Your Meeting Problem Isn't About Meetings
We blame bad agendas and poor facilitation, but packed calendars are a symptom of a deeper organizational sickness. Here’s how to diagnose the real
“This meeting could’ve been an email.”
We’ve all said it. Most of us have meant it.
At one job, my calendar was so packed with meetings I had exactly two days a week—two—to do actual work. Sound familiar?
We hold meetings to align, clarify decisions, and energize real progress.
So why do they so often feel like energy vampires?
Here’s the data: it’s not just poor facilitation. It’s a canary in the coal mine. A sign that something deeper isn’t working.
We’re Living in the Age of Meeting Sprawl
Flowtrace, which analyzes meeting data across millions of users, found that 45% of employees feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings they’re required to attend. Harvard Business Review reports that executives now spend 23 hours per week in meetings—double the less than 10 hours per week logged pre-1960s.
Microsoft says Teams usage has skyrocketed 192% since early 2020, with some employees clocking as many as eight hours per week on video calls alone.
This isn’t just a calendar problem—it’s a chronic leakage of energy, focus, and the space to do real work.
The Meeting Isn’t the Problem. It’s the Symptom.
McKinsey lays it out succinctly: good meetings have purpose, preparation, and a structure for presentation. Fair enough.
But let’s be honest— even the best meeting framework won’t fix a broken system.
When we plaster agendas and time limits on top of structural dysfunction, we’re not solving anything.
We’re just installing a state-of-the-art GPS on a boat with a broken rudder.
Late invites: Flowtrace reports that 35% of meetings are scheduled with less than 24 hours’ notice. That’s not agility—that’s anarchy.
Meeting creep: Research from Together shows that between 2000 and 2020, average meeting length increased by 8–10% per year. That five-minute check-in metastasizes into an hour-long monster.
Productivity vampires: Microsoft calls unproductive meetings the #1 workplace distraction, outranking email, chat, phone calls, and in-person interruptions.
These aren’t occasional irritants. They’re symptoms.
And symptoms are there to tell you that your body—in this case, your organization—may not be well.
The Dysfunction That’s Dragging Your Meetings Under
Meetings go sideways when the system underneath them isn’t humming. They become the place where deeper problems act out:
Decision-making roles are unclear
No one feels safe rocking the boat
Consensus-seeking is theater
Leadership is out of step with clarity and accountability
As McKinsey’s research on decision-making makes clear, productive meetings require clear decision rights and a process for making decisions. Without that, meetings don’t solve dysfunction—they just paper over it.
How to Start the Diagnosis from Your Seat
Here’s the thing: you don’t need a shiny new meeting framework to start surfacing—and shifting—what’s not working.
Yes, meetings are symptoms of dysfunction. But that doesn’t mean you just have to take it.
You don’t need a C-suite perch to see—and move—what’s broken. You can help surface the dysfunction instead of tiptoeing around it. Not by being disruptive, but by being more intentional.
If you’re a Manager or Team Lead:
Frame Every Invite as a Question
Before you hit send on that meeting invite, stop.
Ask: What’s the actual question we’re here to answer?
What decision needs to be made?
If you can’t name it, maybe you don’t need the meeting—you need to do more thinking. Put the question at the top of the agenda.
Clarify Roles Up Front
Start by clarifying purpose and decision rights:
“We’re here to decide on the Q4 marketing budget. Tracy’s the decision-maker. The goal is to give her the perspectives she needs to make the call.”
You’ve just knocked out the ambiguity—and the theatricality.
If you’re an Individual Contributor:
Bring One Sharp Question
Show up with one clear question that cuts through the haze:
“What’s the biggest risk in this plan?”
“How will we measure success?”
That one shift can change the whole dynamic.
Connect the Dots
Start your input by building on what someone else said:
“Building on what Omari said about timeline pressure, I’m concerned about resource constraints.”
Now your comment isn’t just your POV—it’s collective thinking.
Challenge the Room (With Respect)
When everyone’s nodding a little too gleefully, step in and play devil’s advocate—gently:
“What if this doesn’t work the way we expect? Do we have a backup?”
That one question can unearth assumptions no one thought to test.
By showing up with intention, you stop being a passive victim of bad meetings.
You become a signal booster for what’s not working—and what needs to change.
Because if we just treat meetings as the problem, we’ll never fix the deeper dysfunction they’re pointing to.
And that’s how you end up in a 90-minute sync… that ends in another meeting.