How many meetings seem to generate good ideas, solve valuable problems, or make the right decision? If these meetings produce the desired results during the time people are together, why is it done so soon after? The problem with tracking a meeting is probably due to a misassignment of action items. To solve the action problem, use the 3W rule to assign actions. The 3 Ws represent the questions What, Who and When.

What is the action to take? Understand what needs to be done and why it is important to the project or team. This means taking responsibility for carrying out the work of the meeting. When writing the action item, be sure to use action verbs and be prepared to provide some detail about what is actually needed to consider the action completed successfully. Then the assignment of the action with an expiration date becomes easier.

Who will do the action? The action must be given to someone or it will not be done. This is a team or project member who agrees to be trusted for the activities required to carry out the assigned tasks. The action can be assigned to the best qualified person, or someone in the meeting can volunteer to perform the action. If the action is assigned to someone outside of the meeting, someone in the meeting must take an action to explain it to the person who was assigned the action.

When does the action expire? The due date is an actual calendar date by which the action must be completed in order for the team or project to do its work. This is equivalent to being responsible for performing external meeting tasks. By assigning a date, the person performing the action will be able to schedule the new task with their other job and will be able to determine if there might be reasons why the action is not completed on the desired date.

Properly assigning the what, who, and when of the 3W’s rule will reduce the issue related to follow-up outside of meetings. Now meetings can not only produce the desired results during attendance, but also afterwards, as more actions will be taken. A better allocation of actions will help to test good ideas and solutions to problems, as well as to implement any decisions that are made.