Most email programs have a “Calendar” feature that not only allows you to schedule important meetings and due dates, but also sends you reminders and prompts about those important deadlines you have docketed. By using the calendar feature, you can keep track of dates conveniently.
Even more importantly, if everyone in your work group uses the calendar feature efficiently, you can use the calendar search feature to find convenient times to schedule meetings and get-togethers. Doing so will save you valuable time, but only if everyone in the group puts every scheduled item on his or her calendar.
We have all been exasperated with the multiple emails back and forth, trying to find time for a simple meeting.
How much time do these unnecessary emails steal from each recipient’s day?
Work groups that use the calendar feature can greatly increase their efficiency. Furthermore, even if there are some who forget to put scheduled items on their calendars, it generally only takes them one or two times of having to ask the rest of the group for a change of time before they begin using the feature efficiently and consistently.
In my corporate career, after the leadership team became fed up with all the time it took to find time for meetings, we collectively decided to “mandate” the use of the electronic calendar to schedule meetings. Our department of 70+ people was given one week to enter all its scheduled meetings into calendars. We then “required” that all meeting requests, even one-on-ones, be handled electronically. People remarked at how they “couldn’t believe how easy and efficient it was!”
