Documenting Strategic Decisions So They Stick
We capture decisions on large sheets visible to everyone, then read each one aloud asking: who owns this, by when, and how will we know it happened?
Avoid vague verbs — explore, consider, monitor. Replace them with commit, defer, or reject. Deferred items get a date for revisit.
Within forty-eight hours we send a summary no longer than four pages. It lists decisions, owners, and explicit non-decisions — what the group chose not to pursue.
The CEO should respond within one week confirming or correcting the record. Silence gets interpreted as approval; misinterpretation breeds conflict months later.
Store the summary where the team already works — shared drive, not a new portal nobody checks. Strategy dies in forgotten folders.