Cómo escribir un memorando de decisión en inglés (B2 intermedio alto): frases para reuniones, cuantificadores y condiciones de revisión

Un memorando de decisión cuenta a quien no estuvo en la reunión qué se decidió, qué no demuestran los datos, qué opción más amplia se descartó y qué resultado hará que se vuelva a abrir el tema. La reunión previa necesita frases que basen los argumentos en hechos (“If we look at the facts…”), que planteen objeciones con cortesía (“I’m not convinced that…”) y que hagan avanzar la conversación (“Can we move on to…?”). Este tema es de nivel B2 (intermedio alto) y está pensado para directivos, jefes de equipo y analistas que dirigen la toma de decisiones o ponen por escrito lo decidido. Con diez minutos al día es suficiente.

¿Para quién es este artículo?

Directivos y jefes de equipo que moderan reuniones en las que el grupo debe elegir entre varias opciones con límites de coste, seguridad o tiempo.
Analistas y personal de operaciones que presentan cifras y tienen que decir con claridad lo que los datos no demuestran.
Cualquiera que ponga por escrito una decisión para quienes no estuvieron: la dirección, el equipo financiero o la plantilla afectada.
Todavía es pronto: si dar y pedir opiniones en una reunión aún te cuesta, empieza por el artículo de nivel B1 sobre evaluar candidatos con pruebas y fijar el siguiente paso.
Demasiado fácil: si ya moderas reuniones de decisión y redactas lo decidido con soltura, pasa al artículo de nivel C1 sobre la decisión de un piloto de formación en el que las notas del test y las llamadas observadas no coinciden.

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Tarjetas de vocabulario

present evidence

ground an argument in observable facts

If we look at the facts, we’ll see that Friday accounts for 46 percent of late calls.

state consequence

connect an option to its likely result

If we open every evening, it’ll mean much more overtime unless we recruit.

give an opinion

mark a judgement as your view rather than a fact

In my opinion, the mixed model is the safest starting point.

respond

agree, qualify or disagree directly

I’m not convinced. The winter sample may contain too many disruption calls.

clarify

request detail or restate another speaker’s meaning

So what you’re getting at is a Friday trial with an emergency line on other days?

manage participation

set purpose, invite a view and protect a speaker’s turn

Today, I’d like to establish our trial model. Owen, could you start us off? Hang on, let’s hear his evidence.

manage progress

control time, move topic and record action

I don’t want to spend too long on this point. Can we move on to safety? Then let’s draw up some action points.

Conversación

Maya Today, I’d like to establish which evening-service model we should test for twelve weeks. Let’s consider customer impact, staff safety and cost. Owen, could you start us off?

Owen If we look at the facts, we’ll see strong demand: 1,240 late calls in six weeks, and most were resolved without escalation. In my opinion, we should open until ten every day.

Maya I’m not convinced that the sample supports every day. Winter disruption may have created too many calls, and full opening costs €96,000 a year.

Owen The thing is, a Friday-only service could leave customers without help on other evenings.

Maya Could you give us some detail, please? Are you proposing staffed coverage or an emergency response on quieter days?

Owen What I mean is a staffed Friday service until ten and an emergency callback until eight on other weekdays. So that’s close to Priya’s €21,000 model.

Maya That limits both cost and fatigue. I don’t want to spend too long on the permanent model before we have summer information. Can we move on to measures?

Owen We should track call volume, resolution, missed connections, overtime and fatigue reports. If demand exceeds ten calls an hour on two non-Friday evenings, we review the hours.

Maya Agreed. Let’s draw up the action points: I’ll confirm the safety controls by Wednesday; you’ll prepare the rota and baseline by Friday; and we’ll review after week six and week twelve.

Estructura de la frase

singular countable

use a, an, the or one: a proposal, an option, the journey, one fact

We need a proposal with one clear review date.

plural countable

use many, too many, not many, a few, few, fewer or a number

We received fewer complaints but too many fatigue reports to ignore.

uncountable

use much, too much, not much, a little, little or less

There is too much overtime and very little reliable summer information.

both plural and uncountable

lots of, plenty of, more, most, some, enough, hardly any, any and no work with both classes

We have enough chairs and enough equipment, but hardly any spare time.

most versus most of the

most refers generally; most of the refers to a specific known group or amount

Most customers prefer quick answers; most of the customers in our winter sample called after a cancellation.

fewer versus less

use fewer with plural countable nouns and less with uncountable nouns

The mixed model needs fewer employees and less overtime.

a few versus few; a little versus little

a few and a little mean some; few and little emphasise that the amount is almost insufficient

We have a few options but little evidence about employee preferences.

Más práctica

Cedar Transit: read behaviour, not labels

Maya and Owen compare evidence and decision behaviours.

Cedar Transit must decide whether its customer helpline should remain open until 22:00. In a six-week test, 1,240 calls arrived after 18:00. Most concerned same-day cancellations; 71 percent were resolved without escalation. The test required 186 hours of overtime and received two fatigue reports, neither involving an incident.

At the review, Rosa worked through cost, safety and demand in a fixed order. She recommended a smaller permanent late team. Joel immediately supported full opening because the first week had produced grateful customer messages. After seeing the overtime total, he asked to compare more options. Priya said little during the debate but later proposed a rotating 20:00 service plus an emergency line. Tariq opposed any extension at first because the depot had never offered it. When the group showed that missed connections peaked on Fridays, he accepted a Friday-only trial.

Finance estimates annual costs of €96,000 for full opening, €54,000 for Rosa’s smaller team and €21,000 for Priya’s mixed model. The six-week sample includes winter disruption, so it may overstate normal demand. It contains no employee preference survey and no evidence about summer. The director needs a recommendation today, but implementation can be reviewed after twelve weeks.

Know what can be counted directly

countable items

product, colleague, suggestion, fact, journey, proposal and document can take a/an and plural -s

A proposal contains three suggestions and two supporting facts.

uncountable communication

information, advice, news and correspondence normally have no plural form and take a singular verb

The information is incomplete, and the advice was based on old news.

uncountable resources

money, equipment, software, accommodation and insurance are treated as masses or categories in their general meanings

The software is ready, but some equipment, suitable accommodation and travel insurance are still needed.

uncountable activities

travel and expenditure are normally uncountable when referring generally to activity or spending

Business travel has decreased, but travel expenditure is still high.

paper — material or document

paper is uncountable as material; a paper is a document, article or newspaper

We used less paper after moving the figures into a short briefing paper.

business — activity or company

business is uncountable as commercial activity; a business is an organisation

Business is improving, and three local businesses have extended their hours.

experience — knowledge or event

experience is uncountable as accumulated knowledge; an experience is one event

Her scheduling experience helped the team learn from two difficult customer experiences.

time — duration or occasion

time is uncountable as a resource; a time or times refers to an occasion

We have little time, but we have tested the emergency line three times.

Write the service director’s decision memo

Maya and Owen review the decision memo and its evidence charts.

Subject: Decision — twelve-week evening-service trial

To: Service operations and workforce planning

We have agreed to test a staffed Friday helpline until 22:00, with emergency callbacks until 20:00 on other weekdays. The six-week winter test recorded 1,240 late calls, and 71 percent were resolved without escalation. However, it required 186 overtime hours and produced two fatigue reports. There is very little summer information and no employee preference survey, so the evidence does not support permanent full opening.

Full daily opening would cost an estimated €96,000 a year. The selected mixed model is estimated at about €21,000 a year and preserves support on quieter evenings. Maya will confirm safety controls by Wednesday. Owen will prepare the rota, employee consultation and baseline figures by Friday.

We will review call volume, resolution, missed connections, overtime and fatigue at weeks six and twelve. If demand exceeds ten calls an hour on two non-Friday evenings, the steering group will reconsider staffed hours. Any safety incident will trigger an immediate pause and review.

Please send rota or safety objections to Maya by 16:00 Thursday.

Aprende esta unidad

¿Cómo quieres aprender?

¿Ya tienes cuenta?

Una cuenta gratis abre una unidad para siempre.

Primero los datos, luego la objeción

Un equipo está eligiendo qué servicio telefónico de tarde probar durante doce semanas. Escucha: ¿qué propone Owen y por qué Maya no está convencida? (Abrir hasta las diez todos los días; las incidencias del invierno pueden haber inflado la demanda, y abrir a diario cuesta 96.000 € al año.)

Owen If we look at the facts, we’ll see strong demand: 1,240 late calls in six weeks, and most were resolved without escalation. In my opinion, we should open until ten every day.

Maya I’m not convinced that the sample supports every day. Winter disruption may have created too many calls, and full opening costs €96,000 a year.

Frases para reuniones: argumentar, responder, moderar

Deja claro qué frases son hechos, cuáles son previsiones y cuáles son tu opinión. Para discrepar, cuestiona los datos, no a la persona: “I’m not convinced that…” es directo pero no grosero. Ojo con “estoy de acuerdo”: en inglés “agree” es un verbo, así que se dice “I agree” o “I don’t agree”, nunca “I am agree”. Quien modera gestiona el proceso, no la respuesta, y cierra cada punto con una acción.

“If we look at the facts, we’ll see that Friday accounts for 46 percent of late calls.” – Presentar datos
“If we open every evening, it’ll mean much more overtime unless we recruit.” – Señalar una consecuencia
“In my opinion, the mixed model is the safest starting point.” – Dar una opinión
“I’m not convinced. The winter sample may contain too many disruption calls.” – Plantear una objeción
“So what you’re getting at is a Friday trial with an emergency line on other days?” – Aclarar lo que se ha dicho
“Today, I’d like to establish our trial model. Could you start us off?” – Fijar el objetivo y dar la palabra
“I don’t want to spend too long on this. Can we move on to safety?” – Pasar al siguiente punto

Contables o incontables: cuantificadores que encajan con el sustantivo

Information, advice, news, evidence, equipment y overtime son incontables: no tienen plural, llevan el verbo en singular y, para contarlos, se usa una expresión de unidad como “a piece of”. En español decimos “informaciones”, “consejos”, “las noticias son” o “evidencias”, y de ahí salen errores como “advices”, “the news are” o “evidences”. El “menos” español se divide en dos: fewer con plurales y less con incontables. “A few” y “a little” significan algunos o algo; “few” y “little”, casi nada. “Most” es general; “most of the” se refiere a un grupo concreto. Por eso “the most of people” no existe: di “most people”.

“The mixed model needs fewer employees and less overtime.” – fewer + plural, less + incontable
“We have a few options but little evidence about employee preferences.” – hay algunas opciones, pero casi ninguna prueba
“Most customers prefer quick answers; most of the customers in our winter sample called after a cancellation.” – en general / un grupo concreto

Cómo hablar de la forma de decidir

Aprende los verbos con su sustantivo: weigh up the information (sopesar la información), consider all the options, get different perspectives, delay a decision until… (aplazar una decisión hasta…). Describe conductas, no caracteres: “She was methodical in this review” es más justo que “She is a methodical person”.

Debate: ¿sueles decidir lo importante de forma metódica o intuitiva? ¿Puede un exceso de datos hacer que un equipo sea más lento sin ser más acertado?

“I’ll delay my decision until the revised safety assessment arrives tomorrow.” – Aplazar la decisión hasta que llegue un dato concreto

Aprende esta unidad a tu manera

El memorando de decisión en seis pasos

Escribe 160–190 palabras para un público concreto: a Finanzas le interesan los costes; a la plantilla afectada, los turnos y la seguridad. Asunto: “Decision: twelve-week evening-service trial”. Si dos cifras solo varían a la vez, escribe “is associated with”, no “caused”.

Decisión: “We have agreed to trial a staffed Friday helpline until 22:00, with emergency callbacks on other weekdays.”
Datos y sus límites: “The winter test logged 1,240 late calls but needed 186 overtime hours, and summer data is missing.”
Opción descartada: “Full daily opening would cost about €96,000 a year, against €21,000 for the mixed model.”
Responsable y fecha: “The service manager will confirm safety controls by Wednesday.”
Condición de revisión: “If demand exceeds ten calls an hour on two non-Friday evenings, we will reconsider staffed hours.”
Plazo: “Please send objections to the service manager by 16:00 on Thursday.”

Errores frecuentes

Estos errores debilitan un argumento o un memorando:

“There were less complaints.” Usa “fewer complaints”.
“We need more informations and advices.” Di “more information and advice”.
“The most of customers…” Di “Most customers” o “most of the customers in our sample”.
“I am agree.” Di “I agree”; para discrepar, “I don’t agree” o “I’m not convinced”.
“We will review it later.” Indica las medidas, las fechas y la condición.

Rutina de práctica de 10 minutos al día

Usa una decisión real de tu semana.

3 minutos: di un dato, una opinión y una objeción cortés sobre ella.
3 minutos: escribe cuatro frases sobre tus propias cifras con fewer, less, a few y little.
4 minutos: redacta la decisión, la opción descartada y una condición de revisión medible.

Siguiente paso

Después, escribe una propuesta de prueba en tienda que separe el recuerdo del precio de las compras reales y, luego, una recomendación de externalización que autorice solo una fase de prueba.

Preguntas frecuentes

¿Cómo se escribe un memorando de decisión en inglés?

Empieza por la decisión y su alcance, da las cifras clave y sus límites, y nombra la opción descartada. Añade responsables con fechas, una condición de revisión medible y un plazo para las objeciones.

¿Se dice “fewer” o “less”?

“Fewer” va con sustantivos en plural (“fewer complaints”) y “less” con incontables (“less overtime”). Al hablar, mucha gente usa “less” con plurales, pero en un informe “fewer” es la opción más segura.

¿Cómo se discrepa con cortesía en una reunión en inglés?

Cuestiona los datos, no a la persona: “I’m not convinced that the sample supports every day.” Después pide detalles: “Could you give us some detail, please?”