Balancing Meeting and Making Time: A Shortcut to Productivity

Our working week is fraught with much to do and not much time, it seems, to get it done. We continue to experience incessant meetings and unending tasks, yet we work hard to find some 'making' time between all these meetings, while engaging in our own creative process with distractions and impediments layered into the act. Striking a balance between meeting time and making time is key to reimagining how we deliver value, meet our objectives, and delight stakeholders in the process.

To create the headspace to identify and cut waste, I need to cut waste in my 'making' time first!

'Making time' is uninterrupted period reserved for ideation and value creation.

Image generated using MidJourney Generative AI.

Whilst essential for collaboration and decision-making, excessive meetings can lead to fatigue, killing both quality and productivity. I'd like you all to get curious and consider this: how might you streamline your meetings? By meeting purposefully for a shorter focused time? Involving only essential people? Adhering to the agenda, time box it, be clear on inputs, outputs and outcomes, and leverage technology for brevity and efficiency? All of the above?

Why not consider 'no-meeting days', or encourage 'focus hours' to preserve blocks of time for deep, creative work, and empower your team to experiment with space to explore what environment facilitates their 'making’-ability?.

The goal is to find personal balance between meeting time and making time, requiring regular self-checks, inspection with teams and adjustment. It's about feeling refreshed, not rushed, and having ample time for idea incubation. It’s important to clarify which approach works best for your team then firmly guide them accordingly. After all, productivity is not about busyness; it's about making our time count.