I want to take you through a little exercise.
​
​Open up your calendar and find a meeting like this:

• it’s synchronous: you get more than 3 colleagues together, all at the same time
• it’s about project updates, or some other very straightforward thing
• It’s with people you’ve worked with loads before — a very familiar group

I’m gonna guess that you found at least one meeting like this in the next 2 weeks. Maybe it's even a recurring one.
​
​This leads me to two recommendations.​
1️. find the stuff you talk about in synchronous meetings that is one-to-many (think 'project updates') and intentionally push that communication to asynchronous spaces
2️. get a handle on why you are meeting so you can design meetings that are fit-for-purpose
​
On the first thing, if a meeting is just straightforward information-sharing, does anyone really need to be there, on a Zoom call, visibly nodding? Probably not.

If it’s about project updates, what if you shared them in writing so you save the in-person time for something more dynamic?
​
It's likely you and the other people attending have thought about this already. Then why do you still have it on your calendar?

I'd guess it's because you get something out of it. You have instincts about the value it provides, but you can’t quite put it into words. And it’s not about the ‘project updates’ themselves.
​
This leads me to the second recommendation. It is more challenging to fix.
​
​We often have meetings that we call one thing, but actually we use it for something else entirely.​
​
Take that meeting that you found. Ask yourself what you get out of it — not what it is officially for, but what you actually get out of it.​
​
Is it a great opportunity to connect with your colleagues? Or maybe it creates an opportunity to identify what support people on the team will need in the coming week? Or maybe you end up reflecting about what you’re learning which opens up creative space?
​
That’s great. Say that!
​
The mistake I see organizations make over and over is they let meetings pile up, with titles and agendas that aren’t accurate. But they keep the meetings anyway because they provide space for something important. You end up spending more time chasing a fictional objective than doing the actual thing you all want.
​
The distance between your stated objectives and your actual objectives in synchronous meetings is the space where confusion, apathy, and wonky conversation grows.
​
But, if you do these two things — push broadcast-type communication to asynchronous spaces + figure out why you are really meeting so you can design a meeting with that in mind — you’ll be surprised how much of your calendar you can repurpose in ways that lead to more impact.