To succeed it is important for a business to have clearly defined objectives and goals. This is the reason that meetings are held and phone calls are made. They keep employees informed about what needs to be done. However, meetings can bog down the work force, preventing them from accomplishing their goals as they are too busy sitting in meetings. Phone calls can also be inefficient because what is said over the phone is often too easily forgotten. Meetings and phone calls are rarely as productive as a quick, more targeted email.

If you are in charge, try going a day without scheduling any meetings or making any phone calls. Instead, when something needs to be done, simply send an email to the employee or employees who need to be informed of the issue. This gives them all the information that they need, and unlike a phone call, the information is saved on their computer for future reference so that they won’t need to call back to find out if they forgot anything. You can also have them send you progress reports instead of holding a meeting. This eliminates the time that people spend waiting for meetings to start.

The ideal format for getting things done is by communicating through email, phone or finally in person. If somebody wants to meet with you, see if you can have them send you an email instead. If not, talk over the phone. Finally, if you have to meet in person, do so in a quick, one-on-one conversation. You should both be standing; there is no reason to set a formal meeting where time is wasted on coffee or lunch.

If you are not in charge of setting meetings, let the boss know that you are working on a project. Tell them that you would like to get through things as quickly as possible. If they still ask you to come to the meeting, let them know that you will need to have your deadline extended. Even better, get the work done before the meeting happens. Ask them to send you a copy of the meeting’s agenda. Accomplish everything on the agenda, and send them an email letting them know that you have finished everything they are going to tell you to do at the meeting, and that you would like to get to work on another project instead of going to the meeting.

Image: Robert Scoble