Audit Team Meetings

Determine which team meetings can be reworked or replaced to make the most of everyone’s time.

PREP TIME

15m

Run TIME

90m

Persons

3-10

5-second summary

Free up valuable time by identifying which recurring team meetings can be done asynchronously (“async”) instead.
For meetings that moving async, put new practices in place to keep the team informed and aligned.
For meetings that are staying on the calendar, optimize the time with small changes to the agenda or approach.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Video conferencing with screen sharing or meeting space
Physical or digital whiteboard (see template)
Markers and sticky notes if meeting in person
Timer
Calendar tool

PLAY resources

Ritual Reset Play

Audit Team Meetings Template

How to reduce meetings with a team meeting audit

Reduce meetings, and make the ones you keep truly count.

What is a team meeting audit?

A team meeting audit is a quick, collaborative way to free up time for more meaningful work and make the time spent together more productive. This Play walks you through how to determine which team meetings can be replaced with async collaboration or communication, and which ones can be adjusted to make the most of everyone’s time.

Why run the Audit Team Meetings Play?

This audit helps teams reduce meetings and run better meetings. With these steps, time spent together will be more valuable and async time more effective.

When should you run this Play?

Run the Audit Team Meetings Play when your team is juggling too many meetings and/or when there’s an opportunity to make meetings more productive. After running the Play the first time, you can re-run it every quarter or as needed.

3 benefits of team meeting audits

A team meeting audit can:

Reduce meeting overload: Meetings are the #1 barrier to productivity, with 78% of workers saying it’s hard to get their work done on top of attending all their meetings.
Reduce burnout: 51% of knowledge workers report having to work overtime at least a few days a week due to meeting overload.
Reclaim time for work: High-performing teams prioritize innovation by spending less time on alignment meetings, status updates, emails and handoffs.

1. Pick a format and schedule your session

Est. time: 5 MIN

Decide whether you want to run the full Play live or use a hybrid approach, where parts of the activity happen asynchronously before and after your team connects live.

You’ll see Option A and Option B labels throughout this Play to help you follow along based on the format you choose.

Option A is for running the whole exercise all together in a longer, live session. For this option, schedule a 90-minute session with your team.
Option B adds async work before and after a shorter, live session (outlined in Steps 3 and 6). For this option, schedule a 60-minute session with your team.

Tip: Test and iterate

These are not firm rules – just helpful prompts. Check in with your teammates afterward to see what worked well and what you could do differently next time.

2. Set the stage

Est. time: 5 MIN

Make a copy of this whiteboard template if you’re using Confluence, or use that template to create your own whiteboard or document.

Then, list every recurring team meeting or any meeting involving a large portion of the team. Complete this list ahead of the live session so you’re ready to dive in.

3. Option B only: Pre-work

Est. time: 5 min

If you’re using Option B (async format), send a message to introduce the Play to the team, explain why we’re doing this exercise, and ask for their feedback on the list of recurring team meetings.

The next day, send another message asking them to evaluate the latest list of meetings on the whiteboard.

Why is 8 people the limit?

Research shows the most productive meetings have fewer than 8 people.

4. Live working session

Est. time: 60-90 min

During the scheduled working session, walk your team through each step of the whiteboard. (This whiteboard is just a starting point, so feel free to make adjustments to fit your team’s needs.)

Option A: Longer, live session all together

Running the exercise all together at the same time? Use the whiteboard as your guide, and work through each step during the 90-minute session.

Option B: Shorter, live session with async work

Already started async? Use your 60-minute session to review the information the team already added to the whiteboard, vote on which meetings could move async, and talk through anything that needs more discussion.

Tip: Accommodate for async

If async is the only option, create clear structure and documentation when inviting people to participate, and provide extra time for thoughtful responses.

5. Option B only: Follow-up work

Est. time: 10 min

Only follow this step if you’re using Option B (async).

a. Brainstorm async formats

After the live working session, ask your teammates to look at the meetings listed in the whiteboard under “Which meetings should shift to async?” and contribute suggestions for ways the team could communicate or collaborate async. Examples include:

Slack or Teams thread
Video roundup using a tool like Loom
Written update in the team’s collaborative workspace, such as Confluence

b. Choose async formats

Review the suggested async methods in the whiteboard. If there’s more than one option for a meeting, ask the team to vote on their favorite in the next 24 hours.

c. Share the decisions

Send a Slack message and/or record a quick video summarizing:

Which meetings are being canceled
What async formats the team will use instead
When the new approach kicks off

Pin the message or link it somewhere visible, like your team’s Slack channel or Confluence space.

Tip: Accommodate for async

If async is the only option, create clear structure and documentation when inviting people to participate, and provide extra time for thoughtful responses.

6. Communicate changes and update calendars

Est. time: 5 min

If a meeting is being canceled or changed and involves people outside your team, send them a message to explain what’s changing, why, and how they can stay informed and involved going forward.

Then, ask meeting owners to cancel meetings that are moving async.

For meetings that are staying on the calendar but changing in format or approach, recap what’s changing and why at the beginning of the next meeting.

7. Document and share regular, async project updates

Est. time: 15 min

If you're replacing a live meeting that involved status updates (or you just want to level up how your team shares updates), formalize the use of your collaborative workspace or status tracking tool, such as Confluence or Atlassian Home.

Send a quick message to let your team when and how to log updates, then send a calendar invitation to block off 15 minutes on Friday mornings (adjusting for each time zone) for each team member to add their notes.

Follow-up

Check-in

Three to four weeks later, poll the group to see if changes have made a difference. How is the team doing? Is there anything that needs to be revisited?

Re-run quarterly

Calendars tend to fill up again over time, and people fall back into old habits. Re-run this Play every quarter or as needed to reduce meetings and run better meetings.