How to Manage Meeting Overload with Style

To paraphrase the famous psychologist Abraham Maslow: “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

I don't usually swing a hammer due to my tendency to injure myself and those around me, but I've always appreciated the expression. When we walk around with a single solution in-hand, we assume every problem requires this very solution. A hammer can do a lot of things. But try to mend a cracked phone or a broken heart with a hammer and your ending won’t be a happy one.

This is how I think of meetings in the workplace. We hold them like a hammer. Have a problem to solve? Need to generate ideas? Have a message to deliver? Need an update on a project? Have data to review? Schedule a meeting.

Without meetings, we wouldn’t have a canon of Dilbert comics to keep us chuckling. And then where would we be?

Now, I’m not saying meetings are bad. Meetings are excellent drivers of collaboration, connection, innovation, and alignment. They offer tremendous value when scheduled for the right reasons, with the right people, for the right amount of time, with the right objectives. Frankly, without meetings, we wouldn’t have a canon of Dilbert comics to keep us chuckling. And then where would we be?

Meetings are also great at robbing you of the free time you need to get work done. So how can you make better decisions about when to attend meetings? And if your gut says to opt out, how can you do that without damaging your reputation?

Adjust your meeting mindset

When a meeting request comes through, chances are you peek at your calendar, and if that slot is available, you click “accept.”

But you have a job to do. There are outcomes and impacts that are yours to deliver. Your time and energy are finite resources. It’s your job to be mindful of how and where they're spent.

Are there certain meetings you’ll just have to attend because your boss expects it or it’s part of your company’s culture? Sure. The goal isn’t to have zero meetings or 100 percent control of your calendar. The goal is to shift your mindset when you consider what your time means and how you allocate it.

Don’t allow someone else’s agenda to shape your day.

Think about your time like you think about your finances. Where will you invest? Where will you save? When you have $5 in your pocket, hopefully, you don’t spend it on the first $5 widget you see. Instead, you should spend it on something useful, something you need, or something you'll enjoy. The same goes for your time. You have an open hour, but that’s yours...

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