Here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned for setting up my exec’s calendar, what I need from them to get started and how I hit the ground running from the cornerstone of the calendar first.
Share with specific people or groups:
The first thing to do is to get access to your exec’s calendar. Have them click on the 3 dots next to their name under “My calendars” on the left hand size of their calendar. Then select “Settings and sharing.”
Then scroll down to “Share with specific people or groups” where they will see their name listed. Have them click on “ + Add people and groups.”
Have them type in your email address and then make sure they select “Make changes and manage sharing.” This is important for 4 reasons:
- You will be able to see and manage their color labels
- Their calendar will show up under “My calendars” instead of “Other calendars” on the left hand size and therefore will be a lot easier to toggle on and off instead of scrolling through all the “Other calendars” that you have (if you’re like me and have like 50)
- You will be able to control sharing editing permissions to other EBPs / EAs for coverage when you need to go out on PTO, etc
- You will be able to control the visibility of their calendar
Access permissions for events:
This is one thing that will vary from company to company. Some companies feel very strongly about all calendars being open and all events viewable while others are more “it’s common for folks to have their calendars open but it’s not mandated.”. I, on average, unless the company is like the former, like to keep my exec’s calendar to at least “Make available for [Company name] See only free / busy (hide details)” particularly if their calendar gets packed really quickly and they’re in a lot of meetings. I worked at one company where folks did a lot of calendar browsing and would study execs’ calendars even if they were only free / busy and would infer things from who had similar blocks and we also happened to go through several RIFs at this company. I learned after the first RIF to just make my exec’s and my own calendar unavailable to view at all (by toggling off “Make available for [Company name]”) to keep from folks swirling over things they couldn’t control.
Doing whatever variation of the things for my calendar that works for my exec’s preferences:
All the things that I already outlined for setting up your own calendar could work well for your exec’s calendar as well!
Setting up DNB and lunch blocks:
Setting up DNB (do not book) blocks is one of the first things I set up in my exec’s calendar. One of the questions I ask when ramping up with a new exec (covered in the Thought: “Q’s for your exec”) is what is your ideal start time and end time each day? Maybe that’s centered around being available for school drop-off or pickup or even just being available for dinner. If they want to start no earlier than 8AM PT, I block out 7-8AM PT, mark it with the “Block” color label and make it recurring on weekday basis. I then do the same for when they want to be done each day – if it’s 5PM I block out 5-6PM. This way, it is very very clear when the exec is available and when they’re not for folks in the company who might have free/busy only access but also to the exec themselves if you have an exec that tends to say yes a lot or overcommit themselves.
It will look something like this (depending on what times your exec prefers):
Then there are the lunch blocks so that (depending on your exec and / or team) people just don’t book over it, they remember to eat, they have a moment to step away from their computer, etc. I create those the same as the DNB blocks and usually block it for an hour just to give my exec breathing room and a chance to regroup after a hectic morning. Their calendar will then look like this:
Recurring deep work blocks:
Deep work time is covered more in detail in the Thought: “Deep Work Time” but I’ll just cover it quickly here. I like to set up large recurring blocks where possible and conducive to my exec’s calendar density and preferences. This is a 2-fold effort:
- This automatically and proactively blocks out the time so you don’t have to worry about someone scheduling over it
- If you ever have to schedule over it, it’s a forcing function to you or your exec that you are having to eat into that set aside deep work time
One of the questions I ask my exec (covered in the Thought: “Q’s for your exec”) is what is their life / work balance like right now? If your exec has a family, this is likely to look different than if they don’t – especially if they have children. Depending on how they answer this question, I then ask how many deep work hours would they ideally like to have each week to avoid them working really late into the evenings and putting in a lot of hours over the weekend. Maybe this looks like more deep work Monday morning to ramp into the week, more time Friday afternoons to close out the week, or just an even 2 hours each day perhaps in the morning if they like to frontload their day. The busiest exec I have ever supported said 10 deep work hours a week would be miraculous. What I did, then, was set up recurring deep work blocks proactively in her calendar spread evenly throughout the week that added up to 10 hours (I did block out her whole Friday afternoon, though, so a total of 13 hours) and this was what we started each week with. As meetings would come up, this would inevitably get chipped away at but it was a conscious decision that also prompted tradeoff conversations.
Color coding and color labels:
One thing I really like to do to be able to quickly look at the calendar and get a sense for where time is being spent or making sure an invite is flagged as important / doesn’t get moved is color coding. Another thing covered in the Thought: “Q’s for your exec” is I ask my exec if they have a color scheme they are already attached to. Some do and some have never color coded before. I like to keep the tags simple – otherwise, it’s so many it gets hard to keep track of and parse. You are limited to 11 colors / labels and that means you also have to make sure that your exec’s calendar is not one of these colors if you end up having to use them all.
The way you add these is by (if you are on a Mac – apologies PC users, I am not sure how you do this on non-Mac) two finger clicking on a meeting / event and this will pop up:
You can also access this when you create an event normally, clicking on the color drop down next to your name in the event window.
Click on “ + Add a label” and then you will get a window where you can assign a label to each color. These are the 5 labels I like to use and have found really helpful for my execs: :
The eyes next to the labels are if you would like to see the labels the next time you two finger click on a meeting or go to the color drop down in the event window, you will see the label next to the color. This is great for a reminder to your exec what each color is (a key) but also to other EBPs if they cover for you and aren’t familiar with the color coding scheme you and exec have set up.
How do you like to set up your Google Calendar? Have any tips or tricks that you’d like to share? Would love to hear them! Share them in the comments below.
