Time Management and Productivity Coach at Alexis Haselberger Coaching and Consulting, Inc
Answered 6 months ago
1. What did you implement? (No-meeting Mondays? Full blackout weeks?) Since I started my business in 2018, I've instituted a no-meeting day. And it's something that I urge my clients to experiment with on on their teams, or even solo. I've tested all the different days of the week, and found that Monday is the day that is most effective for a no-meeting day and I've been doing this consistently for years now. The reason Monday works best is that 1) you start off the week very productive and in focus mode and 2) it's less likely to get eaten up by exceptions. Friday seems to be the worst day (albeit the most common) for a no-meeting day because by the end of the week there's all sorts of "urgent" stuff that feels like it can't wait until next week, so people are more willing to make exceptions. I've also, at times, done a "no meeting week" when I needed to get a major project completed and that has also been very effective. In previous roles (as head of HR/Operations, I'd instituted a no meeting day once a month for all staff. 2. What changed as a result? (More productivity? Communication gaps?) \ I'm convinced that the reason I've been able to write an article a week for 7 years is because of my "no meeting Mondays", or produce a weekly podcast starting in 2024, in addition to servicing all of my clients. Monday is the day for working on the business vs. in the business. It also makes it a lot easier to plan for the week, when you know that you'll have a whole day of uninterrupted time; instead of context switching, I use this time to make major headway on big projects and I try to keep email and admin to a bare minimum. There have been only positive effects from this practice. 3. What's your best tip for making a no-meeting policy work long-term? The goal is to explore real-world takeaways from people who've tested this growing trend in workplace flexibility. - Choose a day earlier in the week, as it'll be less likely that you'll make exceptions. - If you work on a team, or run a business, try to get everyone on board for the same "no meeting day" so that it'll be easier to schedule around. - Experiment with what works. Mondays work for me, but some of my clients have had lots of success with "no meeting mornings" or "no meeting afternoons". Try something out for a few weeks, take note of what's working and what's not, and iterate. - Communicate expectations. If you'll be off email/Slack, use and OoO reply explaining why.
Vice President of Operations & Integrator at Task Master Inc.
Answered 6 months ago
As Operations Leader at Task Masters, our landscape and renovation team was struggling with endless jobsite meetings pulling crews off task. We implemented "Field-Focused Fridays" - no office meetings, just direct site work and client visits. We still allow critical safety huddles that are limited to 10 minutes, which preserved our strong safety culture. The results transformed our project timelines. Completion rates improved by roughly 15% on designated days with materials arriving on schedule since our team could focus on deliveries without interruption. Our designers produced more detailed plans, leading to fewer mid-project changes that previously plagued our workflow. My tip for sustainability is making it part of your company culture, not just a policy. Our TM Masters mentorship program now teaches scheduling efficiency as a core skill, and we've implemented a "Needs vs. Nice" communication framework. Critical needs get immediate attention, while "nice to discuss" items go in a shared document for scheduled review. After 25 years building Task Masters from "young kids working with hand tools" to managing over 5,000 spaces, I've found that balancing communication with uninterrupted work time is crucial. Our clients notice the difference - projects move faster, and our craftsmen can focus on creating those outdoor living spaces that genuinely transform how families enjoy their homes.
1. What did you implement? (No-meeting Mondays? Full blackout weeks?) Our policy was no internal meetings scheduled before 12 PM in each employee's local time zone. The aim was to protect at least the morning hours for deep, focused work when energy levels are often highest, but with enough flexibility to fit in meetings as needed through the rest of the day. 2. What changed as a result? (More productivity? Communication gaps?) We definitely saw improved morning productivity and fewer complaints about early meetings disrupting deep workflows. Team members frequently mentioned finally having the dedicated, uninterrupted time to make significant headway on complex tasks. Our talent acquisition team was the most vocal about the benefits - they really enjoyed more focused time to carefully review candidate applications, and conduct in-depth interviews without back-to-back scheduling pressure. With more uninterrupted time, they were able to connect better with candidates and find high-quality hires. Of course, we needed to be careful that we weren't overloading afternoons and essentially shifting the problem somewhere else. When managers face back-to-back calls from 1 to 5, it's impossible to keep the same level of energy throughout the afternoon. 3. What's your best tip for making a no-meeting policy work long-term? Protecting focus time is great, but it needs to be paired with strong guidelines and training on effective meeting hygiene so that when meetings do happen, they're still useful for everyone. Encourage asynchronous communication first, and give every meeting a clear goal and agenda. You need to build a culture where your teammates feel comfortable declining non-essential invites. State those expectations clearly and often in team meetings, company all-hands, and internal comms. Frame declining unnecessary meetings not as being unhelpful or difficult, but as being responsible with company time and protecting focus.
As CEO of ProLink IT Services, I've implemented a "No-Meeting Wednesdays" policy following the massive shift to remote work during COVID-19. I noticed our team was experiencing meeting fatigue as we switched to virtual collaboration, which was limiting their ability to tackle complex IT problems for our clients. The results were eye-opening. Our system monitoring alerts showed a 35% faster response time on Wednesdays. Engineers completed 27% more cybersecurity assessments and cloud migrations without interruption. However, we finded communication gaps around urgent client issues, which initially created some service delays. My best tip for long-term success is implementing a tiered emergency protocol. At ProLink, we created a three-level system: Level 1 emergencies (like ransomware attacks) can break the no-meeting rule, Level 2 issues are addressed through dedicated Slack channels, and Level 3 items wait until Thursday. This structure prevents meeting creep while ensuring critical client needs are still met. The veteran discipline from my military background proved essential in maintaining boundaries. We conduct monthly policy reviews to identify what constitutes a true emergency and adjust our approach accordingly. I've found that when measuring performance metrics transparently, teams start to protect their meeting-free time because they can clearly see their productivity gains.
1. We've had a no-meeting day/week (Wednesdays) at Livit for the last 7 years, where no internal, recurring meetings should be scheduled. We also strongly recommend everyone to keep at least some of their other mornings meetings-free and prioritize focused work during the most productive time of the day (which for most people is before lunch). 2. We've experienced no communication gaps because we have solid asynchronous communication practices* (see below for more info). People got more focused work done and moved the needle on tasks and projects that matter. We also have an internal meeting "budget" or cap; the rule of thumb is max. 10% of the weekly work time to be spent in internal, recurring meetings. That's 3-4 hours for most of us. We also avoid big meetings - 99% should have up to 6, max 8 people in them. 3. Best tips: 1. Make sure it's company-wide, otherwise (e.g. if different teams have different no-meeting days) people will get pulled into cross-team meetings. 2. "Audit" enforcement every now and then and call out "offenders" if needed. Meeting creep is very real. 3. Make sure top management follows it and role-models, otherwise it will be just on paper. *More on async practices, this is part of our policy: At Livit, we are "meeting skeptical". We actively practice asynchronous work and we have seen in practice that meetings should not be the default way to reach decisions, work on something as a team or move work forward in general. Here is how we keep a healthy and productive meeting culture in Livit. One guiding principle before we even think of meetings: Our main job is to get stuff done, not to sit in meetings. And most things don't need to be meetings. These are 3 good alternatives: 1. Shared, collaborative document to brainstorm ideas - Google Docs, Miro, Jamboard, etc 2. Provide context and describe a problem or a solution using a video or audio - both Loom and Slack audio/video clips are great. No need to pull the whole team in if we just have 5-10 min of content to be shared/communicated, and doing this often forces us to crystallize our thinking and solve problems faster than discussing for 1 hour. 3. Sharing written updates - no need for meetings to simply update the status on a couple of things, Slack and ClickUp are perfect for that. Use them liberally.
At Cisco, I implemented "Focus Fridays" on my remote team: blocked calendars, no meetings, just collective deep work. We planned for it throughout the week, aligning priorities and sharpening our employee feedback literacy—building habits of seeking, giving, receiving, processing, and using feedback to keep Fridays truly distraction-free. Over time, we found Focus Fridays were even more effective when we all logged into our video platform together with mics and cameras off; if someone needed help, they'd quietly DM a teammate and pop into a breakout room. In the final five minutes of the session, we'd regroup to quickly share our progress, surface any roadblocks, and align on next steps. This community-inspired deep work model helped us stay accountable to each other while driving exceptional marketing results that led to a quarterly award.
We didn't just reduce meetings at Legacy--we redefined how we spend time. We made "No-Meeting Fridays" an experiment for a month. It was so beneficial, we made it permanent. The transformation was measurable: collectively, our group improved task accomplishment and also experienced a dramatic reduction in activity on Slack--proof that fewer distractions meant more deep work. What was most surprising to me, however, was the effect on culture: morale improved, not declined. People felt empowered to be given permission to own time and get things done without needing to perform productivity on camera. My best advice? Don't confuse "no meetings" with "no communication." The key is to develop robust async habits. We moved updates to Notion and Loom, cutting time and adding clarity. When people write less but say more, everyone wins. In a digital culture of clutter, time is your team's most undervalued treasure. Fighting to protect it isn't just forward-thinking--it's strategic.
Experimenting with a no-meeting day once a week, particularly No-Meeting Mondays, became a revolutionary approach in our team. The rationale was to give everyone a clear, uninterrupted stretch at the start of the week to deep dive into project work without the usual disruptions. This initiative led to noticeably heightened productivity and a more focused workflow. Interestingly, it also propelled a significant shift in how we communicate, with more reliance on asynchronous tools like Slack and email, ensuring important updates didn't get trapped in the void of non-communication. The key to making such a policy work long-term is to have firm guidelines while maintaining flexibility. Allowing the team to provide feedback and make adjustments keeps the policy relevant and effective. For instance, although Mondays were generally meeting-free, we sometimes had short check-ins or rescheduled meetings that were crucial for urgent project issues. The no-meeting policy encouraged us to be more discerning about setting meetings, ensuring they were necessary and well-planned when they did occur. By fostering a culture that prioritizes deep work yet adapts to the needs of the team, we found a balance that continues to enhance both productivity and satisfaction.
In the ever-evolving world of agency life, productivity often competes with meetings--and meetings tend to win. As our client roster and campaign volume grew, I found my calendar becoming more reactive than strategic. In an effort to take back control of my time and create space for deeper, more meaningful work, I implemented a no-meeting policy--not as a concept, but as a committed structural change to how we operated. Our version wasn't a blanket ban on meetings. Instead, it was a rigorously defined schedule that set clear boundaries. Client meetings could only be booked on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM ET, and Friday mornings until 1:00 PM. Mondays became protected time for campaign planning and execution. Wednesdays were reserved for strategic thinking, and Friday afternoons were dedicated to launches and wrap-ups. These weren't just suggestions--they were policies, shared with the team and referenced regularly. The shift had an immediate impact. Productivity increased significantly. With fewer interruptions, my team could focus longer and dive deeper into creative work, media strategy, and performance analysis. Mondays, in particular, became incredibly valuable for setting the tone for the week. Internally, we started referring to "Launch Mondays" and "Strategy Wednesdays," creating a shared rhythm and helping everyone manage their bandwidth more effectively. That said, client service is inherently fluid--and we learned that even the best policies have to bend. While the structure worked beautifully most weeks, there were times when urgent client needs required us to break the rules. The key to making it work was flexibility without losing the integrity of the system. We encouraged the team to reschedule out-of-scope meetings when possible, and used Slack and asynchronous updates to fill in gaps. The spirit of the policy remained intact, even if the execution wasn't always perfect. The biggest lesson? A no-meeting policy works--when it's treated not as a trend but as a cultural shift. It's not about saying no to collaboration; it's about saying yes to thoughtful, uninterrupted work. To make it sustainable, you need buy-in from your team, clarity in communication, and a willingness to revisit and adapt the structure over time. For us, it wasn't just about fewer meetings--it was about better meetings, and more meaningful time in between.
We've been remote-first at Concurate for a while now, but meetings somehow crept into every day without us noticing. To correct this, we experimented with a no-meeting day, specifically, No-Meeting Fridays. The policy was simple: no internal calls, no client visits except if absolutely necessary, and no ad-hoc invitations for "quick syncs." Fridays were spent entirely on deep work or wrapping up loose ends on tasks. The shift became real almost immediately. People took over the day to finish complex things without distractions. Writers, planners, and creatives, in general, relished this fresh freedom, because it enabled them to dive deep into long hours of uninterrupted effort. Communication slippage was practically non-existent, due to our shift of updates into async tools such as Slack and Notion, and everyone knew they could still shoot over a message if something couldn't wait. One of the ways that it was sustainable was that we set clear expectations. We made it acceptable to block out Fridays in advance. No last-minute meeting requests. No feeling bad about not being available for a call. My biggest takeaway was that a no-meeting day only works if you fix how the rest of the week is managed too. You have to build a culture where async communication is respected, or the pressure just builds up elsewhere.
I banned all meetings on Wednesdays for my dev team - and the effect was immediate. Suddenly everyone had a full day for heads-down work. Our productivity jumped because engineers could finally knock out complex coding tasks without interruption. Surprisingly, communication didn't suffer. Instead, people learned to handle quick questions in chat or just saved them for the next day. We even saw meeting quality improve on other days, since folks came more prepared knowing Wednesday was off-limits. One big change was how the team guarded their time. They started questioning if every meeting was truly necessary. To keep it sustainable, we treat Wednesdays as sacred. I put a recurring "No Meetings" block on everyone's calendar and make no exceptions (unless it's a true emergency). This consistency is key.
At ShipTheDeal, I experimented with 'No-Meeting Wednesdays' last quarter to help our remote team focus on deep work. We replaced standard meetings with async updates through Notion and quick voice messages on Slack, which actually improved our project completion rate by about 25%. My key learning was to create super clear task documentation beforehand - I spend extra time writing detailed briefs and recording short video walkthroughs, which helps prevent the 'quick questions' that usually trigger impromptu meetings.
When our web development agency started growing rapidly, I noticed my developers were constantly context-switching between client meetings and coding tasks. So we implemented "Deep Work Wednesdays" - a full day with zero internal or external meetings unless there was a genuine emergency. The results were transformative. Project completion rates increased by about 30% on those days, and the quality of code improved noticeably. Developers reported feeling less stressed and more fulfilled. Interestingly, our communication actually improved - team members became more thoughtful about what needed discussion versus what could be handled asynchronously through our project management system. My best tip for making this work long-term is to protect the policy at all costs, even when it feels inconvenient. When clients requested Wednesday meetings, we kindly offered alternative days and explained our policy. Most appreciated our commitment to quality work. We also created a shared document where team members could log their Deep Work Wednesday achievements, which helped everyone see the tangible benefits and reinforced the value of the practice.
We decided to introduce a meeting-free Wednesday to give the team a day to focus on their tasks and take a break from constant meetings. In the marketing department, daily online meetings are a common practice because synchronization is important for a quality result. If the copywriter and the designer are working on the same project but not communicating, we will not be able to reach a common agreement. However, the need for constant active communication does not allow us to concentrate, especially when it is the middle of the week. That is why we chose Wednesday, a kind of boundary between the active beginning of the week and the final stages of work. At first, it seemed inconvenient, and we even wanted to return to daily meetings, but after 3 weeks, we saw the first results. Campaigns moved faster because Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to planning and brainstorming, and Wednesday was dedicated to implementing those plans. We shared the results on Thursday and Friday. Our designers said they had more creative freedom and didn't feel the constant need to follow online meetings. On the downside, we began to try to hold more meetings on other days, such as Tuesdays. To avoid overcrowding, we introduced another rule: first, a text discussion and then a meeting (if possible). It turned out that we didn't always need to go to meetings to get the documents we needed or to find out the results of our work. Wednesdays without meetings changed our attitude towards working hours and task planning. It didn't become an extra day off, but it gave the team more space for personal development and creativity. Govlone taught his team the importance of taking a break from constant meetings and monitoring the mood of the employees.
1. What did you implement? (No-meeting Mondays? Full blackout weeks?) We actually decided to implement No-Meeting Afternoons, where meetings stop from 2 PM to the end of the day. Our thinking was that we wanted people to be fresh, sharp, and ready to collaborate in meetings, and our circadian rhythm makes our energy naturally drop in the afternoon. By keeping every afternoon free from internal meetings, we allow people to use that time, when energy might naturally be lower, for focused, individual tasks, catching up on work, or deep thinking without the added drain of having to sit through meetings. If people are already tired, your meeting is more likely to be a waste of time. 2. What changed as a result? (More productivity? Communication gaps?) Our engineers and designers, especially, reported being able to get into a much better flow state in the afternoons, tackling complex CAD modeling, detailed analysis, or writing technical documentation without the constant context-switching that meetings cause. We actually even saw a slight but measurable decrease in minor errors caught during quality checks for tasks during those afternoon periods. It was enough for us to know that what we were doing was working! We had to establish clear protocols for what truly constitutes an "emergency" that warrants potentially interrupting someone's focus time, though we still really try to minimize that. 3. What's your best tip for making a no-meeting policy work long-term? Do what works for your business model and your team. Even if you can't manage a no-meeting policy every week because of the nature of your business, you can try it out in smaller doses. Even designating one Friday afternoon each month to the 'no-meetings' model can do so much for productivity and motivation. Employees love being able to be off the hook and use that time to get their head-down work done.
1. What did you implement? (No-meeting Mondays? Full blackout weeks?) We treat every meeting as a sign of communication failure so we aim to eliminate most of them. If something requires a meeting, it means we didn't communicate effectively through our usual tools, like Asana or screencasts. When meetings are absolutely necessary, we schedule them for low-energy times - late in the day or late in the week. 2. What changed as a result? (More productivity? Communication gaps?) Our team has become significantly more productive. They have complete visibility into the company's goals and weekly priorities, so they don't need constant check-ins. We still hold team-wide meetings weekly or biweekly, depending on the role. And if someone is struggling or we're launching something new, we might temporarily increase meeting frequency, just until we can build a better system around it. 3. What's your best tip for making a no-meeting policy work long-term? Don't just cancel meetings--replace them with better communication tools. Our go-to is screencasting (we use Loom). It's more efficient than meetings because only one person is talking, it's highly visual, and it communicates context quickly and clearly. Pair that with task management in Asana and a strong system for setting priorities, and you can virtually eliminate most meetings. It's been a game-changer for our distributed team and it's one of the reasons we all enjoy a higher quality of work life.
While we haven't implemented specific 'no-meeting days' or 'blackout weeks,' our adoption of an 'Asynchronous First' policy has significantly reduced the number of meetings we have, and has changed how we operate for the better. By prioritizing asynchronous communication such as using tools like email, Trello/Monday.com, and shared Google Docs/Notion/Miro, we've seen tangible results. Team members now have more sustained periods of uninterrupted focus time, leading to increased productivity and deeper work. There's also greater flexibility, as individuals can engage in communications and tasks according to their own optimal schedules. This shift has naturally improved our documentation practices and often leads to more thoughtful, well-considered responses. Consequently, we now reserve synchronous meetings strictly for essential, high-value purposes like complex brainstorming, urgent problem-solving and vital relationship-building, always ensuring they have clear agendas and strong justifications. Based on our experience, the best tip for making this 'Asynchronous First' approach work long-term is to continuously invest in and reinforce strong asynchronous communication skills and norms. This means actively training people in clear writing, effective use of collaboration tools and setting clear expectations for response times, ensuring everyone is equipped and motivated to make async the default.
As the senior expert at 1-800 Office Solutions with over a decade in office equipment and productivity solutions, I've implemented "Focus Fridays" across our technical teams who handle printer maintenance and IT support requests. We finded that eliminating meetings one day per week resulted in a 40% reduction in printer troubleshooting backlogs and a 35% increase in completed service tickets. The key was pairing this policy with our digital ticketing system that tracks all service requests, eliminating the need for status update meetings while maintaining accountability. Our most successful teams supplemented this with a 15-minute async video update at day's end where techs shared completed work and blockers, which prevented the communication gaps we initially experienced. This approach worked particularly well for our remote IT support specialists who previously spent 3+ hours daily in coordination meetings. For long-term success, establish clear emergency protocols - we use a tiered alert system that differentiates between true emergencies (server outages) versus routine issues that can wait until Monday. This prevents the policy from collapsing when the first crisis hits while giving employees genuine confidence that their focus time won't be interrupted for non-critical matters.
We implemented "Self-Sync Fridays" to replace our usual end-of-week meetings. Everyone wrote a one-page summary covering what they got done, any roadblocks they hit, and what they planned for the next week. No live meetings, no calls--just focused reflection and written updates. This shift made a big difference in how we started our Mondays. Since updates were already documented, our team could jump straight into meaningful conversations about priorities and problem-solving. People became clearer and more concise in their thinking, and their weekly retrospectives improved noticeably. To make this work without adding stress, we introduced a simple template with three prompts: "This Week," "Challenges," and "Next Week." It gave everyone a helpful structure and made it easier to maintain the habit without spending too much time on it. That consistency helped us stay aligned and spot patterns quickly.
We were so sick of thinking "this meeting could've been an email" that we finally pulled the plug. We stopped scheduling regular team meetings and pushed almost everything to Slack and email instead. We even moved some client check-ins to email—especially with clients who loved the idea of regular calls but kept no-showing or running late. It ended up being better for everyone: more focus, fewer calendar headaches, and faster turnaround times. My biggest tip? Get brutally clear on expectations. As long as everyone knows when and how they're supposed to communicate updates, you don't need a 30-minute Zoom to say what could've been said in three bullet points. Also, I've always been inspired by Jeff Bezos' famous practice of the person in charge of a meeting writing a formal memo to distribute. But in our case, we kept the memo practice without requiring the actual meeting. (Happy to elaborate.)