How to Have Productive Meetings
On Tuesday morning, January 3rd 2023, Shopify employees came back from their holiday break to a surprise. Upon turning on their PCs, they found a memo instructing them to lighten up their calendars by canceling all recurring meetings of more than two people.1
Not only that: they were instructed to make Wednesdays “meeting-free” zones and move any large meetings within a six-hour block on Thursdays. They even met a bot that urged them to think twice before scheduling a meeting. Not long after, the Shopify Meeting Cost Calculator was introduced, a forceful reminder to say “no” to meetings as much as possible.
Shopify isn’t the only company to take a firm stand against meeting overload. Many organizations, including Facebook, Accenture, Slack, Asana, NPR and Atlassian, have gone on a “meeting diet”.2 Still, the tech giant’s January mandate caused considerable upheaval on social media platforms.3 Some characterized the move as "bold" and "brilliant", while others thought it "an overcorrection" that will lead to isolation.4 Which is it?
References
- McGregor, J. (2023, February 1). This company is canceling all meetings with more than two employees to free up workers’ time. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2023/01/03/shopify-is-canceling-all-meetings-with-more-than-two-people-from-workers-calendars-and-urging-few-to-be-added-back/
- Jones, D. (2023, July 31). No meeting days: Why & how to implement them. tl;dv. https://tldv.io/blog/no-meeting-days-benefits/
- Hsu, A., & Smith, S. V. (2023, February 15). Shopify deleted 322,000 hours of meetings. Should the rest of us be jealous? NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1156804295/shopify-delete-meetings-zoom-virtual-productivity#:~:text=To%20be%20clear%2C%20meetings%20are%20not%20gone%20all,are%20complying%20with%20their%20%22No%20Meetings%20Wednesdays%22%20policy
- Demopoulos, A. (2023). The company purging meetings from calendars: “uninterrupted time is precious.” The Guardian News and Media Ltd. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jan/06/work-meetings-shopify-isolation
- Otter AI. (2021). Shocking meeting statistics in 2021 that will take you by surprise. Otter.ai. https://otter.ai/blog/meeting-statistics
- Rogelberg, S. G., Leach, D., Warr, P., & Burnfield, J. L. (2006). “Not another meeting!” Are meeting time demands related to employee Well-Being? Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.83
- Perlow, L. A. (2017, June 26). Stop the meeting madness. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/07/stop-the-meeting-madness
- Estrada, S. (2023). Shopify’s CFO explains how its new meeting cost calculator works, and how it will cut 474,000 events in 2023: ‘Time is money’. Yahoo Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shopify-cfo-explains-meeting-cost-105829140.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMYMYYdxpIXbG2d0kcau97bpHT--gC-_Bo6SDfbmboTY5o8buB5zom21lc-0KNmLVsAJuLMvfJIesgyQGnTVh_tIcliNy7EcMbqJ1AKklisqyXpObUavUcE7B-a38N9gKVpJ15LZnDAIaOuVwshPE9zy-WtUkpgAmULc1BfQBxgu
- Rogelberg, S., Scott, C. & Cello, J. (2007). The Science and Fiction of Meetings. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cliff-Scott/publication/265508855_The_Science_and_Fiction_of_Meetings/links/54107b050cf2df04e75d5eaa/The-Science-and-Fiction-of-Meetings.pdf
- Talks at Google. (2019, October 16). The Surprising Science of Meetings | Dr. Steven Rogelberg | Talks at Google [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWIlZosXxCM
- Rogelberg, S. (2019). The surprising science of meetings: how you can lead your team to peak performance. Oxford University Press.
- Infocom. (2023). Meetings in America: A study of trends, costs, and attitudes toward business travel and teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity. Verizon. Retrieved from: https://e-meetings.verizonbusiness.com/global/en/meetingsinamerica/uswhitepaper.php
- See 11
- Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why. Penguin Books.
- Effective decision making and the rule of 7. (2020, January 23). Bain. https://www.bain.com/insights/effective-decision-making-and-the-rule-of-7/#:~:text=en-,Once%20you've%20got%207%20people%20in%20a%20decision%2Dmaking,Blenko%2C%20Michael%20C
- Hertwig, R., & Grüne-Yanoff, T. (2017). Nudging and boosting: steering or empowering good decisions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(6), 973–986. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617702496
- Reijula, S., & Hertwig, R. (2020). Self-nudging and the citizen choice architect. Behavioural Public Policy, 6(1), 119–149. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2020.5
About the Author
Melina Moleskis
Dr. Melina Moleskis is the founder of meta-decisions, a consultancy that leverages management science and behavioral economics to help people and organizations make better decisions. Drawing from her dual background in business and academia, she works with determination towards uncovering pragmatic, sustainable solutions that improve performance for clients. Melina is also a visiting Professor of Technology Management as she enjoys spending time in the classroom (teaching as the best route to learning) and is always on the lookout for technology applications in behavioral science. In her prior roles, Melina has served as an economic and business consultant for 7 years in various countries, gaining international experience across industries and the public sector. She holds a PhD in Managerial Decision Science from IESE Business School, MBA in Strategy from NYU Stern and BSc in Mathematics and Economics from London School of Economics.
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