What Is ‘Calendar Bankruptcy’?

When you have a meeting, make sure it’s planned, with an agenda and a time limit. Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

Meetings help bring people together and ensure everyone is on the same page. But having too many meetings can cause more problems than they are meant to prevent. Meeting overload can drain people’s energy and destroy morale.

The point of meetings is to help people complete their work, but sometimes they actually hinder people from accomplishing tasks. So what should you do if your employees have meeting overload?

Declare “Calendar Bankruptcy”

The Harvard Business Review surveyed 182 senior managers about the number of meetings they were having and what their thoughts were. The Review found that 65 percent said meetings kept them from completing their work. Seventy-one percent said their meetings were unproductive, and 62 percent said meetings didn’t optimize bringing the team closer together.