"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
—Nelson Mandela

It's frustrating when work doesn't get done. You are clear on outcomes, timeframes, and boundaries. Yet something is amiss. It's time for a meeting.
You already know the best meetings come with agendas and outcomes, but I have another tip for you.
Ask for participant expectations to start.
When I ran a computer training center we did this and customer satisfaction scores went way up. Everyone in the course knew the outline, but still brought additional expectations to the classroom. We taught the instructors to ask for expectations before the day's instruction start. They would list them on the white board without jumping into answers, and assure everyone the requests will be honored. Many of the expectations would be addressed in the flow of the course exercises, and the rest were addressed before and after breaks. At the end of the class the instructor would go through the list with the class, ask if the item had been addressed satisfactorily, and cross it out.
Although you're not teaching a class, these "fix it" meetings have the same communication challenges. The participants understand the agenda and outcomes, but still bring in adjacent expectations. These need to be addressed before you can make progress.
This happened to me just this week. The manager was hot under the collar, the reps were sullen, and both sides were ready for a knock-down, drag-out affair. I asked the manager if I could help, explained what I was going to do, and he let me do it.
The Technique
"Before we get started . . ." is my lead in. We make a list, including the manager's ideas, and push the list around asking, "is there anything else?" No answers are given, just list making. Once the list is complete, we start the regular agenda.
At the end of the meeting we go back through the list, address missing issues, make a new meeting for a deeper issue, and clarify one item. The rest are crossed out.
Surveying the team post-meeting, all parties feel heard, the main issue is uncovered (next meeting), and the work starts to recover.
Try it. It works.
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