Outcome-First Meeting Design
Define the result first, then invite only the people and inputs it needs
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 98%
Cohn starts meeting design by asking for the goal, the specific purpose, and what success will look like when the meeting ends. An agenda is not the goal; it is only a possible route. If the stated goal is a decision, she tests whether the people in the room can actually make it, whether all necessary decision makers are present, and whether they have the required material. A large meeting that cannot decide may still be useful, but its real outcome should be renamed: align participants, prime them for a later decision, or assign preparation. Once the outcome is honest, the organizer can choose the attendees, inputs, and agenda that serve it. This protects staff time and reduces the demoralization caused by irrelevant meetings.
Origin
Extracted from The Tim Ferriss Show based on Cohn's work improving meetings and facilitating offsites.
Core principles
- 01A meeting goal is an outcome, not an agenda
- 02Decision meetings require the right decision makers and inputs
- 03Preparation and communication are legitimate but different outcomes
- 04Every unnecessary attendee carries an opportunity cost
How to run it
- 1
Name the outcome
Write the result the meeting should produce rather than listing topics to discuss.
Pro tip Complete the sentence: We will come out of this meeting with...
Watch out An agenda is a tool, not an outcome.
- 2
Test the decision claim
If the outcome is a decision, verify that the actual decision makers and needed evidence will be present.
Watch out Twenty attendees do not make a meeting decision-ready.
- 3
Rename the meeting if needed
If the group cannot decide, define the honest purpose as alignment, communication, preparation, or information gathering.
Pro tip Schedule the real decision meeting separately with the smaller required group.
- 4
Design backward
Select attendees, inputs, and agenda items that are necessary for the stated result.
Pro tip Free everyone else to do relevant work.
In the wild
Cohn describes challenging a team that said a twenty-person meeting would make a decision. The team acknowledged that only five people were needed and that those people first required specific material and insight. The current meeting could instead prepare and align people for the later decision.
→ The team separated preparation from decision making and clarified the required participants and inputs.
Common mistakes
Calling an agenda the goal
A sequence of discussion topics does not specify what the meeting must accomplish.
Inviting before designing
Starting with a broad guest list creates an expensive room before anyone knows who the outcome requires.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders planning decisions, alignment sessions, working meetings, or offsites.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for informal social time whose explicit purpose is simply relationship building.
From the transcript
“what's the goal of this meeting what is the purpose of this meeting specifically and what does success look like we're going to come out…”
“the goal of this meeting may be is to lay the table for that decision”
From the episode
#539: Alisa Cohn on Prenups for Startup Founders, How to Reinvent Your Career, the Importance of "Pre-Mortems," and the Three Selves
Alisa Cohn