No We Don't Take It Offline

No We Don’t Take It Offline

It’s an excellent meeting.

There is an agenda and a pre read.

All the key people are in the room.

Everything is going well until we come to the crunch decision to be made. It’s not simple or easy.

Someone says “ lets take it offline”. Murmurs of yes and nods happen.

The meeting moves on and ends.

A separate time and place is set to have the “real discussion”.

What a complete waste of time and energy for everyone. What was the need for the charade if it had to be done offline. Why is this bad –

1.     Lack of leadership – It shows the leaders don’t have the courage to state their true views or are unsure of what they really want.

2.     Weak Decision Making Culture - The teams are unable to get decisions and have to keep doing alignment sessions to conclude things.

3.     Loss of respect – Most of the operational teams then know who is the “real” decision maker and stop following process, instead trying to cut side deals

So don’t take it offline. Make decisions however imperfect and move forward.

If you don’t have the key people in the meeting don’t have the meeting. If you are the decision maker prepare to decide. Mull over the options, take inputs from everyone and decide.

Develop a reputation for decision making.

Not for vacillating, delaying and doing things offline.

Its tempting to delay.

Its tempting to take the easy way.

Its tempting to avoid.

That’s not the path of the leader. The leaders path is of making choices and guiding teams.

Don’t take it offline.

Do it when the decision time comes.

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