Since the very first human beings bumped into each other, meetings have been an essential part of our survival. Important conversations around growing stuff, hunting stuff, protecting ourselves from the people in the next valley, not stealing each other’s partners and children, etc. Really important meetings that ensured survival and success.
Fast forward about 300 000 years and it seems that since the ‘stay-at-home’ pandemic, meetings have become a drain on productivity, time, and resources. Our very survival may be at risk 😮
Thankfully all is not lost, as there are some creative, smart and brave people, companies and organisations, who are actively working to minimise unnecessary meetings.
So who’s doing what? Enjoy the read:
Elon Musk: Cutting the Fat from Meetings
While Elon Musk has become known for many things, there was a brief spell where his approach to meetings was one of the top 3 things we used to discuss about him (today I’m not certain it’s in the top 30).
In the context of meetings, Musk is / was known for his relentless focus on efficiency, where he implemented strict guidelines to reduce unproductive meetings at his companies, like Tesla and SpaceX. His approach includes:
- No Large, Prolonged Meetings: Meetings should be small in number, short in time, and only happen when you feel like they’ll provide clear value
- Cut Frequency: Recurring meetings should be eliminated unless absolutely necessary
- Leave If You’re Not Adding Value: Employees are encouraged to walk out of a meeting if they are not contributing or gaining anything useful
- Direct Communication Over Meetings: Instead of scheduling meetings, Musk promotes direct one-on-one communication via text, email, or face-to-face interactions
Musk’s is definitely a productivity-first mindset that recognises ‘maker-time’ as being more important than ‘manager-time’. I’m on board with that.
Amazon’s Two-Pizza Rule: Keeping Meetings Small and Focused
Jeff Bezos popularised the ‘Two-Pizza Rule’ at Amazon, which suggests that no meeting should have more participants than can be fed by two pizzas – depending on how hungry you are that’s typically six to eight people. While it’s gimmicky sounding, it serves the purpose of focusing meetings on:
- Smaller, more engaged discussions where everyone has a voice
- Faster decision-making by reducing bureaucracy and inefficiency
- Better sharper focus and fewer distractions
No Meeting Days: Finding Time for Deep Work
Remote work has led to an increase in meetings, often at the expense of productivity. While not the only ones, companies like Shopify and Asana have introduced ’No Meeting Days’ to combat this.
Shopify’s Meeting-Free Approach
Shopify seems very pro maker-over-manager, and implemented 3 projects in 2023 to cut down on meetings:
- The ‘Calendar Purge’ – This initiative involved cancelling all recurring meetings with more than two people
- ‘No-Meeting Wednesdays’ – (Asana also implemented this), encourages employees to use that time for focused work
- Limiting Large Meetings – Meetings with more than 50 people were restricted to a specific six-hour window only on Thursdays
What were the results?
Shopify saw the cancellation of thousands of meetings across the company to reclaim lost productivity. While this has sparked some debate (a predictable result when any new initiatives are attempted), Shopify’s goal was to succeeded in reducing unnecessary back-and-forth discussions and empowering employees to make decisions without excessive deliberation.
ELMO-ing: A Playful Yet Effective Meeting Hack
If I was going to pick on of these to begin with, this would definitely be it 😀
ELMO-ing is short for ‘Enough, Let’s Move On’, and was introduced to keep meetings on track by limiting unnecessary verbiage.
Tyler Grange, via CEO Carly Goodman-Smith, is a great example of a company that has introduced this novel way to keep meetings on track. She uses a stuffed Elmo toy to signal when a meeting participant is rambling or going off-topic.
How Does It Work?
From The Times –
Goodman-Smith sometimes uses an actual stuffed Elmo – the Sesame Street character – which she holds up to a verbose colleague. “It’s a respectful way of saying I hear you, you’re making a good point, but we need to move on. It’s done in a supportive, friendly, safe space,” said Goodman-Smith, who added that she gets Elmoed too.
WARNING! There’s no doubt that you’ll need to ensure it’s introduced correctly, and authentically integrated into the culture of how you run meetings, as there’s plenty that can go awry if people take it the wrong way.
ELMO-ing can assist in the following:
- Encouraging concise communication
- Preventing meetings from dragging on unnecessarily
- Making it easier to refocus the discussion without causing offence (see the warning above)
Personally I really like the quirky light-hearted approach. It’s a fun mechanism to keep meetings productive while maintaining a positive atmosphere.
Focusing on Efficiency: Measuring Meeting Costs
Some organisations have experimented with meeting-cost-clocks, which display the real-time cost of a meeting based on the number of participants and duration.
There are quite a few companies offering this solution as an extension to various types of calendar platforms. One only needs to search the interwebs, or ask your favourite AI.
This mechanism deals with a particular bugbear of mine, that meeting organisers often pay little to no attention to the true cost of a meeting (salary plus opportunity cost of each participant multiplied by duration).
I dream of a world where there is transparency to the cost of a meeting, even before it begins, thereby sharpening everyone’s focus towards ensuring the most is made of the time we’re investing.
The Good News
While many seem to have lost their way and drifted off course when it comes to meetings, there are an increasing number of people, businesses and organisations who are realising that fewer, more effective meetings lead to greater efficiency and engagement.
Whether you try out one of the mechanisms above, or develop your own to fit your peculiar culture, there’s definitely a positive move towards finding creative ways to make meetings more productive (I was very tempted to say, ‘Make Meetings Great Again’ 🤭).
The takeaway is really simple: If your goal is to improve team effectiveness, be intentional about when and how meetings happen. If a meeting isn’t necessary or valuable, skip it!
The Meeting is Dead, Long Live the Meeting
If you’d like to explore how to improve the meeting culture in your business, organisation, country, school, family or relationship, I’ve got a presentation for that.
Let me know. I’d love to chat with you about how I can assist you.
