I remember walking down 18th Street in DC, turning over a problem in my head: How can we help organizations navigate hybrid work—at scale? Everyone was asking the same questions, operating on gut intuition, but what was the underlying structure of the problem?
Hybrid work had unlocked flexibility, but it created other challenges. Teams weren’t struggling with where to work—they were struggling with how to work. Too many meetings were draining, collaboration felt inefficient, and in-person time often felt wasted. It frustrated leaders and employees, making organizations less productive – and people less happy.
To make hybriwd work work, we needed a simple but powerful way to categorize meetings. And then it clicked: Before deciding where work should happen, we needed to first understand what kind of work was happening.
I pulled out my notebook and sketched out a simple model. At BalancedWork, we think about meetings along two key dimensions:
1️⃣ Outcome & Process – Is it an analytical meeting, where inputs and expected outcomes are clear? Or is it a creative meeting, where unexpected inputs and outcomes emerge?
2️⃣ Energy – Does the meeting drain you, or does it (at best) leave you feeling restored?
Mapping these two dimensions gives us four core meeting types:
🟠 Analyzing (Analytical + Energy-Draining)
Responding to existing data, making decisions, and driving action.
💡 Examples: Editorial reviews, status updates, board meetings.
🔵 Ideating (Creative + Energy-Draining)
Generating new ideas, solving open-ended problems, pushing boundaries.
💡 Examples: Brainstorms, strategic planning, big-picture problem-solving.
🟢 Reflecting (Analytical + Restorative)
Engaging on specific work topics in a structured but low-pressure way.
💡 Examples: Trainings, career development 1:1s, informational team meetings.
🟡 Recharging (Creative + Restorative)
Fostering relationships and creative thinking in unstructured (often social) settings.
💡 Examples: Team lunches, coffee walks, work happy hours.
Meetings aren’t just about exchanging information—they shape how teams collaborate, innovate, and make decisions. Yet most companies treat all meetings the same.
This framework helps us—and our customers—get more precise. It enables leaders to align meetings with energy levels, anticipate engagement challenges, and design office days that actually make sense.
But the real power comes from applying it at scale. At BalancedWork, we layer in relationship analytics and AI-powered recommendations, turning insight into action. Our platform doesn’t just categorize meetings—it helps teams reclaim wasted time, improve in-person collaboration, and ensure office days are productive and energizing.
We’re sharing this because we’d love feedback. Does this resonate? Where do you think we’ve missed the mark?
And if you think this kind of insight could help your organization navigate hybrid work intentionally, let’s talk. BalancedWork’s AI-driven analyses are automated but always grounded in real conversations and decades of experience working with teams of all sizes.
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