I attended a meeting recently and heard the acronym GELMO used. This stands for Good Enough Let’s Move On. There are variations of this saying that you can check out online, but I like GELMO the best thus far.
When enough time in a meeting has been spent analyzing a situation and a reasonably sound plan is in place to take action, it is important to then take next steps. In essence, action rather than continual discussion which entails going over the same ground once again, is what is required. Saying GELMO is a way to break through getting bogged down on one particular meeting agenda item. You can then move on to cover other topics.
Before saying GELMO, be sure that
- The one wanting to say GELMO is fully familiar with the situation at hand
- Those impacted stakeholders that wish to comment on the situation have done so or at least had a chance to do so
- All questions, that need to be addressed, have been answered so all information is available to make a decision on next steps
- The pros/cons of potential action plans (or options) have been addressed and the team generally knows which plan (or option) is best used to move forward
- There is an opportunity cost to not saying GELMO, namely that the discussion will potentially go in a continual loop if GELMO is not said. GELMO will signal the need to move on to other discussion topics so time can be spent addressing other matters.