The Decisions and Actions Review is a short, structured closing for workshops that are meant to produce results. Before everyone leaves, the group confirms what it has actually decided, separates decisions from ideas that are still open and agrees who will do what, and by when. It’s often the difference between a good conversation and real progress.
Use it at the end of planning workshops, strategy sessions and decision-making meetings. It’s an intermediate tool because the hard part isn’t the table: it’s helping the group be honest about what has really been agreed, getting people to take on actions willingly and keeping the review focused when time is short. Plan it into your agenda from the start, rather than squeezing it into the last two minutes.
Method
Ask the group what it has decided and record the answers where everyone can see them. Then work through the actions needed to move forward, giving each one an owner and a deadline, and agree how progress will be shared.
Step 1: Ask what you’ve decided
Start with one question: ‘What have we actually decided today?’. Write each decision on a whiteboard, flip chart or shared document in plain words. Read them back and check that the group agrees with the wording.
Step 2: Separate decisions from proposals
Keep decisions apart from proposals that haven’t yet been agreed. If something is still unresolved, record it honestly as an open question rather than presenting it as a decision, and note how and when it will be settled.
Step 3: Agree the actions
For each decision, ask what needs to happen next. For each action, establish what needs to happen, who is responsible, when it needs to happen and how progress will be communicated.
Step 4: Build the action table
Record the actions in a simple table with columns for the action, the owner and the deadline, for example ‘Draft a revised project timeline’, ‘Alex’, ‘Friday’. Every action needs one named person, even if others will help.
Step 5: Check and close
Read the whole record back. Give people a moment to check the wording of important decisions and to confirm they’re happy with the actions they’ve taken on. Review anything added to The Parking Lot during the workshop, so outstanding questions aren’t forgotten, then explain when and how the record will be shared.
Outcome
A short, agreed record of decisions, open questions and actions, each with an owner and a deadline, that everyone has seen before leaving the room. People know what happens next and who’s doing it, and there’s far less room for different memories of the meeting a week later.
Tips for Facilitators
- Protect the time: schedule eight to twelve minutes for the review and stick to it. If the workshop is running late, shorten an earlier discussion instead.
- Use the group’s words: write decisions as people said them, then check the wording, rather than tidying them into your own language.
- Ask for volunteers: actions that people choose are more likely to get done than ones handed out. If nobody steps forward, that tells you something about the action.
- Make deadlines real: ‘soon’ and ‘as soon as possible’ aren’t deadlines. Ask for a date, or at least a week.
- Name the decision-maker: if a decision will be made elsewhere, record who will make it and when people can expect an update.
- Send the record quickly: share it within a day or two, while the discussion is fresh, and start the next meeting by reviewing it.
Variations
- Prioritise first: if there are too many possible actions, use Dot Voting or the Impact/Effort Matrix to pick the few that matter most before giving them owners.
- Running record: in a long workshop, keep a decisions and actions sheet on the wall all day and add to it as you go. The closing review then becomes a quick check rather than a recap.
- Team retrospective: for a regular team meeting, combine the review with Start, Stop, Continue, so the actions come from what the team wants to change.
- Personal follow-on: once the group record is agreed, finish with One Thing I’ll Do Differently so each person also leaves with a commitment of their own.
Accessibility and Online Sessions
Write decisions and actions large and clearly, in a dark colour on a light background, and read each one aloud as you record it, so everyone can follow, including anyone with a visual impairment. Use plain language and spell out acronyms. Share the record afterwards as a document rather than a photo of a flip chart, so people using screen readers can read it too. Check with quieter participants before recording them as owners, so nobody is volunteered without agreeing.
Online, share your screen with a document or digital whiteboard and type the decisions and actions live, so everyone can see the wording as it’s agreed. Ask each owner to confirm their action out loud or in the chat, then paste the final record into the chat or send it straight after the call.
