It starts small. Your best engineer starts skipping the weekly sync. Then the all-hands. Then the project review.
When you ask why, they say something like "I get more done this way" or "the meetings aren't useful for me."
They're right. And that's the problem.
The meetings were designed for the average performer — someone who needs regular alignment, who benefits from hearing updates, who wants to be included in decisions. They're not designed for someone who already knows what's happening, who's already talked to the key stakeholders, and who wants to spend their time building instead of sitting in a room.
Your best people don't skip meetings because they're disengaged. They skip them because the meetings don't serve them.
What This Tells You
When your best people opt out of meetings, it's a signal. Either:
- The meetings are redundant — information is flowing through other channels
- The meetings aren't producing decisions that affect their work
- The cost of attending (time) exceeds the benefit (information or influence)
Any of those is a problem.
How to Fix It
Design meetings for the people who need to be there, not everyone who might be affected.
If a decision only affects three people, don't invite ten. The other seven can get the update through a message.
Make the meeting worth attending for your best people.
If you're surfacing decisions that matter, providing context they can't get elsewhere, or enabling them to influence outcomes — they'll show up.
Let people opt out.
If someone has a pattern of skipping meetings and still performing well, that's data. It might mean the meetings need fixing, not that the person does.
Your goal isn't full attendance. It's having the right people in the room when a decision gets made.
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