“What does success look like?”

I’ve been experimenting with pausing at the beginning of every meeting and asking, “What does success look like at the end of this session?”

It’s easy to 1) assume everyone is on the same page, and 2) jump immediately into the detail.

But the world, and our projects, are complex. All too often meetings end up in rabbit holes, or spiralling off into arcane detail.

This simple habit has helped bring focus to conversations, because we’ve agreed on what the end goal looks like. When we veer off-track, the collective agreement made at the beginning of the meeting pulls us back.

What’s the cost of not asking this question?