You can find an introduction to Planning Meetings in Chapter 24 of Where the Action Is. These resources will help you plan, run, and troubleshoot the specific Planning Meetings your team needs.
Definition
A Planning Meeting is used to create a plan and secure commitment to taking the first steps.
Questions Answered
- Given this new goal and what we know now, what’s our plan?
- Who will be responsible for what by when?
Examples
- Project Planning
- Campaign Planning (Marketing)
- Product Roadmap Planning
- Sprint Planning
- Event Planning
Purpose
- Create plans.
- Secure commitment to implementing the plans.
Work Outcomes
- A documented rough plan that can be quickly formalized after the meeting.
- Clarity about who will do what by when.
- Visibility into dependencies, missing resources, and known problems to solve.
- Awareness of the known unknowns; those areas in need of further investigation.
Human Outcomes
- Understanding of the plan’s scope.
- Clarity about how one’s work will be coordinated with others.
- New knowledge about the possible ways to approach this work.
Meeting Agenda Templates and Guides
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How to Create a Group Decision-Making MatrixTammy Adams Spann - This process helps you and your team get clear on how key decisions will be made in the organization. At the end of the meeting, you will have a documented Decision Matrix listing types of decisions and how your team intends to handle each one going forward. Teams that use a Decision Matrix experience increased... [ more ] |
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How to Create a Remote Team Working AgreementLisette Sutherland - Collaboration tools should help bring your team together and enhance the way you work. But there’s more to working remotely than just having the right collaboration tools in place. Good virtual team managers must foster team building, effective communication and group cohesion. So how do we get every team member on... [ more ] |
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How to Create a Team Plan For Better MeetingsElise Keith - Teams run this session to agree on plans for improving their meeting practice. Intended outcomes for this session include a shared understanding of meeting success, a one-month plan for changes to meetings, a defined list of next steps, and much more! |
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How to Create a Working Team AgreementElise Keith - Teams use this process to gain clarity about how they’ll work together over the next 3 to 6 months. These agreements increase team productivity and alignment by reducing confusion, duplication, delays, and misunderstandings. |
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How to Establish Decision-Making Criteria with a GroupBeatrice Briggs - This meeting agenda template helps teams clarify the scope of an upcoming decision, the information they'll need to gather about each option they consider, and the criteria they'll use to evaluate these option. Use this template as a guide to help you prepare for and lead this meeting. |
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How to Refresh Your Strategic PlanPaul Axtell - All strategic plans become outdated quickly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start over. This relatively short meeting agenda template will help your team identify important changes in your circumstances and knowledge that you can use to refresh your strategy and keep it relevant. |
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How to Run a Near-Term Planning MeetingElise Keith - Purpose: To decide on a new short-term plan of action during times of rapid change or crisis Expected Outcomes: A new short term plan for the next few days, weeks, or month Ideas about alternate plans you could try if this plan doesn’t work • A defined list of next steps A date for the next meeting where you’ll... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Project Kickoff MeetingElise Keith - This is the meeting agenda template the team at Lucid Meetings uses to run kickoffs for smaller projects. It covers all the basics, and gets everyone involved to create a strong mutual commitment to the project's success. During this meeting, you'll lead two separate discussions using techniques developed by expert... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Proposal Feedback MeetingRichard Lent, Ph.D. - Gather productive feedback and build alignment on a new proposal or plan using this simple meeting structure. After presenting the proposal, you’ll lead the discussion using three feedback questions asked in a specific order. This meeting agenda template can be used to create a stand-alone meeting dedicated to... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Plan Quarterly Refresh MeetingElise Keith - During this meeting, teams review their strategic progress and establish targets for the next 90 days. Part retrospective, part working session, and part time-out, running a Quarterly Refresh makes sure your organization’s strategy stays present in everyone’s mind, up-to-date with changes in your environment, and... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Planning Meeting (Goal Setting)Anna O'Byrne - This meeting agenda template is part of a strategic planning process designed specifically for use with remote participants. This process walks remote teams through creation of the core elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, values, goals and strategies, resulting in what we call The Essential Strategic... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Planning Meeting (Mission Setting)Anna O'Byrne - This meeting agenda template is part of a strategic planning process designed specifically for use with remote participants. This process walks remote teams through creation of the core elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, values, goals and strategies, resulting in what we call The Essential Strategic... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Planning Meeting (Organizational Values)Anna O'Byrne - This meeting agenda template is part of a strategic planning process designed specifically for use with remote participants. This process walks remote teams through creation of the core elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, values, goals and strategies, resulting in what we call The Essential Strategic... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Planning Meeting (Strategy Definition)Anna O'Byrne - This meeting agenda template is part of a strategic planning process designed specifically for use with remote participants. This process walks remote teams through creation of the core elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, values, goals and strategies, resulting in what we call The Essential Strategic... [ more ] |
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How to Run a Strategic Planning Meeting (Vision Setting)Anna O'Byrne - This meeting agenda template is part of a strategic planning process designed specifically for use with remote participants. This process walks remote teams through creation of the core elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, values, goals and strategies, resulting in what we call The Essential Strategic... [ more ] |
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The Complete Toolkit for Strategic Planning with Remote TeamsAnna O'Byrne - A strategic plan is a formal map that explains how your company will execute a chosen strategy. The plan should spell out where an organization is going over the next year or more and how it’s going to get there.Strategic planning with a remote team can present both challenges and opportunities. Although this is... [ more ] |
Recommended Reading & Resources
Articles
Blog Posts
- "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy", Sean Newman Maroni (2015).
- "No Plan Survives First Contact With Customers – Business Plans versus Business Models", Steve Blank (2010).
Books
- Facilitating the Project Lifecycle: The Skills & Tools to Accelerate Progress for Project Managers, Facilitators, and Six Sigma Project Teams. Janet A. Means, Tammy Adams (2005).
- The Project Meeting Facilitator: Facilitation Skills to Make the Most of Project Meetings. Janet A. Means, Tammy Adams, Michael Spivey (2007).
Glossary of Meeting Terms
Technique
Activity modeling is a method used to illustrate how a system works. In an activity modeling workshop, the group works together to outline a sequence of steps and the component pieces involved in creating a behavior...
A Pareto Analysis is a decision-making technique used to choose a limited number of actions to take that will result in a significant impact. The analysis uses the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule), which states for...
A PDPC is used to understand the steps related to reaching a goal then find ways to increase the chances that the plan will work as desired. During the meeting, the team reviews the project plan, looking specifically...
RAID stands for Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies. Teams may conduct a RAID analysis as part of their project planning meeting, then produce a RAID board which they can review, update, and revisit during...
The SOAR analysis technique is used by teams as part of the planning process. SOAR stands for Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. SOAR was developed by Appreciative Inquiry practitioners looking for...
Stop, Start, Continue is an exercise used to evaluate a group's activities and make decisions about which ones to prioritize going forward. Steps include:
Step 1: Setup
Create three blank lists labeled Start,...
A swim lane diagram is a type of flowchart. The diagram usually shows a process, and steps are divided into categories to distinguish which departments or employees are responsible for a certain set of actions....
Meeting Type
A Pre-Mortem is a meeting before a project starts in which a team imagines what might happen to cause a project to fail. The team then works backward to create a plan to help prevent potential obstacles and increase...
