A calendar can be full of useful meetings and still leave no time to prepare a consequential decision. The problem is visible when an executive arrives at a review without reading the brief, then spends the meeting asking for information that was already available.
The costs include attention, preparation and follow-up as well as the minutes spent together.
Ask what each meeting is for
For the recurring meetings you control, name the result each one is meant to produce. Is it a decision, a coordination agreement or information that can be read independently?
If the purpose is a decision, send the question and supporting evidence beforehand. Invite the people needed to decide or explain the relevant constraints. A larger attendance list can make it harder to know who owns the answer.
If the purpose is information, test whether an accessible written update would do the job. Some discussions need a conversation; others continue because nobody has asked whether the format still serves the work.
Include the time around the meeting
Leave room to read, think and record commitments. Back-to-back meetings make it easy for an unresolved issue to disappear when the next call begins.
Try changing one recurring meeting for a month. Shorten it, change its frequency or replace part of it with a written update. Track whether decisions are made sooner, whether people arrive prepared and whether follow-up becomes clearer.
Use the result to decide what to keep. A lower meeting count is useful only if the work still gets done and people can obtain the decisions they need.
