Meeting Agenda Graphic

Meeting Agenda Template: Simple yet powerful tool for kickstarting your superpowers

In Learning Network by Jamie Mierau

We’re going out on a limb and guessing that you probably spend more time than you want in meetings.

Meetings are something we do a lot. They can be productive and a great use of time – or not.

Adopting a meeting agenda template is one simple but powerful tool you can use kick-start your superpowers. (This tool falls in the “Work Smarter” quadrant of the Capacity Framework.)

This kind of tool is a high impact manager’s best friend. It systematizes and saves you time. It holds you and others accountable. (If I don’t know the purpose or outcomes of a meeting, it’s not worth having or attending the meeting.)

And it holds us to a standard. If you are using this template, your meetings will be more productive and focused.     A super helpful addition to your meeting agenda is to include after each agenda item:

  • Information only OR
  • For input  OR
  • For decision

For input and for decision, frame the single question that you want input for or the decision you want made. This helps because if it is an information-only item, that is, a decision has already been made, you don’t want to waste time getting input; and if you want a decision, it helps to be clear about what people are deciding to frame the conversation.  

Practices like this help high impact managers and leaders to stay focused and aligned and expand their circle of influence. Practices like this are the scaffolding that help support high impact managers and leaders and make their work easier and more productive.