Movement by Design: Managing Meetings for Focus, Energy and Flow
Introduction
It starts with a 9 a.m. check-in, followed by a team call, 1-1 with your manager, a project update, a client calls unexpectedly at lunchtime, and a “quick” catch-up early afternoon somehow consumes your entire afternoon.
By the time 5 p.m. rolls around, you’ve barely moved from your chair, unless you count shifting from one video call to another. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Since the pandemic, more meetings than ever have moved online which means if you’re working remotely, you might be sat in your home office for 3 or 4 hours stretches at a time on Teams or Zoom calls.
If you’re in the office, you might be lucky and have some in-person meetings in your diary.
Either way, meeting culture has multiplied as we try to stay connected and collaborate in an increasingly digital world. Tools like Teams, Zoom, WebEx and others have done an amazing job of bridging the home-office divide but in the rush to stay connected and productive we’ve overlooked what we’ve lost.
Pre-Covid days, meetings would usually have been telephone calls or in-person. Many of us had long telephone cords or wireless headsets which meant on long calls we could get up and stretch our legs if we needed to.
As for in-person meetings, somehow the back-to-back ones were always booked in rooms at opposite ends of the office so you’d have to go into the meetings and let everyone know that you had a back-to-back meeting and we’d have to finish five-minutes early so you could sprint to the other side of the office in time for your next meeting.
It may have been a slightly fraught, sweaty existence but movement was built into the day, even when you didn’t really think about it that way.
The Benefits of 5-Minute Sprints Between Meetings
You might not have called it exercise, but those brisk walks between meeting rooms, dashes upstairs, and detours via the printer or coffee machine were short breaks that helped reset both body and brain between tasks.
Those five-minute sprints did something essential: they gave your body a boost of endorphins and a chance to raise your heart rate, circulating blood round your body, refreshing your brain, ready for whatever the next discussion was.
They mattered far more than most of us realised at the time. Brief intervals of movement between tasks have been shown to deliver tangible benefits. Breaking up prolonged sitting with short periods of light activity, such as walking or standing, can lead to improved glucose metabolism, reduced musculoskeletal discomfort, and enhanced cardiovascular health. But the benefits aren't just physical.
Cognitively, short movement breaks can boost attention, working memory, and task-switching capacity, particularly when placed between cognitively demanding tasks. These “mini-transitions” act as a kind of neurological reset button. By allowing the brain to disengage momentarily, even a few minutes of light movement can restore mental clarity and improve overall performance on the next task.
Psychologically, these micro-breaks serve as subtle stress regulators. A quick walk between meetings, or even a few stretches, helps lower cortisol levels and increases feelings of control, two critical factors in managing daily work stress.
By contrast, today’s digital meeting culture often removes those physical transitions entirely. Clicking “Join” has replaced the need to walk anywhere, and stacked back-to-back calls leave little to no space for decompressing, resetting, or moving. At a time when burnout and digital fatigue are widespread, these moments of reset have never been more important.
In the past, we didn’t need to schedule this kind of recovery time, it happened naturally in the margins of our day. Now, with digital meetings often scheduled back-to-back with no physical transition, we need be intentional about reintroducing those active breaks.
Creating time for the equivalent of those five-minute sprints across the office doesn’t require an office corridor or a large break in your day. It starts with carving out just enough space between meetings to stand up, stretch, walk around the room, or take a few deep breaths. These short breaks are essential to sustaining attention, energy, and long-term wellbeing.
When meetings are shorter and more intentional, something remarkable happens:
We regain focus.
We create natural windows for walking, stretching, or even just breathing.
We reduce fatigue, boost cognitive function, and tap into fresh ideas faster.
The science is clear: breaking up long periods of sitting improves both brainpower and physical wellbeing. Rethinking meetings isn’t just a workplace efficiency hack, it’s a movement strategy in disguise.
In short, what used to be an incidental jog across the building can now be reframed as an active break, something we deliberately build into to our schedule, even in a remote or hybrid world.
Planning & Managing your Meetings
When meetings are poorly managed, they don’t just waste time, they also steal our energy, focus, and time that we could have used to move. Meetings are one of the most common features of the modern workday, yet few are run as effectively as they could be. Without a clear purpose or structure, conversations drift, outcomes are vague, and participants leave the call feeling more drained than informed. The result? Another meeting is scheduled to do what the first one couldn’t.
But rethinking how we plan and run meetings doesn’t just lead to better decisions and communication. It can help create space in our schedules for recovery, movement, and sharper thinking.
Why are we meeting?
Before scheduling any meeting, it’s worth asking a fundamental question: Why are we meeting?
When the reason is unclear, meetings become passive time-fillers. But when there’s a defined purpose, you can design a meeting format that drives outcomes while protecting time and energy.
Ask yourself:
Are you meeting to make a decision?
Are you meeting to solve a problem?
Are you meeting to review progress or share information?
Are you meeting to brainstorm, build team cohesion, or hold a 1:1 check-in?
Clarity of purpose leads to clarity of format, and makes it easier to decide who needs to be there, what preparation is required, and how long the session should actually take.
What do we need to discuss?
A well-structured agenda transforms a meeting from an open-ended conversation into a focused, outcome-driven session. Not just a list of talking points, a strong agenda acts as a framework for participation, time management, and decision-making.
Here are the core elements of an effective agenda:
Define the goal: What outcome do you want by the end of this meeting?
List key topics/questions: Prioritise what needs discussion—and eliminate what doesn’t.
Match the format to the goal: Choose the right type of meeting based on the purpose.
Estimate time per item: Prevent overruns by time-boxing each topic. Remember to include time for introductions to set context, goals, and expectations clearly at the start.
Assign speakers/leads: Ensure the right people are prepared to guide each section.
Close with summary and actions: Recap outcomes and define next steps.
Bonus Tip: Share the agenda in advance so participants can come prepared, or opt out if it’s not relevant to their role.
How do I keep the discussion on track?
A thoughtful agenda sets the direction, but it’s active facilitation that keeps the meeting on course. Even the best-planned meetings can drift if no one is steering in real time.
At the start of the meeting, it’s important to take a moment to set expectations. Begin by reminding the group of the overall goal and scope of the session. Briefly outline the agenda, clarify the timing and time limits, and confirm who is responsible for leading each section or decision. This small investment of time helps create shared accountability and sets a focused tone from the outset.
As the meeting unfolds, stay engaged with how the discussion is progressing. Keep conversations aligned with the agenda and gently steer the group back on track if things begin to drift. If an off-topic but valuable idea comes up, capture it in a “parking lot”, a running list of important items to revisit later or in a follow-up session, so they don’t derail the main conversation.
It’s also helpful to summarise key points or decisions periodically, especially after each agenda item. This keeps everyone grounded in what’s been achieved and what’s still ahead, reducing confusion or duplicated effort.
Time management plays a big role in successful facilitation. Respect the clock, running over not only disrupts people’s schedules but also erodes attention and energy. To help stay on time, you can appoint a timekeeper, use visual or verbal cues as the end of the session nears, and if a topic runs long, suggest a follow-up discussion rather than rushing through the rest of the agenda.
Good facilitation isn’t about being rigid—it’s about being intentional with people’s time and attention. That’s what leads to better engagement, stronger outcomes, and more room in the day to move, reset, and do meaningful work.
Shorter Meetings, Sharper Minds
Most meetings are scheduled as 60 minutes as a default, not because they need to, but because that’s what the calendar suggests. But the reality is: longer meetings aren’t always more productive. In fact, they rarely are.
When we allow more time than needed:
Discussions stretch to fill the space.
Focus drifts.
People multitask or disengage.
To run tighter, more productive meetings:
Challenge the default. Ask: could this be done in 25 or 45 minutes?
Right-size your time based on the number of agenda items and their complexity.
Build in buffers before and after for decompression or movement.
End early if goals are met. It builds trust, and gives people time back.
Efficiency isn’t about rushing, it’s about making intentional use of limited time.
Make Movement a Byproduct of Better Meeting Design
When meetings are clear, well-scoped, and right-sized, they don’t just protect your calendar, they create opportunities to move, even if it’s just for five minutes.
Those five minutes between meetings? That’s your chance to stretch, walk, refill your water, or simply reset. But they only exist if we stop allowing meetings to sprawl across every available block of time.
Well-designed, purpose-driven meetings do more than reclaim time. They support sharper thinking, steadier energy, and a more intentional workday rhythm. When you leave space to breathe between sessions, you’re not just creating a gap, you’re creating a foundation for better focus, improved wellbeing, and more productive work.
This could mean:
More time for deep work – Efficient meetings create space for focused, uninterrupted work—the kind that actually moves projects forward.
Fewer unnecessary meetings – Clarifying the purpose of every meeting reduces duplication and minimises the "just in case" calendar clutter.
Faster decision-making – Meetings with clear structure and the right people in the room lead to more decisive outcomes.
Greater team satisfaction – When time is respected and meetings feel meaningful, people are more engaged, collaborative, and motivated.
Improved focus and sharper thinking – Clear objectives and shorter sessions help reduce cognitive overload, making it easier to stay present and engaged.
Reduced fatigue and tension – Built-in breaks and physical movement ease musculoskeletal strain and lower the mental wear and tear of back-to-back calls.
More consistent energy throughout the day – With fewer meandering meetings and more space to reset between tasks, your brain and body maintain steadier momentum.
In other words: better meetings don’t just feel better, they work better. And they make it easier to move through your day with clarity, control, and space to breathe.
Instead of trying to “fit in movement” around your meetings, design your meetings in a way that makes space for movement possible by default. A short, focused session followed by a few minutes of movement is better for your brain, your body, and your team.
Work expands to fill the time we allow for it. But so does your potential, if you give it space.
What’s one meeting you could shorten, skip, or reimagine this week?
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