This Simple Change Makes Scheduling Suck Less for Everyone Involved

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.

Ever spend 20 minutes playing email tag just to find a 30-minute meeting slot? That’s one of the daily realities for Assistants everywhere, and it’s costing everyone time.

Assistants are tasked with setting up meetings with execs, individual contributors, and teammates across departments, often with external participants in the mix too. Timelines are tight, and expectations are high.

We’re often called magicians or rock stars for playing this insane game of calendar Battleship. But truthfully, it shouldn’t require magic, just a little access.

Here’s one simple thing that YOU can do right now to make a massive difference for yourself and everyone else looking to meet with you:

👉 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿.

Your own Assistant (if you have one) will need full access. But others, across departments, should at least have 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱-𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. And not just the Assistant on your team.  𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

And when a new Assistant joins the company, proactively grant them access. It helps them support everyone more thoughtfully from day one.

Of course, I recognize that some companies or teams have policies that limit calendar sharing across roles or departments. But when it’s possible, granting visibility is one of the easiest ways to improve collaboration and reduce scheduling friction - for everyone.

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨:

This kind of calendar access isn’t about hierarchy. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 and 𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲.

It’s one of the ways Assistants operate strategically. We’re not just moving meetings around. We’re making informed decisions that protect priorities, reduce friction across teams, and keep the business moving forward. Visibility allows us to support how time gets spent, not just getting it on a calendar.

• If we can see that you’ve got a client call or team meeting, we’ll work around it.
• If we see a 1:1 or deep-work block, we’ll weigh that appropriately.
• If we see lunch, we may still book, but at least we'll know what we’re interrupting.

𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱.

And when someone has to rearrange their carefully planned day to accommodate a meeting that could have been handled more thoughtfully, that’s on us.

Personally, I push back against the assumption that everyone should drop what they’re doing just because the executive is free. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼. My job is to support the executive, but I also want to respect your priorities, because when a meeting I schedule causes you to miss a deadline, no one wins.

Not every request can be accommodated, but visibility helps us make smarter tradeoffs and share the impact more thoughtfully across the team.

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗖𝗬?

You don’t have to give up your privacy to help people make better decisions:

• Mark events as “Private.” They’ll still show as busy, but no details
• Use neutral terms like “Appointment” or “Personal Time”
• Create a separate calendar for anything highly sensitive

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗢𝗠 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘:

When Assistants can see your calendar, we can be more strategic about protecting everyone’s time, not just the person we directly support. We can propose meeting times that work for the full group, not just the highest-ranking person in the room.

• One small permission change
• Better scheduling decisions for everyone
• And when scheduling gets easier, everyone wins

Let’s make scheduling suck a little less for everyone involved.

👉 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. 𝗜 𝗯𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼.

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