This is Stevea Robbins. Welcome to the Get It Done guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Meetings. I just love meetings. No, no, I don't. I hate meetings. One of my clients was lamenting

that decision-making meetings take forever. They're the worst.

Everybody has a favorite point of view and won't budge.

I've recently discussed preparing for decision-making meetings by using behind-the-scenes negotiations.

There's a link in this episode's transcript.

But you also need strategies to run the meeting itself.

Doing the right things in the right order will save lots of time and heartache and cleaning expenses. It's not cheap to get bloodstains out of the

carpet. Bernice's plant store, green growing things, is doing so well that she wants to expand.

But Bernice, Europa, and Melvin can't agree on the next location.

Tackling the decision in the right order will help them reach a decision quickly.

Start with goals.

Two paths diverged in the woods.

One goes to Heck, the other goes to Nirvana.

The roads lead to different destinations, and they offer different journeys. The road to

heck is paved with good intentions, while the road to nirvana smells like teen spirit. With no goal in

mind, either road will do. You can just flip a coin. But the reason you're making a decision is because

you either care about where you'll end up, or you care about the journey to get there. Otherwise, you just flip the coin. You're in a decision-making meeting because

you have a goal, so first agree on the goals. Otherwise, no other part of the decision-making

will even make sense. Bernice's goal is a lifestyle business that's fun to run and makes a decent

living. Europa's goal is complete and utter economic domination of the Western world.

Leaving these goals unstated keeps the discussion going in circles, but by stating and discussing

...