How to run better meetings

MEETINGS ABSORB more time and drain morale more consistently than any other corporate activity. Before the pandemic managers were spending an average of 23 hours a week in meetings. Since then the barriers to calling people together have come down. Now that calendars are routinely shared, an empty diary slot attracts invitations like picnics do wasps.

Ideas abound for how to make meetings better. Make people stand up, so they cannot settle in for the long haul. Write a memo on the topic at hand that everyone silently reads together at the outset. Toss a ball to each other to make it clear who has the floor and to stop the loudmouths from dominating. Most desperately of all, set aside time at the start for “fun”.