Defining the 7 Types of Meeting Outcomes and How They are Important
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Have you led meetings when you didn’t really know the purpose? I have! You may have wondered, “Why are we meeting and what do we hope to leave with?” And if you weren’t thinking about it, I bet your members were!
Ideally, meetings are made of many small segments, each with a distinct beginning and end. When I facilitate, I use the metaphor of whitewater rafting. In whitewater rafting, there are distinct segments that make up the whole trip. There is a preparation phase where the outcome is having all the equipment, basic skills, and safety knowledge in place. There is the actual rafting, where the purpose is to navigate the river, work together, and have fun! There is the wrap-up, where the goal is to exit the river, care for the equipment, and reflect on the ride. Even these three phases are made up of many more mini-segments, each with its own purpose.
In a meeting, each segment should have a clear outcome that the discussion or exercise accomplishes. Often, these individual segments build on one another to move the meeting as a whole to a bigger objective.
“Defining the outcome of the pieces is important because it drives how the meeting is facilitated and how people engage in the process.”
7 Types of Meeting Outcomes
According to Sam Kaner in Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making, there are 7 common outcomes for a meeting or portion of a meeting. Much of what you’ll read below, and in our deep dive companion article, comes from his book. These outcomes fall into two categories: missional (those that overtly move you toward your team's mission) and developmental (those that work on the team dynamic so you can more effectively accomplish your team mission).
So let’s look at an example: the primary desired outcome of the meeting may be to Build Capacity for your work by Making a Decision on buying a new conference venue.
The meeting may begin with a short personal check-in to Build Community.
Then you may take time to share the agenda, the mindsets needed for each of the upcoming segments, and which decision-making style will be used. This section of your meeting has the desired outcome of Improving Communication.
You then Share Information by reminding your team of your organization's greater vision and how a project location ties into that vision.
You also have the outcome of Sharing Information when each member shares the results of their individual research into possible venue options since the last meeting. Then the group moves into a section to Obtain Input on the pros and cons of each location from the whole group in light of the project objectives.
Several mini-sections of the meeting are used to Make the Decision. Depending on the decision-making rule decided in advance, the leader may make the decision, or you may use a variety of techniques to build consensus. When consensus is desired, the process will likely include several ways to Advance the Thinking before any conclusion is reached.
Once a decision is made, action steps include the outcomes of Improving Communication (for example, by clarifying who would benefit from hearing the “whys” behind the decision) and/or Building Capacity (for example, by discussing how to increase buy-in for the decision).
Why is knowing and sharing your desired outcome important?
Sharing your desired outcome for your meeting and the sections of your meeting helps your team to frame their interactions in a way that helps you attain your outcome. It gives member’s minds the “why” they need to join wholeheartedly into the specific attitudes and skills needed for that section of the meeting.
Click on the offer below to learn more about each of these 7 outcomes, with tips to help you accomplish each one.
