---
id: "action-restrict-meeting-attendance"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Becoming an Octopus Organization"]
tags: ["meeting-design", "efficiency"]
related: ["framework-raci-meeting-execution", "contrarian-inclusion-reduces-buy-in"]
action: "Align meeting attendance strictly with RACI, including only Accountable and Responsible roles."
outcome: "Prevents meetings from devolving into power struggles and speeds up decision-making."
sources: ["governance"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-governance"
originDay: 7
articleStem: "hbr-sig-48-decision-rights"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/07/what-companies-get-wrong-about-decision-rights"
sourceTitle: "What Companies Get Wrong About Decision Rights"
---
# Restrict Decision Meeting Attendance

**Do:** Stop inviting the entire executive team to decision meetings 'for buy-in.' Ensure **only the single Accountable person and the 2–4 Responsible people** are in the room when the decision is debated and made.

**Why it works:** it prevents meetings from devolving into power struggles and speeds decisions — the mechanism of [[framework-raci-meeting-execution]] and the counter-intuitive claim in [[contrarian-inclusion-reduces-buy-in]].

**Outcome:** faster decisions and genuine buy-in, achieved by properly using the Consulted/Informed roles *outside* the room.