Summer Madness

A good Admin tracks calendars, meetings and the occasional UFO through out the course of her duties.  During the summer months the added stress of tracking the dates of the executives vacation schedules can be enough to send one around the bend.

The purpose of a good calendar system is to use it to block out vacation days.  Not to let everyone guess where you might be when you disappear.  On top of that people feel it necessary to guard the contents of their calendars like they are national secrets, privy only to the President himself.  REALLY?

Look, I don’t care if you are having lunch with the Dali Lama or your girlfriend.  If the boss is asking where you are and I can see if you are on vacation or in a meeting there are problems.

Do me a favor, as your Admin and let me when you are out of the office.

Meeting Hierarchy

As an admin, I find myself juggling calendars to arrange meetings of varying importance.  When arranging them, I have to take into account the attendees and their rank within the corporation.  I support a CIO, president of a business unit, a couple of Vice Presidents and various Directors.  Often my meeting notices include managers and other people whose presences are required but whose schedules are in conflict with my executives.

So here is a lesson to be learned.  When in the hierarchy of the business world, if your boss tells you that you are required to attend a meeting and the only time HE or SHE can hold it (according to their schedule) is at a specific time that does not jibe with your schedule — you need to be there.  So please don’t call me, telling me to reschedule a meeting that has people who rank higher than you in the company.  You won’t win.

In the grand scheme of things, you need to move your schedule to accommodate their schedule.  As an admin, I have done everything in my power to find a time that will work for everyone.  Failing that, the executives schedule win every time.

A Jury of My Peers

A good friend of the Admin Gal recently pointed out  her frustration of meetings that run over their allotted time.  Admin Gal realizes this is a common theme in this blog.  But with so much material and so many people to help, how can this topic not be revisited regularly?

Meetings are an opportunity for people to come together for a common purpose to come to a decision. Or realize that they won’t come to a mutual desired outcome.  Normally, attendees come prepared ready to make the needed decision or touch base on the current milestone.  All of this can be done with in the allotted meeting time.

Here is when things can go terribly, terribly wrong.  Sometimes, when an attendee feels slighted, for what ever reason, they decide to hold the meeting hostage.  If you will, a meeting filibuster.  Not letting anyone get a word in until they’ve made their pointless point.

5, 10, 30 minutes later.  Everyone’s schedules are in disarray,  other meetings have been held up because of this person’s axe to grind. AND no decision has been reached.

This is where you wonder if a jury of your peers would truly understand if you went postal?

You’d Better Ask Permission!

The old adage ‘better to say you’re sorry than to ask permission’ is getting really old where I work.  On the food chain of reality, the people who are trying to get away with this are not high enough on the food chain to even merit a pass at this.

A manager –  maybe, a director – okay, a vice president – if they must, the president of the business unit – no choice, he can do anything he wants.  Anyone else, absolutely not.  If you don’t book enough time for your meeting.  That’s not my fault.  It’s yours.

I’m really getting tired of having to kick people out of conference rooms because they think they are important enough to need a door.  Just sitting in a room for 45 minutes after your meeting is done because you think the room is free is not correct behavior.  Nor is it acceptable.

My last nerve it getting stretched beyond polite.

Time’s Up!

As an admin, there are many things I tolerate in the commission of my duties.  Cluelessness, Obliviots, etc.  Normally I can manage around all of this, but there are a couple of things that tend to send me over the edge.  One of those things is meeting management.

The reality is when facility resources are limited keeping meetings on time it ABSOLUTELY essential.

The situation that I find myself in is difficult. I don’t like being a bad gal.  But I can be a spectacular Bad Gal if the situation calls for it.  Sometimes I need to knock on doors and remind people that they are running over and delaying other meetings.  I give them a  2 minute high sign.  If they can’t wrap things up in that time, they will then need to adjourn and table the discussion for another time.

When the meeting run past the allotted 2 minute mark, well then I get mean.  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

Here are a few helpful hints when running a meeting:

1. Be aware of your subject matter – Are you scheduling enough time? Do you have an agenda to keep everyone on task?
2. Know your people – Are they talkers?  Do you need to account extra time to accommodate?
3. Is the conference room you’ve scheduled booked immediately after?  - Be courteous to the next group.  They are on equally tight schedules.

If you can at least follow these few strategies when planning your meetings, you will have successful meetings.

More importantly, you won’t have me knocking on your door saying ‘Time’s up!’

Calendar Conundrums

A certain madness is evident when maintaining a calendar for an executive.  When that duty mushrooms into multiple dynamic calendars, well, insanity is the next level of mental acuity.

I only state this obvious, need for a flexible state of mind because of the host of reschedules that happen on any of the given calendars we manage.  If we the admin lose track of the delicate thread that binds all the calendars together, it is even easier for those whose calendars we manage to become unraveled.

For example, I moved a meeting that affected the leadership team.  This meeting was not of pressing urgency as it was a month out on the schedules.  Every last one of the leadership team called me to verify that the meeting would indeed not be taking place tomorrow.

Honestly, the reschedule date is in the subject line. Sigh.

Timeliness is Next to…

If a contractor says they are going to be doing work at 1:30 pm, knowing full well that the people they need to see are leaving at 2 pm.

DO NOT Show up 15 minutes past the deadline thinking that all will be well. It won’t be.  You will have a very cranky, non-cooperative  individual on your hands.  Whose time has been wasted.

Just because as a corporation we choose to pay extreme amounts of money to be told how to manage ourselves, a little courtesy goes a long way.  Makes the sting of cutting those very large checks less painful.  So, respecting the various calendars, appointments and just the individuals time is a sign of respect.  When a consultant stops extending those common courtesies, well contracts can be broken.

If you set a time, stick to it.  It makes a better impression and the world a brighter place.

No, You May Not

As an Admin, I find myself the wrangler of many resources.  Projectors and other widgets.  All of these items are to be checked out using our calendar system so that everyone might have the resource as they need it.

After spending time instructing people on how to reserve the resource, I am flabbergasted when they come to me 48 to 72 hours in advance of their meetings wanting to have the resource so they might be prepared.

REALLY!?!?!?!?!

Never mind that others have reservations for the item. Never mind that the world DOES NOT revolve around them.

They leave my desk muttering about mean and power-hungry admins when I explain that a) it would be an inconvenience to the others who had reserved the resource, b) I don’t want equipment that I’m responsible for not in place that I can’t account for it, and c) NO, YOU MAY NOT have the resource in advance.

If they want to get familiar with the equipment, here’s an idea.  Check it out in advance.  Get use to it.  Return it.  Then on the day of your reservation you’ll feel comfortable.

Use some common sense people!

As the World Turns

I think I sent my brain to India along with my boss and his posse.  I didn’t mean to.  Somehow my brain is not here where it is suppose to be. 

Maybe it is cowering in a corner, curled in a fetal position, rocking back and forth after processing 9, that’s right NINE, business visas for India; 9 non-refundable business class tickets broken up into 2 separate groups, with the accompaning in-country flights that bounce them between 4 cities in 5 days;  a grueling 5 day itinerary that I wouldn’t wish on my least favorite person, all in the name of efficiency.  All of this to make the bottom line of the company more profitable.

Just listing all that brings back the migrain.  Somebody asked me if I wanted to go with them.  I screamed as I ran far, far away from the evil, evil person.

Consultant vs. Vendor

There are many types of relationships in the business world.  Some more permanent than others.  Over the years, I have found the relationships that I develop with my preferred vendors have seen me through thick and thin.

Unfortunately, those relationships can be threatened by the introduction of a new player in town.  The Consultant.

Consultants are people that are paid by the company to tell us how to do things.  Yes, that’s right, we pay them to tell us what to do.  That means the consultant generally comes already equipped with a healthy ego and a sense of entitlement.

They invade the work place like ants at a picnic.  Sticking their noses everywhere, playing merry-hob with calendars and demanding resources like they were executives.

Here is a warning to my fly-by-night consultants. MESS NOT WITH MY VENDOR RELATIONSHIP, LEST YE FEEL THE WRATH OF THE ASSISTANT!

You, the consultant, are here for only a short time.  Your demands are petty and short-lived.  I have to live with the mess you leave behind.

I know where your monies are sent.  I know the admins at your headquarters. I am not afraid to make your collective lives miserable!