Executive Calendar Management for Assistants:
Are you running out of space to place meetings in? Are people constantly asking you they must have a meeting with your Executive asap? Do you have to turn people away? Do you know what takes priority ?
And lastly -- COULD THAT MEETING JUST BE AN EMAIL?
First of all, there are no more hours in the day. If 10 people want to see your Executive and he/she can only see 5 people - what do you do? It's all about asking the relevant QUESTIONS to employees and Executive.
**Assistants** Have an email template ready to send immediately, when you receive a meeting request:
Morning / afternoon xxx
I will need a little more information regarding your meeting request due to limited time in {Name of Executive}'s calendar.
Could you please let me know:
1) What is the reason for the meeting?
2) Do you have an agenda?
3) Can you send any documents prior to the meeting?
4) Is {Executive's name} aware of the subject you want to discuss?
Once I have clarity, I can communicate with {Executive's name} and action.
Kind regards,
xxxx
Once you have this information, you can then make an Executive decision:
Do you already know the topic and understand it is urgent ? Can you move an internal meeting to fit this priority in ?
If you are unsure, communicate with your Executive and ask if this is 'Today' or 'Tomorrow's' topic.
Once you have clarity, write back to the employee / colleague with the action; - If an email, attach email + documents to your Executive's calendar 'to do list' - If this is VIP, then unfortunately a less VIP subject will have to be moved to 'tomorrow' ( you also have to communicate which meeting you need to swap too) - Send an invite & update calendar