06-05-2025
5 Easy Ways To Reduce Meeting Overload With Async Collaboration
Google, IBM, Intel, and others may still be making headlines with 'return to office' mandates, but with very few exceptions, the argument is no longer about whether they will allow work-from-home, but how often . With the dust settling on the 'where' of work, it's time we turn our attention to the 'how.' In particular, how mastering the mix of real-time or 'synchronous' collaboration and 'asynchronous' or 'async' can increase productivity, reduce meeting overload and alleviate stress.
Meeting overload takes its toll on employee productivity, stress and more. getty
Synchronous collaboration includes face-to-face meetings, video conferencing, and phone chats. Async collaboration includes emails, forums, recorded meetings, collaborative documents, video messaging and project management tools.
There are no real rules about which is best, but in general:
Synchronous is best for tackling complex problem-solving, holding sensitive conversations, one-on-one with the boss, and strengthening social ties.
Async is best for announcements, status updates, data gathering, documentation and collaborative writing.
Even just agreeing on the collaboration tools teams can increase efficiency and reduce the stress of having to monitor multiple channels. But the real payoff comes when teams agree on which method—sync or async—and which tool they will use based on the nature of the interaction. Other Benefits of Async
Question every meeting. Could it be replaced with an async alternative? getty
Async isn't just about lightening the meeting load. When done right, it can: Speed collaboration across time zones.
Spare distant team members from after-hours meetings.
Diversify the thought pool by giving people a way to contribute without the pressure of speaking up at meetings.
Enhance innovation by avoiding 'groupthink' or bowing to the loudest voice in the room. Meetings are the Low-Hanging Fruit
According to an Atlassian report , meetings are ineffective 72% of the time. Ad hoc meetings, which, according to Microsoft represent 60% of all meetings, are the worst offenders. When rated for their value, only 7% of respondents to The 2024 Workplace Flexibility Trends Report —based on a study I co-authored—considered them of high value. Even the top-rated meeting type, those involving decisions, was highly valued by only 24% of respondents.
Async offers hope. Nearly 60% of respondents felt email could replace a quarter of their meeting time, and 30% said it could replace up to half. The cost, in terms of productivity lost to unnecessary meetings is huge. For a company with 1,000 people, eliminating just two weekly meetings each could save about $3.7 million a year in what would otherwise have been lost productivity (see Note #1).
We all know habits are hard to break. Fortunately, a little async can go a long way. Here are five quick ways to get started. 1. Question every meeting
Before hitting 'send' on that calendar invite, ask yourself: Is this meeting necessary?
Could it be recorded for those who don't really need to be there?
Could it be shorter?
Could it be replaced by an email or shared document?
'Async-first companies treat live meetings as a last resort,' says Mohammed Chahdi, Chief Operating Officer at Muse Group, 'They are reserved for when we are dealing with knotty, high-stakes or emotionally charged issues.' 2. Make meetings better
Employees don't universally dislike meetings, they dislike meetings that waste their time. Make your meetings 'worth it' with these hacks:
Reduce meeting overload by sending an agenda prior to the meeting. Meetings with no purpose are a ... More waste of time. getty Require an agenda and assign advance reading.
Make attendance optional.
Record meetings so those not attending can watch the re-run.
Don't let the agenda get hijacked by new topics.
Don't allow the loudest voice in the room to dominate the conversation or intimidate others.
At Muse Group, every meeting invite includes an agenda with clear goals and pre-reading. They conclude with the assignment of specific action steps. 3. Declare no-meeting days
Employees are often so overloaded with back-to-back meetings, they have little or no time to actually do the work expected of them, or, even just think. Consider adding regular no-meeting days or hours to give your people a reliable window for uninterrupted focus time. Dropbox credits its 'Focus Days' with a 28% reduction in meetings. 4. Minimize interruptions
Ad hoc meetings take a toll on productivity and increase stress. A typical knowledge worker is interrupted between six and twenty-five times a day, each requiring 15 to 25 minutes of recovery time. 5. Establish a single source of truth
Async work flourishes on clear written communication. Detailed documentation keeps projects moving across time zones, enhances transparency, reduces the need for updates, and contributes to institutional memory. Having a single source of truth also gives people a sense of autonomy, frees colleagues from having to explain the same things over and over, helps in on-boarding new people and ensures that everyone is gets the same answers to their questions. Async Is Not a Panacea
While async communication has many benefits, its success relies on effective implementation. Consider the following before deciding on how to proceed with async: Don't just rip off the bandaid. Start slow with one of the recommendations above. Recognize that people with follow the lead of managers and leaders. They need to be the champions and role models. Don't expect people to naturally transition to async. They need training, continual nudges, and a reason to change—their own WIIFM (what's in it for me). Emphasize the time they will save and how it will reduce the stress of always feeling there's not enough time in the day. Use async practices in the right situations. It is not the way to go for discussing sensitive or emotional topics, urgent or complex issues, or establishing new social ties. Keep in mind that async alternatives suffer hugely from the absence visual and auditory feedback. So there's a much greater risk that the message sent, will not be the message received. Recognize that people with high social needs will have the hardest time adapting to async. Your salespeople and extroverts, for example, thrive on face-time. Without it, they truly suffer. There needs to be a compromise or another outlet for their need for real-time connection. Conclusion
Embracing async collaboration is not about eliminating all meetings or real-time interactions, it's about being intentional with how, when and why people connect in real time.
As the where and how of work continue to evolve, mastering new practices and processes like async will be crucial to individual, team, and organizational success.
Note 1) Assumes average salary of $60,000 plus benefits and 60 minute average meeting time
