Does your calendar resemble a game of Tetris, packed with back-to-back meetings that leave you exhausted and wondering when you'll actually complete your real work? You're far from alone.
Drawing on 24+ years of executive coaching experience across sectors ranging from healthcare to financial services, I'm sharing proven strategies that have helped leaders transform their meeting cultures and reclaim valuable time. At the heart of ineffective meetings lies a fundamental lack of clarity. We dive deep into establishing clear purposes for every agenda item—determining whether it's truly for information sharing (and if so, could it be communicated another way?), for discussion to inform someone else's decision, or for collective decision-making.
This simple framework has helped executive teams eliminate wasted time and accelerate progress on critical initiatives. Beyond purpose, we explore practical techniques for meeting transformation: challenging default hour-long time blocks, abolishing the problematic "any other business" category, creating intentional meeting-free zones in your schedule, and ensuring all voices are heard through structured participation. One healthcare executive team implementing these principles reduced their meeting time by 23% while increasing decision-making efficiency by 40%, creating space for genuine strategic thinking rather than perpetual crisis response.
The way we meet reflects and shapes our organizational culture. By treating the quality of thinking in your meetings as your most valuable asset, you'll not just save time—you'll transform your team's capacity to innovate, adapt, and thrive.
Try the five practical steps outlined in this episode this week, and experience the difference intentional meeting design can make. The future belongs to leaders who create environments where everyone can contribute their best thinking.
Leadership Horizons - Helping You Lead Beyond Boundaries
