In today’s business world, many organizations are making a real effort to reduce unnecessary email communication.
The reason is simple: some employees receive hundreds of emails every day. By thinking twice before pressing “Send,” and choosing a quick Teams message, WhatsApp update, or face-to-face conversation when appropriate, companies can significantly reduce inbox overload and improve overall efficiency.
But there is another productivity killer that often receives far less attention: meetings.
Every organization has them. Weekly operations meetings. Marketing meetings. Financial reviews. Department updates. Monthly business reviews. Some are essential. Many are not.
The question every leader should ask is:
Does this meeting really need to happen?
A meeting should exist for one reason only: to make decisions, solve problems, or align people around clear actions. If the same objective can be achieved with a concise email, a shared presentation, or a short message on Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp, then valuable working hours can be saved.
One leadership example that has always impressed me is the approach of the chairman of Emaar Properties, the company behind the iconic Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. It has often been reported that many of his meetings are conducted while standing. The idea is simple: when people stand, discussions become more focused, decisions come faster, and meetings naturally become shorter.
Perhaps that raises another important question:
Does every meeting really need to last one hour?
Could many of them be completed in 20 minutes?
When meetings are well prepared, everyone arrives knowing the agenda, discussions stay focused, unnecessary details are avoided, and every participant leaves with clear action items. That is productive leadership.
The same principle applies to presentations. Does every new product launch require a one-hour presentation? Or could a concise presentation be shared digitally for everyone to review at their convenience, allowing only important questions to be discussed afterward?
Every hour spent sitting in an unnecessary meeting is an hour not spent serving customers, improving operations, developing people, or growing the business.
Productivity is not measured by the number of meetings on a calendar. It is measured by the value created between those meetings.
As leaders, we should challenge ourselves to ask before sending every meeting invitation:
– Is this meeting necessary?
– Who really needs to attend?
– Can it be completed in 20 minutes?
– Could this be communicated more efficiently another way?
– What decision or action should exist when the meeting ends?
The companies that learn to communicate smarter—not simply more often—will free up hundreds of productive hours every year. Those hours can then be invested where they truly matter: innovation, customer satisfaction, operational excellence, and profitable growth.
Sometimes, the most productive meeting… is the one that never needed to happen.
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