Every meeting develops its own language. Certain phrases and shorthand build up over time, with the people around the board table who know the organisations’ history able to understand exactly what they mean.
For a minute taker, these phrases are a signal to pay closer attention. The challenge is working out what a phrase means in context, and how it should shape the minutes. Taking minutes consistently for a client makes this easier, as the language becomes familiar over time. A one-off meeting is different. It calls for closer listening as much context as the client can give beforehand, and ideally an introductory conversation to explain why things are said the way they are.
Certain phrases prompt closer attention from the minute taker, who needs to work out whether something was actually agreed, whether it carries an action, and whether the outcome will need to return to the meeting.
These are the top five phrases we have become accustomed to that may make us listen more closely.
‘Let’s take that offline’
This phrase is useful when trying to stop one issue from taking over a meeting, risking a lengthy agenda or leaving too little time for another item further down the agenda. Sometimes two attendees may need to resolve a detail separately offline that does not require Board approval, or information may be required before the discussion can go further.
The phrase itself is not important. What matters is what happens next, and that is what a seasoned minute taker will be listening for – whether someone needs to take an action, an outcome should return to another Board or committee meeting, or whether a decision has been deferred rather than moved to a different conversation.
Discussing an item and then deferring it through the meeting is a sensible chair-led decision, but it should not mean the issue disappears from the governance record.
‘It could cannibalise it’.
Board meetings often include phrases such as ‘cannibalise’, ‘run rate’ or ‘pipeline’ which are consistently used by those in the meeting. That does not mean they should appear in the minutes without context.
If a new service might ‘cannibalise’ an existing one, what is the actual concern? Were customers expected to move from one product to another, or was the discussion about overall revenue, margin, demand or positioning?
The minutes should not become a glossary of terms and although shared shorthand may work in the meeting room, a good set of minutes should not depend on that context.
‘Someone should’
It may sound like the start of an action, but is it? There is a difference between somebody suggesting that something would be useful and the meeting attendees agreeing that it will be actually done.
“Someone should review the financial figures as a 13-week forecast” may easily become an action, but there may be no responsibility or agreed deadline attached to it.
A minute taker is listening for what happens next, watching for whether the Chair steps in to allocate it as an action with a deadline attached, or whether the conversation moves on.
Not every suggestion belongs on the action tracker.
‘I think we’re all agreed’
This is where a minute takers judgement on tone and context matters most.
Sometimes the Chair is clearly bringing a discussion to a close, confirming the Board’s position collectively.
On other occasions it may be more tentative. It can depend on whether everybody has genuinely agreed, objections may be being quietly waved through rather than resolved, or an earlier discussion in the meeting may add context that shapes the final record.
The minutes need to show the outcome clearly, without creating certainty that was not actually present in the room. A discussion appearing to reach consensus is not the same as a decision being formally confirmed.
‘We’ll come back to that’
An item flagged this way may return later in the same meeting, or at the next Board meeting. Sometimes it genuinely depends on another item being finalised first. At other times, it is a way of moving the conversation on.
This is another area where items could easily fall between a discussion, an action and the next agenda.
If an item needs to return, the record should make that clear, including the deadline, the reason for the delay and what exactly is expected to come back to the meeting.
Final thoughts
These phrases are incredibly useful in most meetings. They provide a shorthand that helps meetings move forward and gives minute takers an important cue.
Recognising when a few ordinary words may carry something such as a possible action, an emerging decision or deferred decision is central to what a minute taker does.
A verbatim record captures the words. Good minutes interpret what they meant.
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