item decision, discussion or information, and turn each into a question.