Meetings are a Waste of Time. Let’s Fix It!
Anna started her week with a sense of dread. Her calendar, a colorful grid of blocks, was a mess of meetings. From 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., she had only 30-minute gaps. She looked at her to-do list, a long page of complex tasks, and felt her energy drain. How could she possibly get anything done?
This was a typical week for Anna, a project manager at a large tech company. She felt like a pinball, bouncing from one meeting to the next, never landing long enough to focus. Her productivity suffered. Her stress grew. One night, she talked to a friend who worked at a company with a different approach. The friend said her company had two no-meeting days each week. This idea, simple and powerful, sparked something in Anna. She realized meetings were not the work itself, but often a distraction from it. She knew she had to change her approach.
The Meeting Epidemic: A Drain on Your Company's Health
Meetings have become a workplace epidemic. We spend a lot of time in them, yet get little done. Many knowledge workers can spend up to 23 hours a week in meetings. Executives are not immune. Some leaders spend over 85% of their work week in meetings.
This constant meeting cycle hurts productivity. It fragments the day, making it impossible to focus on a single task. Consequential work, the focused work that creates real value, often gets pushed to the side.
The constant change from one meeting to another drains us. This "context switching" increases stress, fatigue, and reduces creativity. It is why many people report a "meeting hangover." It is that feeling of being demotivated and unfocused long after meetings end. This cycle of meetings and context switching also contributes to a poor cognitive environment, which includes decision fatigue and mental exhaustion.
And to make it worse, most meetings don’t help the company’s bottom line. Meetings can be an expensive cost with no return on investment.
Taking Back Your Time
What can you do to change this culture? As a leader, you can lead the charge. The first step is to recognize the problem. The second is to create a solution. A simple yet powerful solution is to set two no-meeting days each week. This gives you and your team a chance to do deep, focused work.
But how do you sell this idea to your own supervisor? You must build a case with calm confidence.
1. Gather data and present your case. Start with the facts. Track the hours you and your team spend in meetings. Point out the impact on productivity and morale. You can also cite the financial costs. Show your manager how much time and money the company could save.
2. Propose a pilot program. Suggest a trial period. Propose two no-meeting days in a week. During this time, track the team's productivity. At the end of the trial, present the results. Show how the extra focus led to a jump in output. Advocate for two no-meeting days per week. When Shopify went to two no-meeting days each week, they found they increased their productivity by 71%. Define the need for a meeting. Best of class organizations use meetings to make decisions. Only those with decision rights to make the decision, and those who will bring information to inform that decision, attend the meeting. Meetings are not used to build consensus, or share general reports or updates. There are other asynchronous ways to communicate that are more efficient and cost-conscious than meeting.
3. Address concerns. Your supervisor may worry that no-meeting days will hurt communication. You can solve this with clear communication guidelines. Propose using project management software to share updates. Suggest a daily check-in message. Show your supervisor that communication will remain strong.
4. Frame it as a win for everyone. Show your supervisor that this initiative benefits not just your team. Explain that this change will set a new standard. It will improve team morale, reduce burnout, and create a culture of deep work. It is a win for the team and the company.
The Power of Change
Anna took this approach. She tracked her team’s meeting time and productivity. She presented a clear case to her supervisor. She suggested a one-month trial with two no-meeting days. Her manager agreed. The results were immediate. Her team’s morale improved, their productivity soared, and the quality of their work rose. Anna did not just improve her own situation; she started a new way of working for her team and set a standard for others to follow.
