Trim the Meetings — Inspire to get the work done.
How many times do we end up stuck in endless meetings, an annoying string of serial conversations and just general running-the-mouth-and-passing-time-by conversation… but not much really moves when you look back over the day? You got through the meeting, sure — but did anything actually happen? Probably not.
Here’s the truth: unproductive meetings — or even worse, meetings that have no clear purpose — are one of the fastest ways to kill creativity and slow down an organisation. Throughout my career I’ve observed time and time again that some of the best leaders I’ve ever worked for are intentional with their time about the meetings they attend and the meetings they run, and, more importantly, the meetings they don’t have. It is simply down to relevance and results.
Steve Jobs style back in the day at Apple anyone? He didn’t like boring meetings. He’d get the team inspired with an idea, let them run with it, and the only conversations they’d have would be the ones that actually moved the needle. It was never the number of meetings that they had — it was always about the results.
I have also pursued something similar in the past. And I’ve witnessed it work — my teams have become not only more concentrated and effective, but just more efficient. And one of the most basic things that we do? We have one “No Meeting Day” per week. One day a week with no meetings permitted. It allows people to think, to solve problems, and most of all… to do the work.
And for that rare time when a meeting is truly necessary? Keep it lean — only the people who should be there in the room, clear agenda, clear outcomes. That’s it.
More meetings do not produce more results.
Less of them and with purpose — that’s when truth rises.
What do you think? How are you supporting your teams in separating the signal from the noise, and getting to what matters — getting the work done?