S+B: How should we end our meetings?

DICK AXELROD: Three things need to happen: Review the decisions—because how often have you left a meeting thinking that you should do one thing, and somebody else thinks you should do another thing? Identify the next step. You don’t have to have the whole thing laid out, but everyone needs a clear understanding of what’s going to happen next. And lastly, do a quick review of the meeting itself—what worked and what didn’t work; how could you improve the meeting?

Even tragedies need their endings, so don’t let your meetings just peter out. If this is a regular meeting, how you end is your input into your next meeting. If it’s part of a change process, then how you end this time is going to affect your next change initiative.