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Meeting-Free Mondays
The pros and cons of a regular day without meetings
For the last six months, my team has followed a simple productivity practice. We don’t have meetings on Mondays.
The idea emerged after I spoke to my team about their productivity habits. It felt intrusive to enquire how they got their work done, but I swallowed my concerns and probed during one-to-one meetings. I decided it was my responsibility to ensure my team worked effectively, even if it led to awkward questions.
Apparently Nobody Does Productivity
My first insight from these conversations was that everyone manages their time differently. Nobody was following a prescribed methodology. For most, it was a scrappy to-do list and emails left in inboxes until they were “done”. It was notable how much was being retained in people’s minds, and how reactive their activities appeared to be. The to-do lists were tracking things they needed to respond to rather than lists of important things to do.
Though I ached to demand the adoption of a concrete productivity methodology, I knew I had to be cautious. As with alcoholics, the desire for change needs to come from within. I decided to focus on one frequently raised topic and provide space for people to experiment themselves.
