Before the invitation
The sponsor names the decision, the person authorized to make it and the people expected to support it afterward. A readiness session establishes which questions may be asked in the decision meeting. Questions that could reopen the proposed answer are referred to a separate discussion with the sponsor. The invitation may then describe the session as an open exchange.
Readiness classification
A meeting is marked Ready when its pre-read has been circulated, its disputed items have been removed from the main deck and its sponsor can predict the outcome. Circulated does not mean read. The Calendar Effectiveness Office accepts a delivery receipt, while the chair retains discretion to ask a colleague to summarize slide 38 without warning.
At the table
The chair invites challenge after explaining that the executive committee has already endorsed the direction. A participant who raises a new issue is asked whether it could have been raised earlier. A participant who raised it earlier is asked why it remains unresolved. The secretary records that a constructive discussion took place.
Closure and reporting
Decision meetings should end within the allocated hour. Preparation calls, sponsor briefings and informal follow-ups are reported as readiness activity. Vickie Sanders uses a separate notebook for these sessions so the official meeting can retain a short and reassuring record. The standard was reaffirmed following the 2019 leadership off-site, where a vote was deferred because the readiness session had not agreed who would count it.
