You know the meeting. The one where everyone discusses, debates, shares opinions — and an hour later, nothing is decided.
Here's how to make decisions without the endless discussion.
Why Discussions Don't Lead to Decisions
Discussions are divergent. They explore ideas. They're valuable.
Decisions are convergent. They narrow to a single choice. They're also valuable.
Most meetings get stuck in discussion mode. They never make the transition. So everyone leaves frustrated, and the same discussion happens next week.
The RAPID Framework
This is adapted from Bain's RAPID framework. It's simple:
R - Recommend: Someone recommends a course of action
A - Agree: Others agree or raise concerns
P - Perform: People execute the decision
I - Input: Others provide input (but don't decide)
D - Decide: Someone makes the final call
The key is knowing who does what BEFORE the meeting starts.
How to Use It
Before the meeting:
- Assign a recommender — the person who proposes the solution
- Assign a decider — the person who makes the final call (could be the recommender or someone else)
- Identify input providers — people whose expertise is needed
During the meeting:
- Recommender presents the proposal (5 minutes max)
- Input providers raise concerns and alternatives (15 minutes)
- Recommender addresses concerns or notes them
- Decider makes the call (2 minutes)
- Document the decision and reasoning
What to Do When There's Disagreement
Sometimes people genuinely disagree. That's fine. The decider's job is to decide, not to achieve consensus.
If the disagreement is about facts, get the facts. If it's about values, make a call and move on.
"I hear that Sarah prefers Option A and Tom prefers Option B. Based on our criteria, I'm choosing Option B. Tom, can you work with that? Great. Moving on."
The 2-Minute Rule
When discussion has gone on for more than 10 minutes without a clear path to a decision, it's time to intervene:
"We've been discussing this for 10 minutes. Let's try the 2-minute rule. Recommender, you have 2 minutes to tell us what you recommend and why. Decider, you have 2 minutes to make a call or tell us what you need to decide. Let's move."
The System Behind It
I use a Meeting Mastery System that makes decision-making the default:
- Pre-meeting template that assigns roles (recommender, decider, input providers)
- Decision criteria checklist
- 2-minute intervention prompts
- Decision log template
The goal isn't to rush decisions. It's to make sure decisions actually get made.
[Link to Meeting Mastery System in bio]
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