It’s time for the traditional business meeting to be taken out to pasture.
Cause of death? Thousands of cuts in the form of: pointless agendas, rambling monologues, and that one guy who turns a 5-minute update into his personal TED talk. We’ve all been held hostage in conference rooms, on Zoom (or Google Meet, or, cringe, Microsoft Teams) wondering if jumping out the window would hurt less than sitting through another 45 minutes of this torture.
By now, I’ve attended thousands of meetings across several companies. Most were forgettable. Some were productive. A precious few actually energized people. The difference wasn’t fancy technology or elaborate frameworks, it was about respecting the fundamental truth that meetings steal people’s lives in 30-minute increments.
So here’s how to run meetings that don’t make your team fantasize about your eventual downfall.
First, Kill Half Your Meetings Tomorrow
No, seriously. Take a hard look at your calendar. At least 50% of your recurring meetings should die immediately. That weekly status update? Kill it. Replace it with a Slack thread or async document. That “alignment” meeting with no clear outcome? Murder it without mercy. That monthly “team meeting” that everyone dreads? Put it out of its misery.
I once canceled 14 recurring meetings in a single day as a new department head. Nobody complained. Several people thanked me privately, looking shell-shocked, as if they couldn’t believe their sudden freedom was real.
Never Schedule a Meeting Without Answering These Questions
Before you inflict a meeting on others, answer these:
— What specific decision needs to be made? (Not discussed! MADE)
— Why can’t this happen via email, Slack, or document?
— Who would be genuinely devastated if they weren’t included?
— What precise outcome would make this meeting a success?
If you’re struggling with these questions, congratulations, you’ve just saved everyone thirty to sixty minutes of their lives.
Agendas Are Non-Negotiable, But Not For the Reason You Think
Everyone says you need an agenda. What they don’t tell you is why: Without one, your meeting will inevitably be hijacked by the loudest, most desperate person in the room. An agenda isn’t about organization. It’s about power. It prevents whoever’s having the worst day from derailing everything with their personal crisis.
The best agendas include the specific decisions that must be made (not topics, decisions), pre-reading materials sent at least 24 hours in advance, time allocations that seem almost offensively short, and clear indication of who’s leading each section.
I walk out of a meeting if the organizer seems to want to just riff on some ideas. Nope. My work life is too chaotic for “riffing.”
The 15-Minute Default Should Be Law
Google Calendar defaults to 30-minute meetings because Google hates you and wants you to suffer. Change your default to 15 minutes. Immediately. Every meeting expands to fill the time allotted, so allot less time.
“But we need more time to…” No, you don’t. You need constraints. You need pressure. You need the looming threat of the meeting ending before you’ve solved the problem. I’ve seen more breakthroughs in the last 3 minutes of a 15-minute meeting than in the middle 45 minutes of a 60-minute slog.
The Loudest Voice Rarely Has the Best Ideas
In every meeting, there’s at least one person who hasn’t said a word. They’re either: Checked out completely (in which case, why are they there?), thinking deeply and reaching conclusions while others ramble, or too junior or too intimidated to speak up. It’s your job to find out which it is.
Try:
“We haven’t heard from Raj yet. Raj, what angles are we missing here?”
Not:
“Raj, what do you think?” That’s too vague and puts them on the spot.
The best meetings have a facilitator brave enough to say, “Thanks, Stephanie. You’ve made that point three times now. Let’s hear from someone else.”
Remote Meetings Need Even Stricter Rules
Remote meetings amplify every problem of in-person meetings while adding exciting new ones! Rules that save remote meetings: Cameras on. Period. If you’re too busy to be present, you’re too busy for this meeting. No multitasking. We can all see you typing something else. We all hate you for it. Use the chat, but strategically, for links, references, quick votes, not parallel conversations. End 5 minutes early to give people bio breaks between Zoom calls.
I’ve kicked a fellow manager out of a remote meeting for obviously working on something else. Was it uncomfortable? Yes. Did meeting behavior improve dramatically after that? Also yes.
The Follow-Up Makes or Breaks Everything
A meeting without clear follow-up is just expensive conversation. Within 24 hours, send: Decisions made (not a play-by-play of discussions), action items with INDIVIDUAL owners (not teams) and deadlines, open questions that still need resolution, and when/how the group will check progress. Format matters. No one reads paragraph-heavy notes. Use bullets, bold names, highlight deadlines.
Maybe We Don’t Need Another Framework
The internet is littered with meeting frameworks promising revolutionary effectiveness. Most are overcomplicated or state the obvious. The truth is simpler: Respect people’s time as if it were as valuable as your own. Because it is.
Ask yourself: “If everyone ran meetings like I do, would work be better or worse?” If you’re not sure of the answer, that’s your sign. A great meeting isn’t about productivity theater, it’s about moving things forward while treating humans like humans, not calendar blocks. And sometimes, the most respectful thing you can do is not schedule the meeting at all.