Tip of the Month #5 - Distill a Let’s Leave With List

The foundation of your agenda

You and your colleagues are learning from each meeting: what’s going well and what could go better. You are making small changes to improve each meeting. Now, let’s make a big change by creating a new agenda format, to focus attention on results.

When planning an agenda, the first thing to think about is the last thing you will do: get up to leave. Imagine this moment, then answer these questions:

Which questions did we answer unambiguously?

What decisions did we make?

What shared understandings did we achieve?

Now consider the agenda format you use right now.

Does it present specific results you intend to leave with?

Are those items woven into the agenda?

If your answer is yes, then skip this Tip and take the rest of the day off!

If not, let’s get started by asking:

What decisions, agreements and shared understandings do we wish to leave with from this meeting?

Your responses are the foundation for your agenda; I call them the Let’s Leave With List. Every single agenda I create begins with a Let’s Leave With List. It usually includes four to six items, but can range anywhere from one to ten.

As you draft your list, consider both the shared understandings you hope to gain and the decisions you hope to make.

Sample Shared Understanding

Understand the root causes of our weakening cash flow so that we can take action before it becomes a crisis.

Understand the problems with last month’s festival so that we can run it better next year.

Understand board member questions about a proposed project so that we can make a fully-informed decision next month.

Sample Decisions or Products

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  A decision to select a contractor so that we can start construction next spring.



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  Agreed-upon fundraising targets so that we can finalize the new budget.



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  A commitment by each member to sell raffle tickets so that we meet our fundraising goal.

Don’t feel limited by these suggestions, but do begin every outcome with a solid noun, such as understanding, agreement, commitment, recognition or a decision.

You noticed that each sample includes the ending so that. By completing the sentence after so that, you test the value of each proposed outcome.

A substantial outcome will lead to a compelling so that. You’ll know this one belongs on the list.

A flimsy outcome will make you wonder, Why do we want to spend time on this issue? If that’s the case, either dig deeper to find the real issue, or delete it from your draft.

Once your items are sound, order them so decisions can be made based on shared understandings, so urgent items are dealt with first, or so items follow a logical progression.

Next, we’ll build a focused agenda on the Let’s Leave With List foundation.

Tip of the Month #4 - Make Small Changes Based on the Plus/Delta Review

This month, let’s build on Plusses and incorporate at least one Delta suggestion into your existing meeting format. In upcoming Tips, I’ll propose changes to your meetings that may look drastic. To get started, however, I suggest you use Plusses and Deltas to take small steps. Participants will notice and appreciate any improvements that follow their suggestions.

Here are the most common Plusses I hear:

Everyone participated.

Good snacks!

We made important decisions.

Everyone came prepared. We did our homework.

Here are the most common Deltas I hear: It would be better if…

We started and ended on time.

We stuck to the agenda.

We stayed on topic.

More people attended.

Making Small Changes as the Chair.

The next time you meet, try this as a first step. Open the meeting with brief recognition that

These are the things we felt went well at our last meeting: ……recap briefly from your notes………….

Can we agree to keep it up?

Don’t belabor it or add you own commentary; just recap what they said, ask for agreement to keep it up and move on.

In subsequent meetings, incorporate one or two Deltas. For example,

We’ve been building on what we do well. Today I’d like to try out two of the Deltas that you suggested last time we met. First, can we all try to stay on topic? [Look each person in the eye and ask for some sign of agreement.]

Second, let’s make sure we encourage everyone to participate.

As we wrap up today, we’ll review Plusses and Deltas again to take stock.

If you keep a running list of Plusses and Deltas you’ll notice the changes and trends over time. With any luck, you’ll see Deltas move into the Plus column.

Suggesting Small Changes from Your Chair

OK, so your Chair has opened the meeting as suggested above, but your colleagues are back to their old tricks and the Chair doesn’t seem to notice. From you chair, you can make an observation and ask a question without challenging the Chair.

Last month we stayed on topic well. Today, it seems to me we are wandering all over the place. Does it seem that way to anybody else?........ Could we try to stick to the point better?

It seems to me that a few of us are doing most of the talking. Does it seem that way to anyone else? Could we agree to make one point and give others time to speak?

I hope by now you recognize my on-going reliance on specific agreements made among participants. This, I think, is a silver bullet for better meetings.

Experiment this month with agreements based on Plusses and Deltas. Next month, we’ll introduce a foundation on which to build stronger agendas.