{"id":7701,"date":"2025-10-26T15:55:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/uncategorized\/too-many-meetings\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T15:57:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:57:34","slug":"too-many-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/governance\/too-many-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Too many meetings?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Too many meetings and not enough good practice documents for meetings?<br\/><br\/>If a person spends more than 20% of their time in meetings, Peter Drucker says, the organisation is sick. I agree. <br\/><br\/>Meetings are often held in order to &#8220;keep the pulse beating&#8221;, &#8220;share information&#8221;, etc. But often a meeting is a way to escape from oneself and one&#8217;s responsibilities. The more and bigger the meetings, the smaller the individual becomes.  <br\/><br\/>Conviviality is a symptom of a system where a sense of security is sought in action, not presence. A system where being fast has become a source of identity and pride &#8211; the winner is the one with more Teams links in the calendar, fewer lunch dates and more burnout experiences. <br\/><br\/>But the question is deeper: do we meet to create something or to avoid the emptiness and fears that arise in silence and reflection?<br\/><br\/>Two simple but tricky practical steps:<br\/>&#8211; Create a gap in your calendar. Less than 20% of working time in meetings &#8211; more time to think, listen and see the big picture. <br\/>&#8211; Look honestly at what you avoid in meetings. Often there is a fear of loneliness, judgement or inadequacy. <br\/><br\/>Of course, getting to these two requires an awareness of something that is invisible &#8211; the meaning of work, acting\/being, fears and insecurities, and much more.<br\/><br\/>But if an organisation wants to make a real difference, it needs to start changing not the number of meetings, but their meaning. Yet another &#8216;good practice&#8217; of meetings will not work if the meaning at a deep level is unconscious. <br\/><br\/>Meeting is a compound word for meeting+meeting. It can only create value when people are in touch with themselves and ready to be there, together. And you don&#8217;t make that change through processes. It is done through awareness.   <br\/><br\/>When meetings become a ritual, not a real thing, it&#8217;s time for a change. Not in the calendar, but in consciousness. This is the work I do with leaders in one way or another every day &#8211; to make being together a value-creating, not ritual avoidance behaviour.  <\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek.jpeg\" alt=\"White text on a blue background: A meeting is a place where a person can feel either important or invisible.&#10;&#10;The problem of overcrowded meetings stems from a lack of awareness of their unconscious desires.&#10;&#10;Ivar Raav's logo&#10;hostile leadership trainer, mentor\" class=\"wp-image-7696\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-650x650.jpeg 650w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-600x600.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/koosolek-100x100.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Too many meetings and not enough good practice documents for meetings? If a person spends more than 20% of their time in meetings, Peter Drucker says, the organisation is sick. I agree. Meetings are often held in order to &#8220;keep the pulse beating&#8221;, &#8220;share information&#8221;, etc. But often a meeting is a way to escape [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7702,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions\/7702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivarraav.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}