Decisions get stuck in meetings. People talk in circles. Nobody writes down the options. Nobody commits. The same discussion happens again next week.
Decision
What are we deciding? One sentence. Be specific.
Context
Why does this decision matter? What's the situation? 2-3 sentences max.
Options
Option A: [description]. Pros: X. Cons: Y.
Option B: [description]. Pros: X. Cons: Y.
Option C: Do nothing. Pros: X. Cons: Y.
Recommendation
I recommend Option [X] because [specific reason].
Decision Needed By
[Date]. After this, we default to [option / escalation path].
Fill It Out Before The Meeting
Don't discuss first. Write first. The act of filling out the template clarifies your own thinking.
Share 24 Hours In Advance
Give people time to read and think. The meeting should be for questions and decisions, not for presenting.
Start The Meeting With Silence
5 minutes of re-reading the memo. No discussion yet. Everyone gets on the same page.
Discuss Gaps, Not The Whole Thing
"What's missing? What's wrong? What are we not seeing?" Focus on the delta, not rehashing the content.
Decide Or Defer
End the meeting with a decision or a clear next step. "We need X before deciding" is fine. "Let's discuss more" is not.
Faster decisions. A written record of the reasoning. Meetings that take 30 minutes instead of 60. And a format you can reuse for every significant choice.
This works for decisions within your team. When the decision spans silos, when stakeholders have conflicting interests, when the politics are thicker than the problem: that's a different conversation.