The Best Ways to Manage Your Executive's Time

Helping an executive make the best use of their time is one of your top priorities as an EA. Doing so helps ensure that they—and by extension, you as their executive administrator—will be successful. 

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To be good at this, you must first understand your executive's work style. Is he someone who wants to know every aspect of every project? Or is she a “big-picture” person who prefers brief, face-to-face updates or short, double-spaced memos?

It’s almost impossible to change someone’s preferred working style. So, in order to ensure that your executive's time—and yours, of course—is used productively, you must adapt and sync up with your exec.

You’ll also need to know the executive's short- and long-term objectives, as well as their strengths, weaknesses, and pressures. This will allow you to anticipate their needs so you can proactively handle every project, issue, and potential obstacle on the horizon. 

Close observation helps, as well as being straightforward and asking what they feel would be the best use of your time and where you could add the most value. These are collaborative conversations that will benefit you both and strengthen your working relationship. 

Communicating early and often is key. Set a regular meeting to keep the exec up to speed on every project and item they should care about. Should a big problem (or a big win!) occur, tell them immediately, because surprises make everyone look bad.  

Another important tip: Use the appropriate tech (apps/calendar/checklists) to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, while also planning for potential problems. Think of “what if” situations and how you would handle them. You always want to provide solutions, not complaints. Never present a problem unless you can suggest one or more solutions to solve it.

Finally, it’s up to you to proactively manage meetings. Create an agenda, action items, and possible outcomes for every meeting. Schedule a timeframe for each topic and make sure the meeting manager keeps to it. Overlong meetings waste everyone’s time, but especially the exec's.

Remember: Whatever makes their job easier makes your job easier. You've got this!