15. Death by Meetings Reclaiming the Calendar

A series about business efficiency, finding profit and how to get there

Introduction
There’s an old joke in business “This meeting could have been an email.”

But for many SMEs, it’s no joke at all. Meetings, whether in person or virtual, are eating into productivity. They sprawl. They repeat. They involve people who don’t need to be there. And too often, they achieve nothing but more meetings.

In a business focused on efficiency, your calendar is your budget and meetings are one of the biggest, quietest expenses.

Time spent in meetings is time not spent -

• Creating value

• Solving customer problems

• Building systems

• Coaching staff

• Making profit

 The real problem isn’t that you have meetings. It’s that your meetings aren’t earning their keep.

Actions to Be Taken
Here’s how to reclaim your calendar, sharpen your meeting culture and put time back where it belongs - into focused work and smart decision-making.

Audit Your Calendar
Look at the last four weeks. Tally -

• Total hours spent in meetings

• Which were recurring

• Which led to action

• Who was present (and who didn’t need to be)

 You’ll likely see patterns the same people, too many attendees, unclear outcomes, or meetings booked “just in case.”

Set a “No Meeting” Policy (One Day or Half-Day Weekly)
Protect blocks of deep work time. Even a half-day per week without meetings can unlock creative energy and project momentum.

Ban Meetings Without an Agenda
No agenda? No meeting. Require every meeting to have-

• A clear purpose (“Decision on X”, “Review of Y”)

• Expected outcomes

• Assigned facilitator or owner

 Use shared docs or tools like Notion, Google Docs, or Loomio to pre-circulate content.

Cap Meeting Length and Attendance

• Default to 30 minutes, not 60

• Keep meetings under 6 attendees when possible

• If someone is only “there just in case,” cut them loose — and share notes instead

Use Alternatives
Not everything needs a meeting. Try -

• Loom videos for updates or feedback

• Shared docs for async decision-making

• Slack/Teams polls for quick alignment

• Email + action items instead of rehashing in real time

End with Decisions, Not Just Discussions
Every meeting should end with -

• Clear action items

• Owners and deadlines

• A one-sentence summary of the decision (or next step)

 If there’s no output, ask Why did we meet at all?

Psychological Perspective
People don’t just hate meetings because they’re boring. They hate them because they feel powerless inside them.

Meetings with unclear goals, dominant voices, or no follow-up create resentment and fatigue. People feel their time isn’t valued and over time, meetings become performative. We show up, we nod, we escape.

Flipping the culture around meetings creates psychological safety. It says -

• Your time matters

• We trust you to work independently

• We care about outcomes, not optics

That shift unlocks attention, initiative and energy.

HR Best Practice
HR has a unique role in shaping meeting culture - both by example and by design.

Best practices include -

• Training managers on facilitation, not just participation

• Introducing meeting guidelines into onboarding (e.g., how meetings are run, when they’re needed)

• Creating space for quiet voices — use structured rounds, shared notes, or polls to capture input

• Including “meeting hygiene” in performance feedback for leadership roles

 Also, be the champion of alternatives. Show what can be achieved outside the room.

Red Flags to Watch For and Mitigate Against
You’re in “death by meetings” mode if -

• People are booked into meetings all day with no time to do actual work

• Meetings start late, end late, or achieve little

• The same topics keep coming up with no decisions made

• Attendees multitask, stay silent, or disengage

• Action items are vague or forgotten within hours

Every inefficient meeting is a profit leak and a signal of deeper issues in decision-making, trust, or communication.

Narrative Story

Meet Alan from Nelson
Alan runs a creative studio in Nelson. His team was collaborative - but constantly stuck in meetings. Design approvals, project huddles, client debriefs. Some days, no one created anything.

So he did a one-month experiment -

• Cancelled all standing meetings

• Introduced a shared Monday board with priorities and ownership

• Required agendas and outcomes for any new meetings

• Created “no meeting mornings” three times a week

In four weeks -

• Output increased

• Team satisfaction improved

• Projects moved faster

• Clients got answers quicker

Alan’s reflection - “The silence felt weird at first. But then we realised - that’s the sound of people actually working.”

Golden Nugget
Meetings aren’t bad - but bad meetings are everywhere. Fix your calendar and you’ll fix your focus.

If you’d like a confidential, free of charge, free of obligation conversation about your business, here’s how to get me.

 📞 Phone +64 275 665 682
✉️ Email john.luxton@regenerationhq.co.nz
🌐 Contact Form www.regenerationhq.co.nz/contact

If you’d like to read more RegenerationHQ thinking on SME business and other things, go here – www.regenerationhq.co.nz/articlesoverview

🔹 RegenerationHQ Ltd - Business Problems Solved Sensibly.
Supporting NZ SME Owners to Exit Well, Lead Better and Build Business Value.