5 Key Elements for Successful Calendar Management

Did you know that only 20% of people feel like they have their workload under control? Are you one of them?

Rest assured, She’s A Given comes to the rescue with tips on a successful calendar management. It’s one of the most critical tools in a successful company.

Proper calendar management is a primary function of an executive assistant and serves as a roadmap for executives.

Virtual executive assistants will not only save you time but also money.

The She’s A Given VAs are calendar management pros. We’ll guide you through all aspects of calendar management.

There is much more to managing a calendar than just scheduling meetings and tasks. Here, we break it down into four key elements and discuss what each entails: 

Calendar Fundamentals

Communication is key when managing someone else’s schedule. Start by setting up your ideal week: what types of meetings do you like to participate in?

Which ones do you prefer to decline? Think about your preferred meeting length, as well as which meetings are necessary for the business to function.

With the fundamentals in place, you can be sure that your time is managed well and allow your virtual assistant to consistently look for ways to improve productivity. 

LEARN: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VIRTUAL & PERSONAL ASSISTANTS

Set Your Cadence 

Once you have an outline of the ideal week, it’s time to set the cadence. Determine which meetings need to happen daily, weekly, monthly, and so on.

Then, select which days of the week they should fall on. Every executive has different preferences.

Creating a standing cadence will give you a guideline when additional meeting requests come in and will set your assistant up for success.

Color blocking makes calendar management much easier. Assign colors based on priority:

The She’s A Given-approved system:

Red

Mark your high-priority meetings —that way, when you take a quick glance at your calendar, you know that this is a must-attend (urgent and important).

Your assistant will never schedule a red meeting.

Orange

Utilize orange for important but not urgent meetings.

Yellow

Use yellow for the meetings that others can do without you. You may like to have visibility into what is taking place and may choose to attend if you have the extra time in your schedule.

Green

If you are taking a meeting during your free time, color the code green.

If a meeting is neither important nor urgent, it won’t appear on your calendar. That’s the goal.

Don’t forget that work-life balance is important. It’s easy for busy executives to forget their personal life. So, put everything on your calendar.

Color code this personal time in a color that stands out to you. If you have a shared calendar, you can make these private.

Take Control 

Whether you are the executive or executive assistant, don’t be afraid to take control and schedule yourself (or the executive) office time.

Don’t allow the things that keep your business moving forward to get pushed back because you have too many requests coming in.

Executives, allow your assistant to take control. They will know your schedule better than anyone. Trust is important between the executive and the assistant.

Trust that they will keep you on track and make adjustments to your calendar as needed. Their job is to keep you organized and help your calendar run smoothly! 

Weekly Meetings or “tag-ups” are important to have with your virtual executive assistant.

As your assistant preps you for the week ahead, make adjustments as necessary and provide feedback on how last week went or what you want to see for the week ahead.

Utilize The Right Tools 

Taking advantage of the right tools will also help you manage your calendar. For your monthly meetings, plan for them to be scheduled on the same day of, and use the recurring feature to schedule those meetings for the remainder of the year.

Another helpful tool is to create the same color-blocking technique in your inbox. Gmail will allow you to color code stars so you can flag your emails based on importance.

Creating templates for your meetings will also save you time. Having a standardized meeting template to send out will decrease the actual time it takes to get everything scheduled.

It’s easy to add a few key notes to each meeting agenda than to type a new one from scratch.  

What skills and knowledge are required?

Time management Skills

Being able to prioritize tasks and duties and determine the best use of time to complete them. 

Organizational Skills

Ability to organize appointments, meetings, and events in an accurate and efficient manner. 

Communication Skills

Good communication skills to be able to speak with clients and colleagues and update them on the status of events. 

Computer Skills

Proficiency in using computer programs such as Microsoft Outlook and other calendar management software. 

Technical SKills

Knowledge of basic office equipment and technology to be able to coordinate and set up meetings. 

Attention to detail

Careful attention to detail to make sure all appointments are scheduled correctly and accurately. 

Flexibility

Problem solving Skills

Ability to troubleshoot and resolve any issues that arise when managing calendars. 

Multi-tasking SKills

Ability to manage multiple calendars and tasks simultaneously.

THe Calendar bottom LIne

Calendar management can seem exhausting to some, but your assistant will turn the process into a fine-tuned machine! 

Are you ready to take your calendar management to another level? Contact us at She’s a Given to get started.