When I was young and encouraged to invest my saved allowance in stocks, I asked my dad what to buy.  He advised: "Start by looking at companies that make or do things you like. Invest in companies you trust."

I applied this approach as an executive director, including to meetings. I've always disliked meetings, finding many to be time-wasters that interrupt productivity and efficiency, too often serving as platforms for self-promotion and not much else.  Consequently, I minimized standing meetings (three to five monthly) and only ever called meetings with clear, measurable purposes.  Wise back then, it is still wise now; the 2023 Microsoft Workplace Trend report identified excessive and inefficient meetings as two of the five biggest obstacles to organizational productivity.

Late in my tenure, I introduced a "three-email rule" to combat lengthy email chains:  if an issue wasn't resolved in three emails, it was time for a phone call or, if necessary, a meeting. However, this solution brought its own challenges. Recent data from SlickText shows that 60.5% of employees don't read all of their emails. According to Source, the average employee receives 74 emails daily while sending only 26, typically spending just 2-3 minutes reading each.  Which means they may not be reading all of the emails they choose to read.  Email "ignore rates" increase when subject lines exceed seven words. And, according to a Babbel study, most Gen Z employees find their email volume stressful, potentially explaining the 74% surge in employee mental health leave requests (Littler) and the 11-year low in employee engagement, particularly affecting Gen Z (Trusaic).  Uh oh!

Clearly, excessive meetings and emails often counteract their intended goals of increasing productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Are there other options?  What follows is by no means an exhaustive list of alternatives, nor is every suggestion going to be right for your organization’s culture.  

1. Brainstorm with your group (yes, a meeting; sorry) with your group for their ideas.

2. Establish meeting-free days or time blocks.  Only a true emergency is grounds for violating these free zones.  

3. Use asynchronous communication other than just email, such as instant messaging or project management software.

4. Hold brief, highly focused “stand-up meetings.”  Yup; as the name says, no one is sitting around a table.

5. Institute posted “office hours” for everyone during which anyone can pop in for open discussions and questions.   

But if a meeting or email is needed, consider the following.  (For ease of writing, I’m framing these in terms of a meeting; each can easily be asked of an email.)

• What is the purpose of the meeting?  Is there a more efficient and less disruptive to achieve the same end?  For example, Source found that within an hour of receiving an afternoon internal email broadcast, 40% of the audience will have read it; within 24 hours, it will be read by 95% of the audience.)  Be crystal clear on why this activity is necessary.

• Who needs to be there and why?  Avoid inviting unnecessary participants.  The usual suspects aren’t always needed. 

• Are there any obstacles that might prevent achieving the meeting’s goal(s)?  Will key players be absent for all of the meeting? Is there sufficient time for everyone to do the prep work?  

• How will you measure success of the meeting?  If you can’t figure this out, why are holding a meeting?

Remember, performance evaluations don’t ask about meeting attendance or email volume. They focus on accomplishments and factors contributing to success. Never have meetings or emails ever been cited as accomplishments or key success factors.