Good diary management can contribute to a smooth and efficient run business.
All businesses need a diary system in place to document and record meetings, conferences, appointments, deadlines and holidays.
Keeping a diary system can reduce the likelihood of rescheduling meetings. If it is maintained in an organised and structured way it will result in more being achieved.
Diary management is a fundamental part of scheduling which, in turn, can help with time management. The drawback is, diary management is a task in itself, and time has to be devoted in order to upkeep it. Most bosses will delegate this task to an administrator, but to do this, it usually means the boss giving up control of their diary, something that can take some getting used to. The boss needs to relinquish full control, because if two people are maintaining the diary and making adjustments then things can be overlooked or incorrectly input.
If you are an administrator and have been given this important task, then it is vital you ask the boss how the diary should be managed.
Make sure relevant information is easy for the boss to access. They should also be able to instantly see how their day looks and what paperwork is required at meetings, so they can go in prepared.
In order to schedule the diary properly the administrator should get to know the boss's habits. Do they come in early? If so, is it okay to schedule early morning meetings? Does their productivity peak mid-morning? Would they prefer a lunch meeting? Do they prefer to keep certain days free?
Things to take into consideration when scheduling the diary.
All calendar events scheduled should have a date, time, location, meeting attendee list, agenda, type of meeting.
Is the meeting internal or external?
Always check the before and after schedule. How will prior engagements affect their mood and performance?
Be realistic about how much to schedule in for one day. With external meetings, factor in travel time and delays. Consider if prior meetings could over-run. Remember no-one can be in two places at once.
Factor in actual work time. Even bosses need down time to answer emails and write reports.
Create a system. Colour coding events will make them stand out. Categorise the events to separate them into appointments, deadlines, meetings.
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