The Capture and Hold Strategy
What the CEO should do (or ensure is done) after every important meeting
(and even the not-so-important ones)
Everyone is familiar with the “meeting euphoria” phenomenon. The group clicks, ideas flow, charts are made, lists produced, and everyone feels like lots of work was done.
The leader gets “all voices to the table,” and everyone feels heard and honored.
Too often, a few days later:
People begin to drift apart in their understanding of what happened
In the divergence, team members begin to take actions that are not aligned
Positions harden.
Most good facilitators and leaders know that you have to capture the action steps, assign them to specific people, and create workflows going forward.
BUT, that often turns out to be harder and more onerous than we think. Meetings are tiring, and remembering that the meeting is the beginning, not the end, of a process is sometimes daunting.
Because we are sometimes casual about recording conversations and checking for agreement, the high-level thinking that occurs, which is sometimes abstract but is critical to the functioning of the organization (think about discussions that outline new roles and responsibilities, a new organizational structure, a new “company culture”), can get lost.
Capture and Hold
For a leader, capture and hold means describing and planning discussions so that the insights are written down. The best process goes something like this:
Thanks for a great meeting.
Here is what I heard.
Let me know if I got it right.
Nothing gets my attention, and I presume others, like a note that arrives within hours after a discussion that begins, “thanks for meeting about the new way of doing the work. Here’s what I heard, and here’s how I propose we carry this forward. I look forward to your comments on this memo by early next week, after which I will return a second version, and then we will begin implementing the resulting approach.”
Participants who experience this type of leadership, particularly if it happens often, feel honored, responded to, and called to make their best contribution. When the opposite occurs – “all that great conversation, but I don’t feel like anyone understood or listened” – people lose heart.
Another significant bonus is that “checking for agreement” allows everyone to consider their understanding of the conversation. Some people need time to think, and some are less willing to speak up in meetings. The chance to respond to “did I get it right?” is their chance to offer their best thinking. This enhances performance in all situations.
The other important quality of “capture and hold” is that leaders with a vision can push the boundaries of what was said and build on meeting results to push the organization forward, which is more than merely “reflecting back” what they heard. A 50-yard forward pass that gets called back 10 yards on a minor infraction is still a 40-yard gain. And the CEO should be pushing an ambitious agenda because that’s their job.
Case Study
Silvio, the company founder, pulls together a meeting on marketing the product. After completing the process determining the purpose/outcome/process for the meeting, he convenes the meeting, deputizes someone to take notes, and participates (and perhaps facilitates). That afternoon, he sends out a summary that begins, “Here is what I heard. Please let me know if I got it right.”
In his summary, he reflects as accurately as possible the results of the meeting, while in particular emphasizing those points/conclusions/perspectives that he believes are actionable, which align with the overall mission and purpose of the company, and which are appropriately positioned between wildly ambitious and achievable.
He asks that the participants check for agreement and get back to him in 24 hours.
He gets notes indicating agreement from three of the team and a question from two others, including, “I guess I wasn't fully aware that we decided on this, and I want to make sure that we effectively ruled out option b.”
And another participant says, “I was under the impression that we had settled on the consultant for the logo development and was not aware that that was still up in the air.”
The CEO responds, ensuring that he is summarizing the results accurately, and then sends out a second summary that highlights the questions and reiterates the conclusions of the meeting. He receives a note back from another participant that says, “I am now clearer on why we did not go with option B, and am even more comfortable with the decision. Thanks for good facilitation.”
The meeting notes are enshrined in the online project management tool of choice.