9 Tips To Effectively Manage an Executive Calendar

1. Prioritize Work with a Handy Matrix. …
2. Use Calendars for More Than Just Scheduling Meetings and Events. …
3. Design Your Perfect Color Coding System. …
4. Document Your Exec’s Priorities. …
5. Clarify Calendar Roles and Permissions. …
6. Mentoring and Shadowing.

Uncontrolled time quickly devolves into chaos, which is why managing the executive calendar is such a crucial (though time-consuming) responsibility for EAs. However, when you have control over your executive’s time, you can ensure that they are concentrating on the most crucial tasks and NOT on those that have no bearing on the company’s bottom line.

We recently held a masterclass with Jeremy Burrows, creator of the podcast The Leader Assistant and author of the book The Leader Assistant, to talk about scheduling and how to prevent your executive from getting burned out or concentrating on the wrong things. To learn the three most important suggestions for effectively managing your executive’s calendar, watch the full masterclass below or continue reading.

Analyzing Executive Calendars in Outlook – Tech Tip for Executive Assistants

Why is it important to effectively manage an executive calendar?

It’s crucial to effectively manage an executive’s calendar because it enables them to utilize all of their free time. It entails keeping track of all significant events, meetings, and tasks with the overall goal of assisting the executive in making the best use of their limited time. In order to balance daily accomplishments and long-term success, this typically entails prioritizing tasks and requests, strategically planning long-term activities, and regularly setting daily activities.

The following are a few of the most significant advantages of an effective executive calendar:

How to effectively manage an executive calendar

To enhance the efficiency of your calendar management, take into account the following nine steps:

1. Have a discussion with your boss

The executive is ultimately the one who needs to be familiar with the calendar that you manage, so having a conversation with your boss is the first step toward effective calendar management. As an executive assistant, you need to know the following:

2. Choose the right scheduling app

Although managing an executive calendar manually is theoretically possible, using computer or smartphone software is likely to make things simpler and more effective. Calendar software assists you with event confirmation in addition to letting you book specific tasks and events with their full details. For example, you can ask someone for a response if you want to know if they received an invitation or confirm that you have received one to a meeting or event.

3. Get familiar with the app

You should carefully review all of the scheduling app’s features and tools after selecting the one that best suits your needs, as they could help you work more effectively. You could, for instance, create color-coded lists of tasks based on their urgency or nature, or set automatic reminders for invitations that have already been sent.

4. Create a calendar template

Since you are now comfortable using the calendar program, you can begin creating a template that you can later modify in accordance with your boss’s schedule. First, you need to list all the tasks your boss is required to complete each week, such as returning calls and emails, doing research, meeting with clients, staff members, and any other consistent weekly task.

Then, you must figure out how to arrange them so that there is as little time wasted as possible. For instance, if your boss is frequently absent from the office, it may be sensible to plan a full day when they are present to handle email correspondence and staff meetings. Last but not least, you need to confirm that your boss is aware of and actually adheres to your schedule.

5. Talk to everyone who has access to the calendar

If there are any other users of the calendar besides you and your boss, you need to communicate with them and explain how the calendar will function going forward. Since effective communication is crucial, it might be helpful to request that they let you know right away if they add anything to the schedule and if they receive an invitation to any meetings.

6. Constantly check traffic and weather reports

External factors, such as the weather and traffic, can have a significant impact on the schedule of the executive you work for if they frequently hold meetings outside the office. Knowing in advance if there will be bad weather or a significant event in town can help you plan ahead and set aside more time.

7. Leave empty spaces in the schedule every day

Even though the majority of your boss’s tasks are routine and predictable, unforeseen events occasionally do happen. Similar to this, some tasks could result in new ones or take longer than expected. The only way to give the executive’s calendar enough flexibility is to consistently leave empty spaces and fill them based on immediate developments.

8. Take active steps to help the executive keep their schedule

You must ensure that the time allotted for each task is respected after the calendar is created and put into use. Although you typically have a general idea of how long each task should take, practice sometimes deviates from theory, and some tasks may take longer than anticipated. You should alert your boss that they might be running behind schedule if they frequently take longer than necessary to complete some appointments. However, you must be proactive and adjust the schedule if a crucial task takes longer than anticipated.

9. Make sure you are the only person that has the final say on calendar events

Finally, you must ensure that you are the only gatekeeper to the executive’s schedule in your capacity as an executive assistant. Complex schedule management is typically challenging, but if you don’t have complete control over who can access and edit it, it might become impossible. Even if others are permitted to view and edit the calendar, you must make them aware that you are ultimately in charge of maintaining a well-maintained schedule and that any additional activities require your prior approval.

FAQ

What is the best way to manage an executives calendar?

1. Prioritizing Calendar Management. …
2. Document Your Meeting Preferences. …
3. Calendar More than Meetings. …
4. Color Code Meetings. …
5. Send Reminders and Confirmations. …
6. Create Templates for Calendar Invitations and Confirmations. …
7. Gather Documents for Executive Meetings.

How do you manage an executive diary?

1. What Is Diary Management? …
2. Set reminders. …
3. Respond to appointments. …
4. Communicate with your boss. …
5. Colour code important appointments or events. …
6. Highlight time zones. …
7. Keep a handy checklist/to-do list. …
8. Keep a note of important deadlines.

How do you maintain a work calendar?

1. Best Practice #1: Prioritize with a Handy Matrix. …
2. Use calendars for more than just meetings and events, according to best practice #2.
3. Best Practice #3: Design Your Perfect Coding System. …
4. Best Practice #4: Document Your Exec’s Priorities. …
5. Best Practice #5: Set Up Multiple Times Zones.