{"id":1735,"date":"2014-03-13T03:54:31","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T07:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terrencemetz.com\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:56:34","slug":"meeting-purpose-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/meeting-purpose-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose Tool: Building the Strategic Plan for a Function, Process, Activity or Product"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Assuredly, organizational executives are known to go off-site to conduct strategic planning sessions, building <a href=\" https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/facilitation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">consensus<\/a> around vision and strategy to lead an organization to the future it seeks.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Yet infrequently, if ever, the Account Payable Department (or, some other function, process, activity, or product) justifies off-site strategic planning sessions. They still need consensus around why that department (or, some other function, process, activity, or product) exists, where they are going, and how they are going to measure their progress. To build consensual understanding around WHY something exists or WHY it is important, consider using our meeting Purpose Tool. If used appropriately, <i>Commander\u2019s Intent<\/i> (<i>aka<\/i>, the meeting <i>Purpose Tool<\/i>) may be the second most frequently used workshop tool, after <a title=\"How to Facilitate\u00a0Brainstorming\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/brainstorming\/\"><i>Brainstorming<\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Meeting Purpose Tool (<em>aka<\/em> Commander&#8217;s Intent)<\/b><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_1736\" style=\"width: 648px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/the-purpose-tool.png\"><img wpfc-lazyload-disable=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1736\" class=\"wp-image-1736 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/the-purpose-tool.png\" alt=\"The Purpose Tool: Building the Strategic Plan for a Function, Process, Activity or Product\" width=\"638\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/the-purpose-tool.png 638w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/the-purpose-tool-300x232.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Purpose Tool <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">(or, Commander&#8217;s Intent)<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">This activity yields a wonderful, group-constructed statement that captures the integrated reason, plan, scope, and benefits of a business area.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Meeting <\/b><b>Purpose Tool Rationale<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Provides the group with a consensually built backdrop that can be appealed to. Helps galvanize consensus around analytical methods and decision-making that follow.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Meeting <\/b><b>Purpose Tool Method<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Either on one easel or two separate easels, in advance, you should build out the visual prompt (preferably in a separate color), that \u201cThe Purpose of ____ is to <b>. . .<\/b> (<b>ellipsis<\/b>) So that <b>. . .<\/b> (<b>ellipsis<\/b>).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Prompt your participants with \u201cThe Purpose of ____ is to <b>. . .<\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">While scribing, print the last word from the previous input, and prompt them audibly with \u201cSo that<b> . . .<\/b>\u201d because you want to keep the energy high.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Do not use hyphens as you capture, rather use commas as you are helping them build one, long run-on sentence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Do not wordsmith the results but be certain to reread, review, and confirm that they have created a statement that everyone can live with.\u00a0 Basically, you have created a strategic plan at the level of a business area or activity\u2014why it is important.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Review during the workshop as an appeal to ensure that the discussion stays on topic. If necessary, either take off-topic discussion and ask that it be placed in the <i>Issue Bin<\/i> or go back and modify this statement to allow for its inclusion.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>______<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Don\u2019t ruin your career by hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/bad-meetings\/\">bad meetings<\/a>. Sign up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/public-facilitation-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">workshop<\/a> or send this to someone who should. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260106090117\/https:\/\/mgrush.com\/\">MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a><\/em> workshops focus on meeting design and practice. Each person practices tools, methods, and activities every day during the week. Therefore, while some call this immersion, we call it the road to building high-value facilitation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assuredly, organizational executives are known to go off-site to conduct strategic planning sessions, building consensus around vision and strategy to lead an organization to the future it seeks. Yet infrequently, if ever, the Account Payable Department (or, some other function, process, activity, or product) justifies off-site strategic planning sessions. They still need consensus around why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[453185955,453190674,453185956],"tags":[453192216,453192215,453190871],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meeting-tools","category-planning-approach","category-problem-solving","tag-answer-why","tag-commanders-intent","tag-purpose-tool"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Purpose Tool for a Function, Process, Activity or Product<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To build a 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However, he also observed meetings that worked. What set them apart? A well-prepared leader who structured the session to ensure participants contributed meaningfully and achieved clear outcomes. Throughout his career, Metz, who earned an MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern University) experienced and also trained in various facilitation techniques. In 2004, he purchased MG RUSH where he shifted his focus toward improving established meeting designs and building a curriculum that would teach others how to lead, facilitate, and structure meetings that drive results. His expertise in training world-class facilitators led to the 2020 publication of Meetings That Get Results: A Guide to Building Better Meetings, a comprehensive resource on effectively building consensus. Grounded in the principle that \u201cnobody is smarter than everybody,\u201d the book details the why, what, and how of building consensus when making decisions, planning, and solving problems. Along with a Participant\u2019s Guide and supplemental workshops, it supports learning from foundational awareness to professional certification. Metz\u2019s first book, Change or Die: A Business Process Improvement Manual, tackled the challenges of process optimization. His upcoming book, Catalyst: Facilitating Innovation, focuses on meetings and workshops that don\u2019t simply end when time runs out but conclude with actionable next steps and clear assignments\u2014ensuring progress beyond discussions and ideas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/MGrush.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FacilitationTraining\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/terrencemetz\/","@teammetz","https:\/\/x.com\/TerrenceMetz","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j4x3-Qo9Ez4"],"birthDate":"1955-09-23","gender":"male","jobTitle":"Managing Director","worksFor":"MG Rush Facilitation","url":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/author\/teammetz7\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/the-purpose-tool.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}