Meetings can be a very productive way to get multiple people up to speed, handle an issue efficiently or provide useful information to a group. On the other hand, they can occasionally be an unproductive use of time, which could potentially cost you and your employees valuable opportunities to get essential work done. That's why it' important to only hold necessary meetings that have a specific objective. But how do you know which meetings are going to be productive? Here are four questions every boss should ask himself or herself before scheduling meetings:1. Could This Meeting Be Held in Another Way? The first step in deciding whether a meeting will be productive is to determine if there's another way to share the information easily and effectively. Here's an example: If you want to give someone a quick update regarding…

Working in an office comes with a lot of etiquette guidelines. Some, like how to dress and how to act in client-facing meetings, may be explicit company policy. Others, like when to instant message someone rather than email him or her, may not be quite as clear. One guideline that is often not plainly stated (although it may sometimes fall under human resources policies) is what you should and should not discuss with your co-workers while in the office. Not only are some conversations inappropriate for the workplace, but others could even get you into serious trouble with your boss - even if you mention them to a co-worker outside of the office. Read on for five conversations that are off-limits in the office:1. Interoffice Gossip So, Mary is getting fired or John…

When you're running a small business, every aspect of the company is important, from the font on your business cards to how many Post-It Notes are available in the supply closet. The way everyone uses their time is critical to getting everything done. Some of your employees (and even you) may even work from home, which may come with added distractions. Try these tips for being productive while telecommuting: Use a cloud storage service In order to do your work from home, you'll need to have access to all your documents when you're not in the office. A great way to ensure you will be able to do this is to use cloud storage devices like Google Drive or Dropbox. Simply log in to your Gmail or Dropbox account and you can organize,…