The Hidden Costs of Bad Meetings

Let’s do some back-of-the-napkin math:

• Ten people in a room.

• Hour-long meeting.

• Average salary cost: $75/hour per person.

That’s $750 burned on what may or may not have been a glorified status update. Multiply that across weeks, months, years? We’re talking budget line-item big.

Bad Meetings Are Expensive

The cost isn’t just financial. It’s cultural. Bad meetings…

• Drain morale: Nothing kills motivation like wasted time.

• Stall creativity: Interruptions and over-talking shut down the best ideas.

• Delay decisions: Every non-decision pushes real work further out.

The ROI of Better Meetings

Investing in facilitation isn’t “nice-to-have”. It’s a cost-saving strategy. Here’s why:

• Clarity of purpose: Shorter meetings, sharper outcomes.

• Inclusive voices: More diverse ideas surface, leading to stronger solutions.

• Smoother decisions: No endless rehashing or revisiting.

When leaders see meetings as a system and not just a calendar filler, they realize the ROI of good facilitation is exponential.

So the next time someone groans, “Do we really need a facilitator?” ask yourself this: Do you really need another $750 meeting with no outcome? If the answer is no, contact us today.