If you’ve ever been to a conference you know the break times are short and it’s only then you can check your office messages, make phone calls, and meet with others.  At a recent coach conference I shared a room and Internet line with an associate.  This was tricky and caused me to have to get even more strategic with how I did my outside communicating. 

If you have something you want to say to someone, but little time in which to do it, here’s a few pointers you may find helpful:

1.  Be sure the recipient of your communication is open and available to hear what you have to say.   If not, your words are falling on deaf ears and your efforts are in vain.  If they are able to listen, great.  If not, use this time to make an appointment for a better time to talk.

2.  Give some thought to your message on your way to delivering it (and more time if you’re not short of it).  Formulate a brief outline of the main points you want to cover (even if the outline is in your head), and what you hope the outcome to be.   This will save you time when you’re finally able to talk.

3.  Deliver your message in a confident, stable voice, rather than sounding hurried – or worse, impatient.  Be concise and on target with what you have to say.  (Note:  if you’re on the phone with someone, walking while talking isn’t a good approach.  One reason is that moving locations while on a cell can not only make you sound winded, but the line can become staticy or even disconnect, which isn’t the best impression and it wastes time reconnecting.) 

4.  Don’t try to tell them every detail, but consider the call as a starter or headsup, arranging time to fill them in on more details later as needed. It may be that you are requesting they look into something or get the ball rolling on a project, so be sure they have just enough of the key information to do that, plus time to ask you any questions.  No one wants to feel hurried because of your tight schedule, so respect the time of others too. 

5.  Before you make a phone call, know your available times for when you can call them back if needed.  If you’re in a situation (like a conference), you may want to leave some flexible schedule time for informal networking, so arrange a few different times to call your office or others back when they can be available.

It can also frustrating to be interrupted in the middle of your communication.  So just as in networking, when you make a short introduction and exchange business cards with a promise to call later, don’t start long-winded conversations you know could get sabotaged.  Keep your comments (or introduction) brief and be sure to follow up.

Tags: but effective communication, clear communication, quick, Time Management, time saver

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 11:36 am and is filed under Career Tips, Time Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.