Record decisions, action items and owners from team, safety or management meetings.
Good minutes are short: what was decided and who will do what by when. Everything else is optional.
For safety committee or board meetings, there may be specific record requirements; follow them.
13 items. Keep it on a tablet, or print a copy for the clipboard.
A monthly managers’ meeting at a restaurant group decides to standardize closing checklists. The minutes assign the draft to the operations manager by the 15th and a review at the next meeting.
Minutes are the record of what a group decided and who owns each action, which is what keeps decisions from being reopened at the next meeting. For corporations and LLCs, minutes of owner and board meetings are also part of the formal records that support the company’s separate legal status.
| Meeting | Monthly managers’ meeting, Urban Eats Group, Chicago |
|---|---|
| Date and place | March 4, 9 am, main office |
| Chair and note taker | Sara chair; Lee notes |
| Attendees and apologies | Sara, Tom, Lee; Ana sent apologies |
| Item: closing checklists | Decision: one checklist for all 3 locations |
| Action | Tom drafts checklist, due March 15 |
| Next meeting | April 1; minutes sent March 5 by Lee |
Ana missed the meeting, so the minutes sent the next day are how she learns about the new checklist and her role in testing it at the April review.
Decisions and actions, not a transcript.
A named note taker, rotated if you like.
Within 24 hours.
Formal bodies usually approve them at the next meeting.
Leave out word-for-word quotes, side conversations and personal opinions. Record the topic, the main points, the decision and the action with an owner. For HR or legal topics, note only that the item was discussed and what was decided.
Board and owner meeting minutes of a corporation are usually kept permanently as corporate records. Routine team meeting minutes can follow your records policy, often a few years. Store them where the next chair can find past decisions.
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