Meeting Horror Stories:

  • Meetings are unproductive, awkward, and exhausting.
  • Many people have negative experiences with meetings, including never-ending meetings and pointless meetings.
  • Leaders sometimes use meetings as their own personal stages, causing frustration for attendees.

The Negative Impact of Inefficient Meetings:

  • A survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries found that more than two-thirds reported not having enough time to focus.
  • Inefficient meetings were identified as the number one disruptor of productivity.
  • The pandemic has exacerbated meeting overload and made bad meetings feel inevitable.

Understanding the Purpose and Benefits of Meetings:

  • Humans are inherently social creatures and gathering in groups is part of our nature.
  • Meetings evolved from command and control systems during the Industrial Revolution to involve workers in decision making.
  • Research shows that it's not meetings themselves that lead to negative outcomes, but rather the quality of the meetings.

The Cost of Unnecessary Meetings:

  • Nearly a third of meetings are unnecessary, wasting $25 million per year for every thousand people.
  • This estimate only accounts for wasted time and does not include other costs such as lost ideas or energy drained.
  • Bad meetings can also result in fatigue, stress, and meeting recovery syndrome where participants ruminate on negative experiences.

Challenging Meeting Norms:

  • Many meeting norms are not based on strong evidence and rarely get reevaluated even when they become excruciating.
  • Pluralistic ignorance contributes to going along with group norms even if individuals disagree with them.
  • Changing meeting norms requires bringing them into open discussion to challenge misperceptions about what others want.

Identifying When a Meeting is Necessary:

  • Only have a meeting if there is something relevant and important that requires interaction and engagement among team members.
  • Basic reasons to meet include deciding, learning, bonding, or doing tasks that require input from multiple stakeholders.
  • Tasks that do not require input can be communicated through asynchronous methods such as email.

Rethinking Meeting Length:

  • Instead of defaulting to standard meeting lengths, consider how much time is actually needed for each meeting.
  • Shorter meetings can be just as effective and save time. For example, 10-minute meetings can suffice for certain tasks.
  • Stand-up meetings have shown benefits in terms of focus and shorter duration compared to sitting down.

Who Gets Invited to Meetings:

  • Only invite people with relevant expertise or authority to a meeting.
  • Over-inviting can lead to bloated meetings that hinder productivity and turn into performances rather than productive discussions.
  • Communicate with individuals who are not invited to ensure they feel included by offering them the option to provide input or receive updates.

The Importance of Facilitating Effective Agendas:

  • Having an agenda alone does little for meeting effectiveness; it's more important what is on the agenda and how it was created.
  • Framing the agenda as a set of questions instead of topics encourages thoughtful consideration and engagement from participants.
  • Rotating who runs the meeting promotes active participation, experimentation with different practices, and leadership development opportunities.

Changing the Conversation During Meetings:

  • Invite active participation by eliciting everyone's contribution during meetings.
  • Many meetings suffer from one dominant voice while others passively listen; framing the agenda as questions helps counteract this dynamic.
  • Calling on remote attendees first in hybrid meetings ensures their inclusion from the start.

The Need for Drastic Changes in Meeting Norms:

  • Individual audits of calendars can help identify unnecessary recurring meetings and free up time.
  • Deleting all recurring meetings and reintroducing them after a waiting period prompts intentional decision-making about which ones are truly necessary.
  • Restructuring remaining meetings, such as shortening durations or moving some status updates to asynchronous methods, further improves efficiency.

Meeting Doomsday Experiment at Asana:

  • Inspired by Dropbox's approach, a team at Asana deleted all recurring meetings with five or fewer people and waited 48 hours before reintroducing any meetings.
  • The experiment resulted in significant time savings for participants, with each person saving an average of 11 hours per month.
  • Restructuring remaining meetings and introducing intentional touchpoints led to increased productivity and satisfaction.

Challenging Meeting Norms on a Larger Scale:

  • Designating No Meeting Wednesdays or Meeting Free Fridays can help reduce meeting bloat and increase productivity, collaboration, and satisfaction.
  • Normalizing declining meeting invites when overloaded or lacking contribution helps combat the fear of being perceived as uncaring or uncommitted.
  • Calculating the financial cost of meetings and adding it to calendar invites can raise awareness of the true impact of excessive meetings.

The Benefits of Better Meetings:

  • Better meetings lead to better work outcomes and more enjoyable work experiences.
  • Utilizing time more efficiently allows for greater contributions and deeper engagement in tasks.
  • Enjoyment in work is enhanced when individuals have control over their calendars and can focus on deep work rather than unnecessary meetings.