Making Decisions in Business Meetings - action points

OK everyone. It's decision time. Yes or No? Jay? I'm not sure. What's your opinion?

Oh. How do you feel about it? I don't know. What do you think? It's difficult.

Do you have any thoughts, Kathy? Yeah. I think we should make a decision. Right now?

Welcome back to another video on managing business discussions.

Meetings always have a purpose. It could be to pass on information or update everyone.

It could be to brainstorm ideas. Or it could be to make a decision. Let's watch a meeting

where a decision is being made. So we need to decide what we're going to do

about getting tablets. Oh, I'd love a new tablet. Me too.

Let's get them. How soon can we have them? Hold on. How do you feel about this, Gemma?

We need to check out some different prices. You know there could be some better deals

out there. Jay? She's got a point. Sally? Mmm. I suppose so.

Could you do some research Gemma, say by next

Tuesday? Tuesday? Yeah, no problem. OK great, so Gemma will get some prices and

we'll review the matter at our next meeting.

So did you understand everything? What was

the topic of the discussion? Getting new tablets. And did they decide to buy some? No. They're

going to do some research first. We need to check out some different prices.

You know there could be some better deals out there.

Notice the phrase 'check out'. It means look at or examine something to see if it's good

or acceptable. Deals are special low prices.

Great. So now let's look at some phrases you can use to reach decisions in your English

meetings. First you need to get everyone focused.

We need to decide what we're going to do about getting tablets.

So tell everyone what they need to do. Different people may have different opinions and ideas

and that's a good thing, or it can be. But we can make some bad decisions at meetings

if we don't listen to the right people. Oh, I'd love a new tablet. Me too. Let's get

them. How soon can we have them? Hold on. How do you feel about this, Gemma?

Hold on. Stop or pause so we can collect different opinions.

Now there are different ways to ask for opinions. We can simply call on people by name.

Jay? She's got a point. Sally? Mmm. I suppose so. And we can ask what they're thinking.

All these phrases work and they're very common and useful for meetings.

There are more phrases you could use. These are less common but you might hear them in

a formal business meeting, a news interview or a formal debate.

Welcome to Education Today. And tonight's question is should schools give tablets to

students? Where do you stand on that, Mrs Fagan? Oh

they must! And what's your opinion, Mrs Hollett? Absolutely not!

And there you have it. Two perspectives on whether schools should give tablets to students.

Once you've collected everyone's thoughts, you can come to a decision. For a meeting

to be effective, it has to have results. So you also need action points.

Could you do some research Gemma, say by next Tuesday? Tuesday? Yeah, no problem.

There are three elements to this action point. What's the job - the action we're going to

take? Who is going to do it? We need to know who's

responsible. And when by? What's the deadline? We need to get price estimates. That's a big

job. Yeah, I don't have time I'm afraid. I'm busy too.

What? You need to get three price estimates by Friday. Who me? Yes, make a note of it

Jay. Jay to get three price estimates by Friday.

Good. What's the next item on the agenda. So we've looked at a three step process here.

First tell everyone what they need to decide. We need to decide what we're going to do about

getting tablets. Second, collect opinions so you can make a

good decision. How do you feel about this Gemma? And third

create an action point. Decide who will do what and by when.

Could you do some research Gemma, say by next Tuesday?

And don't forget to summarize the decision so everyone knows what's happening.

So Gemma will get some prices and we'll review the matter at our next meeting.

And that's the end of this video, but come back again soon and we'll look at some more

phrases for managing discussions. Subscribe to our channel to see more of our

videos. And if your organization needs specialized English language training,

we make videos for that too. So get in touch if we can help.