What to Do When a Meeting Is Dumping All the Responsibility on You

What this article is for

In a meeting, it can look like everyone is discussing something, when really all the responsibility is sliding onto one person.

"Okay, can you take this one?" "Just pull it together nicely." "Do what you can." "We'll all look at it together." "I'll check it at the end."

When things go this way, the person doing the work can end up carrying everything: sorting out the goal, collecting materials, coordinating, editing, and fixing.

This article covers how to make roles, deadlines, and who signs off clear when a meeting is about to leave you holding all the responsibility.

Signs of a meeting that dumps responsibility

Meetings where responsibility is fuzzy tend to look like this:

• Nobody knows who makes the final call
• Several people share opinions
• No one makes the final decision
• The scope of each person's job never gets settled
• Nobody is assigned to supply materials
• Only the deadline gets decided
• Higher quality demands show up later

In this situation, the only one who suffers after the meeting is the person doing the work.

What to settle first

At the start of the meeting, confirm the following:

1. Who gives the final approval?
2. What must be included?
3. What materials will each person provide?
4. When are the materials due?
5. When is the deadline for revisions?

If you start working without settling these, you'll end up redoing work later.

"Let's all review it together" is risky

"We'll all look at it together" sounds fine at first.

But once several people give opinions, it becomes unclear who makes the final call.

Here's how you can respond:

Understood.
Even if several people review it, I'd like us to pick one person who makes the final call.
I'd like to be clear on who decides when opinions differ.

When they say "We're leaving it to you"

Understood.
I'll go ahead on the understanding that it's up to me, but please let me settle two things first: what must be included, and who gives the final approval.

Even when someone says they're leaving it to you, if there's no decision-maker, you may later hear "that's not what I meant."

Make it clear who provides materials

When a meeting is about making something, it's important to decide who supplies the materials.

For a video, for example, think of items like these:

• Footage of work on the manufacturing side
• Footage of equipment from the engineering side
• Footage of company events
• Photos
• Descriptive text
• Comments

Decide who will provide each one, and by when.

Here's how you can respond:

I'll handle the editing, but I'd like each department to shoot and send in their own materials.
Where there's no footage, we'll fill the gap with existing documents or text.

Set a deadline for revisions

A common problem in meetings is that revisions keep coming right up until the finish line.

That's why you need a revision deadline.

If revisions come up, I'd like to set a deadline for final review.
Without one, the revisions can pile up and we may never finish.

How to break responsibility apart

You're not refusing the responsibility. You're breaking it into pieces.

On my side, I'll edit based on the materials you provide.
Choosing and shooting the materials is up to each department.
The final decision is up to the reviewer.

Put this way, you show you're willing to cooperate without soaking up all the responsibility yourself.

Summary

When a meeting is about to dump all the responsibility on you, splitting up the roles works better than arguing back emotionally.

Here's what to confirm:

• Who decides
• Who provides the materials
• By when
• How far your own part goes
• When the revision deadline is

Just saying these things out loud during the meeting reduces the risk of responsibility landing on one person alone.