A client, Sue, decided to set all of her future calendar appointments to 30 minutes irrespective of who was involved and what the topic of discussion was. She knew this would give her 25 minutes of productive time, and 5 minutes for her colleagues to get to wherever they needed to be next.

At first, she had some pushback. People replied, ‘Will 30 minutes be enough time?’ She responded, ‘If it isn’t, the coffee is on me’. The meetings did indeed conclude in 25 minutes — much to the surprise and delight of many of Sue’s colleagues, some even confessing they had allowed an extra 30 minutes in their diaries in case time ran over.

On the rare occasion more time was needed, Sue was able to continue the meeting or reschedule accordingly. She was rarely out of pocket for the coffee.