We bring you great advice on diary management from an expert with decades of experience, Juliet Tolley, Executive Support Manager for the Director General of Migration, Borders and International Policy at the Home Office. She is also a trainer and mentor for her peers, and has run specialist diary coding workshops for the UK Government Private Office staff…
“I have been an EA all my working life, this role was a career choice for me, I came straight out of Pitman’s Secretarial college and I’ve never looked back. I’ve supported some amazing Executives and CEOs within large global corporate companies. For the last six years I’ve been working within the UK Government, currently at the Home Office. It goes without saying that for an EA it is critical to keep our skills up to date with the latest systems, apps, tools and tech but, the most crucial skill of all for me has been diary management.”
Juliet was features in our PA Profile interview in 2022.
Diary management advice for the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham from Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak wrote an article in the Times recently, some advice to the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Sunak wrote that “on entering No10 you are immediately presented with an hour-by-hour diary for the day and a schedule for the next three weeks, so your number one priority is to find your diary manager!”
No one can expand the number of hours in the day, so it is imperative that you have someone who can plan time and make it meaningful. I have managed some incredibly complex, agile diaries across global time-zones, and have found that without a doubt, the most effective way to manage a diary is to colour code it.
Diary management is a strategic capability
Diary Management is not an administrative task – it is a strategic capability. Managing diaries is a critical role but if you have appointments that all look the same, with no indication as to how important they are, what they are about or if they can be moved, time-management becomes impossible.
Getting everyone onboard – standardising colour coding of diaries
I have shared my diary coding technique with many EAs over the years, most recently through a series of workshops across Government Private Offices, helping colleagues set up and successfully implement coding in their own areas. Whilst some teams used various diary systems, the aim here is to set standard colour coding so that we can all read executive diaries.
At the forefront of the message is – Bringing the Private Offices together and aligning the way diaries are colour coded, enabling Executives and EAs to instantly recognize the type of day in store, what’s important to attend, what can be moved, or what can be declined. The key reason for aligning coding is so that diaries can communicate meaningful information be it to the planners, the readers or the owners. More importantly, standardising colour coding will ensure EAs can transition seamlessly across exec teams to help with crucial diary cover and maintain a consistent high level, quality administration service.
Creating and using codes
It is important to note you can only create a coloured category from the mailbox of the diary owner, as it is their diary you manage. To create a code, simply right click on any message in their inbox and select categorize from the drop-down menu, pick a colour, for example RED, name it ‘Important’ and save. After that, whenever you create or accept an important meeting in the diary, you can select RED from the categories list in the menu bar to code it. I always start off by introducing a basic RAGG – colour Red for important – must attend meetings, Amber for everyday meetings that could be moved if needed, Grey for not attending but need to keep in the diary for information, and Green space, at least 1 hour a day, or small 15/30-minute green ‘keep free’ slots scattered throughout the day to give Execs some much needed desk/admin time.
Once you have set up this RAGG and got used to using it, you can go further and introduce more categories such as Pink for 1:1s, Purple for reading documents/Sign offs, and Yellow for pockets which are just time slots created by you next to meetings where you can attach emails or papers etc as background information or remind your exec to do something. I also use Blue Travel slots marked as out of office before and after offsite meetings, so I can instantly see that an exec is out offsite and will need more time to get back to office or head to their next meeting. I use these Blue travel pockets to attach tickets, accommodation details and maps for ease of reference.
The importance of timing is the cornerstone of good diary management
Not every meeting has to be a full 1 hour, reduce to 50 or even 45-minutes, and 30-minute meets can reduce to 25 minutes. This creates space between meetings for transition time, overrun and comfort breaks. If a meeting time ends at 09:30am start the next one at 09:35am. This also gives you more wriggle room if you need to shift times slightly.
If you work regularly with other countries and need to map a call overseas, you can add a second time-zone to the diary to help with timings. Simply go to ‘View’ whilst in the diary at the top bar, select ‘Timescale’ and ‘change time zone’. Tick ‘show a second time zone’ give it a label e.g USA and then choose the time zone from the drop-down menu. This second time zone will appear on the left side of the calendar, along with the standard UK time making it much easier to map across.
Diary management as a corporate goal
Diary coding is a strategic corporate priority that strengthens the effectiveness of the wider business support function. Using and sharing this expertise across teams is a corporate goal in that it helps build capability, supports colleague development, and promotes the adoption of best practices. This, in turn, enables EAs and business managers to work more collaboratively, delivering a more resilient and cohesive administrative service while improving overall diary management and optimising executives’ time.
Positive outcomes
I have seen firsthand how this simple coding concept can change the way diaries are managed for the better and can honestly say it is magical looking across a suite of executive calendars, reading them all clearly through RAGG colour codes and knowing the layout of the day, what best times I can pick and what times to avoid, thereby reducing clashes on the recipient side, everybody benefits!
You can connect with Juliet on LinkedIn
