Decision Making Workshop Template
Four documents and two sheets that check every decision for its prerequisite and its agree holder's real position before the workshop, not during it.
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Decision Queue · Kestrel Equipment Rental · T-3 readiness check, 12 Oct
Two of six decisions were actually ready
| Ref | Decision | Prerequisite | Agree position | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-01 | Select the software vendor | In hand | Support | Proceeds |
| D-02 | Consolidate 2 branches | Not in hand | — | Rescheduled |
| D-03 | Insource or outsource maintenance | In hand | Support | Proceeds |
| D-04 | Centralize purchasing | Not in hand | — | Rescheduled |
| D-05 | Change incentive structure | In hand | Opposed | Pre-brief first |
| D-06 | Allocate the capital budget | In hand | Unknown | Pre-brief first |
Only 2 of 6 decisions were ready outright, no intervention of either kind. Two were missing their named prerequisite and got rescheduled rather than brought in to fail live. Two more had an agree holder reading Opposed or Unknown and got a pre-brief before the group ever sat down.
Checked 3 business days before the 15 Oct workshop, never the morning of.
Search this and every result optimizes the two hours once the room is full: a decision matrix, one named decider, a forced go-around so quiet dissent speaks. All of it is useful once the meeting starts. None of it checks anything before the room fills. A workshop stalls for two reasons a meeting-technique checklist cannot catch. The first is a decision missing the one fact it actually rests on. The second is a stakeholder who can block the room and walks in still opposed.
Bain's own RAPID framework states plainly what happens when this goes unchecked: if the recommender and the agree role holder cannot reconcile their views, only the decider settles it. An unconvinced agree holder can stop the room outright, with no agenda field for finding that out in advance. This pack runs two checks days out, never the morning of: is the prerequisite in hand, and does the agree holder's position read Support rather than Opposed or Unknown. Either check failing keeps the decision out of the workshop that follows approved recommendations that day.
Kestrel Equipment Rental, an 11-branch equipment rental company, queued six decisions for one workshop once its recommendations were approved. Three business days out, two were missing their prerequisite and got rescheduled rather than brought in to fail live. Of the remaining four, two more carried an agree holder reading Opposed or Unknown and got a pre-brief first. Only two of the six were ready outright. A similar session six months earlier, with neither check in place, stalled on three of eight items live, and only three of its eight decisions were ever executed.
What's in the pack
Decision Queue
Every decision as a question with a real yes and no, the specific prerequisite it rests on, and whether that prerequisite is confirmed in hand as of the check date.
Position Map
Every stakeholder's recommend, agree, decide and perform role, with the agree and decide holders' actual position read as Support, Opposed or Unknown, never assumed.
Option Papers
One pre-read per decision that cleared its prerequisite check, leading with the recommendation and the specific evidence it rests on.
Workshop Design
The agenda sequenced around who actually needs to be in the room for each item, with a named pre-brief slot for any agree holder reading Opposed or Unknown.
Decision Record
What was actually decided, item by item, the same day, including what changed an opposed position and the date a rescheduled decision finally closed.
How the Prerequisite and Position Checks Prevent a Stalled Workshop
The method itself, and the two frameworks it borrows the discipline from: naming what a decision actually rests on, and reading a stakeholder's real position instead of assuming it.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or take it blank
Open the pack in River and send the approved recommendations with who is involved, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets and fill them in yourself.
- 2
Name what each decision rests on
Turn each recommendation into a Decision Queue row with a real yes and no, and name the one specific prerequisite it depends on.
- 3
Map roles and real positions
Assign every stakeholder's recommend, agree, decide and perform role, then record the agree holder's actual position rather than assuming it.
- 4
Check, then build the agenda
A fixed number of days out, reschedule anything missing its prerequisite, pre-brief anything reading Opposed or Unknown, and build the Option Papers and Workshop Design from what clears both.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. The zip is Word documents and CSV sheets, no account and no card. Edit with AI is the optional half: the agent builds the Decision Queue and Position Map from your recommendations and stakeholders, then writes the Option Papers once both checks clear. More sit in the template library.
What format are the downloaded files?
Four Word documents and two CSV sheets in one zip. The Decision Queue and Position Map open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets with every column intact; the Option Papers, Workshop Design and Decision Record are .docx, ready to send as the pre-read.
How is this different from a normal meeting agenda?
A normal agenda lists topics and times. This pack checks each decision against two gates first: is its named prerequisite actually in hand, and does its agree role holder's position read Support. A topic clearing neither gate does not make the agenda at all.
What if a decision has no obvious single prerequisite?
Grant Purdy's writing on decision quality argues the usual failure is not too little information, it is that nobody named the one specific thing the decision rests on. Ask what the most skeptical person in the room would need before saying yes, and name that. A decision resting on several things is not one decision yet.
What happens to a decision that gets rescheduled?
It comes off that workshop's agenda entirely rather than sitting on it as time permitting, with a named owner and a new date for the missing prerequisite. The Decision Record closes the loop on the date it actually arrives, not the date originally planned.
Where do the recommendations needing a decision come from?
Wherever the engagement produced them: a findings report's decision log, a diagnostic's scored gaps, or a storyline already approved in principle. This pack starts once a set of recommendations exists and a group, not just one person, has to decide on them.
What happens once the workshop closes?
Whatever the Decision Record approved moves to the implementation roadmap pack, which sequences it against the client's own people and calendar. A deferred decision stays open on the Decision Queue until its prerequisite arrives and it gets its own date. Once the deliverables themselves are built, the handover and enablement pack confirms the client can actually keep running them.
Check readiness before the room fills
Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or send River the recommendations and who's involved and get back a Decision Queue naming what each one actually rests on.
Edit with AI