We’ve all been there. It started as a “quick sync.”
Sixty minutes later, your soul has left your body, you’ve aged five years, and you’re wondering if forehead Botox is tax-deductible.
Some reports show the average employee spends over 30 hours a month in unproductive meetings. Multiply that across your team–and the cost adds up fast.
Let’s be real: if your company runs like this, it’s not going to transform overnight.
But small, effective steps can go a long way–here’s how to start fixing things:
⚫️ Every meeting needs an agenda. Period.
“Sync” is not an agenda.
“Just catching up” is not an agenda.
“Hey, while I’ve got you here…” is absolutely not an agenda.
No one likes being ambushed live in front of 10 people while searching for a report from 2002.
If you expect someone to show up with answers, give them context–and a chance to actually prepare.
You prepare too.
🔕 Meeting-free days are sacred.
One day. No meetings. Everyone gets to think, build, or breathe. Let your team vote on what day works best.
They’ll thank you. And ideally… get some actual work done.
⌛️ 30 mins max. Seriously.
The rule is simple: if it doesn’t fit into 30 minutes, it probably wasn’t that important.
Need more time? You need more structure. Or fewer people. Most of the time, a quick async follow-up does the trick–send a Loom, a Slack, whatever your team uses.
Train your team to get to the point. Set a timer. This isn’t therapy.
💸 Check your meeting costs.
What’s the one argument that convinces every CEO, no matter the location or company size? Cutting costs.
It can’t be that bad, right? Well… if your 5-person team (average salary $65k) has 10 one-hour meetings a week, that’s over $80K a year.
Still think that recurring sync is a good investment?
🥲 Do the math: https://fellow.app/tools/meeting-cost-calculator
💀 Recurring meetings? Kill them if they’re dead.
“If there’s nothing this week, let’s just use the time to talk anyway.”
No. Just because it says “weekly” doesn’t mean it deserves to live.
(Yes, I’ve been watching too much Dexter. Still true.)
If there’s no value, cancel it. Updates? Drop them in Slack or your internal tool.
Final word: Respect people’s time like it’s your own.
Not saying you should cancel all meetings—they matter, especially in remote teams. Just be mindful about time and frequency. That alone changes everything.
