Balancing Meetings and Actual Work Time

I just canceled 80% of our standing meetings. My leadership team thought I’d lost it. 6 weeks later, revenue is up 23%. Here’s what happened: I counted every meeting on my sales team’s calendar: - Average rep: 18 hours per week in meetings - Only 22 hours left for actual selling - Most meetings could’ve been a Slack message or dashboard We were managing the calendar, not the team. So I asked: “If I paid you $500 to skip this meeting and send a voice note instead, would you?” Every person said yes. That’s when I knew we had a problem. I killed every recurring meeting and started from zero. The only one we kept: Weekly 1-on-1s and Forecast calls Everything else: Team updates? Async Slack. Pipeline reviews? Shared dashboard.
 “Quick syncs”? Banned. Three weeks later: Reps went from 18 hours of meetings to 3 hours per week Close rate jumped from 18% to 24% Team morale up 41% Revenue up 23% Most meetings exist because managers don’t trust their teams. We schedule check-ins because we’re anxious. We do standups for visibility. But what we’re really doing is killing 15 hours per person per week of selling time. Do the math: 12-person team × 15 hours recovered × 4 weeks = 720 hours That’s like hiring 3.6 full-time people. For free. Your calendar is your strategy. If your best people spend more time talking about work than doing work, don’t be surprised when you get outpaced. What’s the meeting you know you should cancel but haven’t? #SalesLeadership #WorkplaceCulture #Productivity #Leadership #MeetingFatigue

An Insight into Managing Meeting-Intensive Days Recently, I had an enlightening 1:1 with one of our young designers. They asked, "After a day filled with back-to-back meetings, I'm exhausted. How do you handle this, given most of your days are meeting-heavy?" This scenario is common for many of us managing large teams and products. Here are some strategies I've developed to thrive when meetings dominate your schedule: 1. Mindset Shift: Recognize that meetings are work too, especially in large organizations. As a young designer, I viewed meetings as productivity thieves. Now I understand they're integral to the work process. 2. Calendar Mastery: I structure my day via my calendar, scheduling focus times, breaks, and meetings. I batch tasks and allocate them to ensure time-sensitive work gets done. 3. Pomodoro Technique: I aim for 24 pomodoros daily, equating to 12 hours of intense work. This includes writing, thinking, conversations, tasks, and team interactions. On lower-energy days, I listen to my body and adjust accordingly. 4. Micro-Breaks: Between meetings, I take 3-minute rejuvenation breaks. My toolkit includes: - Breathwork (sukha kriya, nadhi shuddi, 4-2-5-2 breathing with mudras) - Quick exercises (e.g., a set of squats) - Mindfulness practices (breath awareness meditation) - Short walks (using a walk pad or stepping outside) 5. Deep Listening: During meetings, I practice full engagement without multitasking. If a meeting doesn't align with my priorities, I respectfully decline or leave, communicating my reasons authentically. 6. Efficient Follow-up: I rarely revisit recordings, treating them as equivalent to attending meetings. When necessary, I schedule dedicated time for this. 7. Comprehensive Note-taking: I document discussions systematically, which helps track learning and identify recurring themes for myself and others. 8. Operational Rigor: I maintain high standards in self-management and task execution. This operational excellence keeps work flowing smoothly and maintains quality. These practices have transformed how I navigate meeting-intensive days, balancing productivity with well-being. What strategies do you employ to manage your energy during meeting-heavy periods? I'd love to hear your insights! #workdesign

Back-to-back meetings can crush your week. Your calendar is packed.  Your focus is shredded. Your 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 work slides to Friday. What if one weekday had ZERO meetings? 🟢 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀: → No-Meeting Wednesday is a team rule. → One day with no standing meetings. → Use it for deep work, planning, and decisions. → Plenty of companies try one focus day each week. → They report more output and calmer teams. 🔵 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: → Less bouncing between tasks. → Better thinking time. → Cleaner handoffs. → Less burnout risk. → You finish the work you start. 🟣 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝘁: → Pick the day and protect it on the shared calendar. → Set the rules: no recurring meetings, emergencies only. → Shift updates to async notes or a short Loom. → Limit Slack and email pings. Try quiet hours. Measure results: docs shipped, stories closed, decisions made. Review individual wins in the next staff meeting. ▶️ 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀: Lead by example. If leaders book over it, the team will too. Give a script for pushback: “Let’s move this to Thursday. Wednesday is for focused delivery.” Start with a 4-week test. Survey the team. Keep what works. ▶️ 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 Try a split: meetings before 11, focus after. Or rotate the day by function. If you work across time zones, protect one shared block for focus and schedule meetings outside that block. ▶️ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 → Draft the compensation plan. → Build a headcount model. → Clean your SOPs. → Write tough messages with care. → Ship one thing that moves the business. Would your team commit to one meeting-free day each week? #HR #DeepWork #Productivity ♻️ I appreciate 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 repost. 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗥 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀? Visit my profile and join my newsletter for weekly tips to elevate your career! Stephanie Adams, SPHR #Adamshr #Hrprofessionals #humanresources #HR #hrcommunity Adams HR Consulting

I banned meetings from 60% of entire company's work week... Best decision I've made as a founder this year. Meetings only happen on Mondays and Thursdays. That's it. That's the whole rule. Once the week starts, nothing new gets added to the calendar (unless it meets 3 rules and is deemed an emergency) The other three days are locked. No meetings, no interruptions, nothing pulling anyone out of what they're actually building. Slack works the same way. It only gets checked during two set windows a day.  Not left open all day, not glanced at every time it buzzes. I put this in place because I watched what was actually happening to people's weeks. Everyone looked busy. Almost nobody was finishing anything. Meetings ate Tuesday.  Slack ate Wednesday. By Friday, the one thing that actually mattered hadn't been touched all week, because there was never a real block of time to touch it. Being busy and making progress aren't the same thing. Most calendars are built to reward the first one and quietly kill the second. So I flipped it. Time isn't something that fills up by default at my company anymore. It's something we decide on purpose, before the week even starts. Two days for meetings.  Three days to actually build. It's a small rule. But it's changed more about how this company runs than almost anything else I've put in place. What would you get done if three of your days were actually protected? --- Follow Brixton Albert for more on reaching your full potential, faster.

I canceled all recurring meetings for a month.😱 Here's what happened: Week 1: Panic. "How will we coordinate?" "What about alignment?" "We need to discuss strategy!" Week 2: Adaptation. People started writing things down. Decisions got documented. Real communication began. Week 3: Flow state. Developers got 4-hour blocks of uninterrupted time. Actual work happened. Week 4: Clarity. We realized 80% of our meetings were theater. The result? Our velocity doubled. Our stress halved. Our decisions got better. Most meetings are just anxiety masquerading as productivity. Here's what we do instead: ✅ Async decision documents with clear deadlines ✅ "Demo Friday" replaces 6 status meetings ✅ Written proposals before any synchronous discussion ✅ 25-minute max for any face-to-face time The best meeting is the one you don't have. My rule now: If it can be a document, make it a document. If it can't be decided in 25 minutes, it's not ready for a meeting. What's the most valuable meeting you've ever canceled? #PriorityDriven #IntentionalLeadership #DeepWork

Are 80% of your meetings effective? Do people have at least four 2+ hour blocks of focus time every week? Scaling effective meetings, asynchronous collaboration and time for "deep work" across thousands of employees is challenging. Too many leaders shrug and give up: "it's just the way things are." ⭐ It might be hard, but it's totally possible to scale better use of time: 📅 Dropbox employees say 69% of meetings are effective, impressive vs research showing both executives and employees told Future Forum that ~50% of all meetings should be eliminated entirely. 🕖 Dropbox also got to >80% compliance with core collaboration hours around the globe -- a massive win, especially when you realize "one size doesn't fit all" on almost any work practice. 💪 Atlassian saw a 31% increase in progress against weekly goals when combining better calendar management with weekly goal-setting. 🔎 Slack got to 85% of employees saying Focus Fridays and No Meeting Weeks were a significant benefit to them -- higher than many monetary or services benefits. What's the secret sauce? 1️⃣ Aligned Executives: in both cases, the executive suite from CEO on down understood that excessive meetings and a lack of time for deep work were leading to burnout and lower quality work. 2️⃣ Pilot then Expand: We experimented with No Meeting Weeks in the Product, Design & Eng team at Slack, refined it, then partnered with functional leaders to translate specific meeting types and workflows in order to roll it out. 3️⃣ Measure Progress: A quarterly pulse survey with results by function and Spotify's meetings cost calculator are examples of pretty straightforward ways to measure progress. Tools like Microsoft Viva also help! 4️⃣ Reinforce Regularly: Discuss survey results in exec staff quarterly, build reinforcement into leadership conversations, All Hands meetings and comms. A cross-functional task force can bring ownership closer to functions. ❓ What practices have you scaled in your organization? Where have you seen programs fail to take hold? 🏗️ Dig deeper: 🔗 Links to Atlassian's time boxing and goal setting experiments by Molly Sands, PhD and team, Dropbox's virtual-first toolkit by Allison Vendt, Melanie Rosenwasser and Alastair Simpson and the Slack Focus Friday and Maker Week content I did with Christina Janzer and Kristen Swanson in comments. Would also recommend Kasia Triantafelo's collection of insights from the Running Remote community, linked as well. This is Part 2 of a series on 2025 Resolution: Make Better Use of Time. Thanks Karrah Phillips, Dave O'Neill, the folks listed above and Kevin Delaney, Tim Glowa (IBDC.D, GCB.D) & Nick Petrie for inspiring me to pick this back up! #Meetings #Productivity #Focus #DeepWork #FocusTime #Collaboration #Leadership #ChangeManagement #EmployeeExperience #EX

You can often tell from the moment a meeting invite lands in your inbox whether it’s going to be a waste of time: The “team update” where two hours are spent reciting what everyone did last week. The “planning meeting” that spirals into hashing out minutiae that should have been handled offline. The “brainstorming session” where the loudest voices dominate the room. Some of these you can decline, but others come from your boss, a key client, or a senior colleague. Saying no isn’t always easy. But if you don’t, your schedule gets eaten alive. Here are four ways to reclaim your time and ensure you’re only in the meetings that truly matter: Know which meetings are essential. The short list: those where decisions are being made, or where strategy is being set. That’s where alignment happens, and your presence matters. Relationship-building can also be a valid reason. But routine “updates” should be banished to email. Raise the bar for invitations. It’s too easy for others to book your time. Create friction by asking requesters to clarify: What’s the purpose? What’s the decision? Who else will be there? Why do you specifically need me? If they can’t answer, the meeting probably isn’t worth your time. Offer a compromise. If declining feels too direct, suggest alternatives. A quick phone call, an email update, or a postponed check-in often resolves the issue without draining an hour from your calendar. Make tradeoffs visible. If you must attend, remind colleagues that your time is finite. Frame it as a choice: “I’m heads-down on Project B—do you think it’s worth shifting my focus to attend this meeting on Project A?” Often, they’ll realize it isn’t. Meetings consume an average of 62 hours a month, and research suggests half of that time is wasted. The passive-aggressive coping strategy ofshowing up late, multitasking, or tuning out only perpetuates the problem. A better path is to set clear boundaries, elevate the standard for what deserves your attention, and protect your time fiercely. That’s how you shift from being buried in meetings to doing the work that actually moves the needle.

High performers spend 8 hours in back-to-back meetings building someone else's empire, then wonder why their kids don't know them. ━━━━━ My client showed me his calendar last week. Monday: 9 meetings Tuesday: 11 meetings   Wednesday: 8 meetings Thursday: 10 meetings Friday: "Catch-up day" (6 meetings) His daughter's recital? Blocked as "External commitment - 2pm" That's not a calendar. That's a prison schedule. ━━━━━ The high performer trap: You're so good at executing, they keep giving you more to execute. More meetings. More projects. More "strategic initiatives." Meanwhile, your 5-year-old asks mommy why daddy lives at work. ━━━━━ I know a VP who tracks his "meeting efficiency score." 97% attendance rate. Never misses a sync. Always on time. Also hasn't had dinner with his family in 3 months. But hey, Q3 numbers look great. ━━━━━ What high performers tell themselves: "Just one more quarter" "After this promotion" "Once we hit our targets" "When things slow down" Your kids don't give a sh*t about your OKRs. They just want you to show up. ━━━━━ The meetings that steal your life: • Status updates that could be emails • Brainstorms where nothing gets decided • "Alignment sessions" that create more confusion • Check-ins to discuss other check-ins • Pre-meetings for the actual meeting You're not important. You're just available. ━━━━━ My wake-up call: My wife nearly left me. "I never see you." She was right. To her, "meeting" was where I lived. ━━━━━ What I did: Declined every meeting without a clear outcome. Batch-scheduled all calls to 2 days. Blocked 3-7pm as "unavailable" every day. Told my boss family time was non-negotiable. Revenue went up. Stress went down. Wife + daughter knows who I am. ━━━━━ High performers don't need more meetings. They need boundaries. Your peak performance isn't in conference room B. It's at the dinner table, asking about their day. ━━━━━ To every high performer drowning in meetings: That back-to-back schedule isn't a badge of honor. It's evidence you've forgotten why you're working so hard. Your kids won't remember your perfect attendance record. They'll remember your absence. ━━━━━ Cancel your 3pm. Go home early. The meeting will survive without you. Your relationship with your kids might not. What meeting are you skipping this week to be present instead? 👇 ♻️ Repost if this hits home

Too many meetings? A new study challenges many things we think we know about meeting overload. Here's what the researchers discovered. 1) Size matters For small teams (under 6 people), "meet when needed" works beautifully. But there's a tipping point: as teams grow larger, flexible scheduling becomes a disaster. With larger teams, someone will almost always want to meet (of course!), leading to constant interruptions. 2) Too few meetings Surprisingly, the study found that teams often suffer more from too few meetings than too many! Workers reported more frustration when they couldn't coordinate (missing crucial alignments) than when they had to attend "unnecessary" meetings. Example: A developer needing input on architecture decisions might waste days going in the wrong direction because they couldn't get timely coordination with colleagues. 3) Smart rules beat simple rules In diverse teams (different roles, productivity levels, schedules), basic rules like "meet every Monday" aren't enough. The research recommends these approaches instead: - Minimum gaps between meetings (e.g., 48 hours of focus time) - Maximum time without meetings (e.g., never go more than 5 days) - Multiple-person approval for new meetings Example: A software team might block off Tuesday/Thursday mornings as "no meeting zones" while requiring at least two developers to agree before scheduling additional meetings. 4) Fixed meetings For larger teams, standing meetings (e.g., every Friday at 3 PM) are remarkably effective. The data shows they never perform worse than 28% below optimal efficiency - making them a reliable choice, especially as teams scale. 5) The Hybrid Sweet Spot The most successful approaches combine: - Protected "quiet time" where meetings are prohibited - Designated "interaction time" when coordination is encouraged - This structured flexibility helps balance individual productivity with team alignment. Quick recap: As your team grows beyond 6-10 people, shift from ad-hoc scheduling to more structured approaches. But don't make them rigid - add smart safeguards to maintain flexibility while preventing both meeting overload and coordination drought. Source: Roels, G., & Corbett, C. J. (2024). Too Many Meetings? Scheduling Rules for Team Coordination. Management Science, 70(12), 8647–8667.

No matter what your 2025 goals are, there’s one thing that you should do at the start of the year if you want to be productive… Clean up your calendar!! 📅 If you don’t have control over your calendar, it’s nearly impossible to have control over your work and, therefore, your objectives. I am a firm believer that, even as a busy exec, you should have a good chunk of your week that is open by default. You need to have spare capacity built into your working system. For example, if an unexpected, exciting initiative comes up, you need to have the freedom to dedicate a couple of hours to it — otherwise it’ll get pushed down the road, and never get done. Similarly if a huge fire appears - you need to be able to dedicate some time ASAP to try to fix it. Over time, calendars naturally fill up — leaving you with less and less available hours — and it’s therefore important to regularly revisit your calendar, assess the lay of the land and restructure your week. Everyone is different - but the ideal end state for me is having a big chunk of free time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That way I always know that I can work on something within ~24hrs if I need to. To help me get there - here are four things I do: 1. DELETE SOME MEETINGS ENTIRELY This can be difficult but usually I have at least 1 or 2 meetings that can be cut completely. Be considered but ruthless here — it’s amazing how often other people will be thrilled to have the meeting cancelled. 2. REDUCE THE CADENCE OF SOME MEETING It can be easy to settle into a routine of weekly calls, but are they always necessary? Review your recurring meetings and identify those that could be less frequent. Instead of meeting every week, consider switching to fortnightly meetings (or move from fortnightly to monthly). You can supplement this with email/Loom/Slack updates in between if useful. 3. SHORTEN MEETINGS If you can shorten 4 weekly calls by 15 minutes at the start of the year, you’ve bought yourself an extra hour per week, or ~48 hours over the year. That's a whole extra week of work 🤯 4. CLUSTER MEETINGS This approach is often overlooked. If you’re unable to cut or shorten meetings, spend time re-working your schedule so that your meetings are all bunched together. You’ll suddenly see big patches of daylight appear in your calendar — in which you can do deep, focused work without constantly having to interrupt your flow to hop on a Zoom call. Calendar hygiene may seem super simple and obvious to some, but it’s amazing how many people neglect to do it and lose control of their weeks, months and, ultimately, years. This is some that I try to tidy up every 6 months or so as calendars naturally evolve to be messy. If you have any other top tips for calendar management, let me know! 👂