02-28-2026CAREER EVOLUTION

How to design meetings that move things forward (not waste your time)

A framework like Pause-Consider-Act can help you rethink when you meet and how to maximize it.

[Images: Hafiz/Adobe Stock; selim/Adobe Stock]

I’ll never forget the first time I heard someone say, “This meeting could’ve been an email.” You can probably imagine exactly the voice they said it in (and what their face looked like). You’re probably heard it many times yourself. 

The meeting in question was a project check-in with multiple departments, where we’d spent an hour listening to one person giving an update that could have been written in a few bullet points. The rest of us just sat there, nodding along, waiting for it to end. No one really needed to speak, no one gave feedback, and no one asked any questions. As we all shuffled out, someone muttered, “Well, that was a waste of time,” and I couldn’t help but agree. The wasted hour likely meant I’d be working an extra hour that night with my laptop cracked open on my couch.

It got me thinking: Should we cancel these types of meetings altogether and just rely on email updates? What’s the point of meeting if it’s not helping anyone?

Ditch the conference room

One of the biggest misconceptions about meetings is that they always need to be in a formal conference room with a set agenda and an hour on the clock. In reality, the most effective meetings don’t always look like that, especially depending on your industry or the makeup of your team. 

For example, if you’re working in health care, manufacturing, or retail, your meetings might take the form of pre- or post-shift huddles. For teams that work remotely or across different time zones, you may turn instead to asynchronous communication methods, like shared documents or video updates, instead of meeting in real time. The key is to adapt your meeting style to the needs of your team.

But effective meetings aren’t just about planning; they’re also about how you engage with your team during them. This is where active listening becomes essential.

For managers, using the Pause-Consider-Act framework can help ensure your meetings are effective and purposeful. It’s all about stopping to think about the structure, content, and timing of your meetings.

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