Ready! Set! 8 – 12 – 4 — FLEX!
Have you ever noticed how many meetings are scheduled to prepare for other meetings?
How many times have you heard your manager or a co-worker say, “I have so much to do, but I’m going to be in meetings all day.”
Unnecessary meetings and a lack of time to focus on goals and responsibilities is one of the number one reasons milestones are missed. Short of declining the meetings and looking like you, or your manger, isn’t a team player, how does one address this problem?
With calendar management.
After years of experience supporting an executive, I began blocking his/her and my calendar as follows:
Monday – Thursday
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: FOCUS
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: FOCUS
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: FOCUS
Friday
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: FOCUS
1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: FLEX
FOCUS times are exclusively reserved for your manager to do his/her job and get stuff done, and therefore, make progress on milestones and goals. This is not time for meetings. It’s time designated for focusing and preparing for everything on his/her plate.
With technology and ‘open door’ calendars where we can and should be able to send invitations for meetings, some people, including other assistants, might be frustrated at these unavailable blocks of time. Your boss might even look at you like you’re crazy when you suggest the blocks. “How will it make me look? Like I’m not working!” he or she will object.
But here is why they are wrong and why it works.
- It sends a clear message when your manager is available.
- It sends the message that the departmental goals, and therefore, the corporate goals are the prize, and work needs to get done in order to reach the established milestones.
- It sends the message to your manager’s direct reports that they, too, should mirror and establish times to focus.
- It sends the cultural message that your manager wants his team to FLEX and get as much work done as possible every Friday afternoon so they can enjoy their weekends and come back refreshed the following Monday and accomplish even more.
- It says, “You’re smart, you use your time wisely, and you are focused on the corporate goals.”
- It says, “This is how goals happen.”
So talk to your manager, and make this suggestion. Give it a trial period. This simple change in calendar will increase productivity and team satisfaction.
Let me know how it goes, or if you need any help at admin@evolvingea.com.
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