For Executive Assistants, effective calendar management is about much more than finding space in a diary. It requires judgement, anticipation and the ability to balance competing priorities while ensuring an executive’s time is focused where it can have the greatest impact.

This practical course builds the skills EAs need to move from reactive scheduling to proactive management of executive time and workflow. Participants explore approaches for prioritising commitments, “owning the schedule”, reducing unnecessary rework and creating reliable systems that make it easier to stay ahead of changing demands.

The course also explores how Microsoft 365 tools and technology can be used more effectively to connect calendars, information, actions and communication.

Participants leave with practical approaches they can apply immediately to create more organised, responsive and high-trust ways of working with the executives they support.

Key learnings

• Manage executive calendars proactively by applying clear priorities and exercising sound judgement.
• Create efficient workflows that reduce rework, duplication and unnecessary follow-up.
• Use Microsoft 365 tools and practical working systems to improve coordination, visibility and follow-through.

Do you manage a calendar where priorities change quickly, meeting requests compete for limited time and the implications of scheduling decisions extend well beyond diary management?

This course is ideal if you:

• regularly manage competing demands on an executive’s time
• want to move from reactive scheduling to more proactive calendar management
• need greater confidence in assessing and prioritising meeting requests
• find yourself repeatedly rescheduling, following up or recreating information
• support multiple executives, committees or workstreams
• want to make better use of tools and technology
• are looking to establish more consistent and trusted ways of working with your executive.

If you want to spend less time managing diary friction and more time anticipating needs, protecting priorities and enabling your executive to perform effectively, this course will provide practical tools and approaches to help.

You’ll develop a more strategic approach to managing executive time, information and workflow.

Through practical activities and realistic EA scenarios, you’ll examine how to determine what genuinely deserves executive time, respond to competing requests, create effective scheduling conventions and establish systems that enable both you and your executive to work with greater clarity and confidence.

You’ll also consider how Microsoft 365 tools can support an integrated workflow rather than becoming separate places where information and actions accumulate.

• Apply a proactive approach to calendar management rather than simply responding to meeting requests.
• Assess competing demands and prioritise executive time according to importance, urgency and organisational priorities.
• Exercise greater judgement when accepting, declining, redirecting or renegotiating calendar requests.
• Establish practical calendar conventions that reduce confusion, unnecessary rescheduling and rework.
• Anticipate scheduling requirements and identify potential conflicts before they become problems.
• Use technology more effectively to coordinate meetings, information, actions and follow-up.
• Create streamlined workflows for capturing commitments, tracking actions and maintaining visibility over priorities.
• Establish high-trust, low-maintenance working systems that support an effective EA–Executive partnership.
• Apply practical techniques for managing multiple executives or concurrent workstreams.
• Develop a personalised approach for improving calendar and workflow practices in your own role.

Planning to book for a team? A bulk booking discount is available when you register three or more participants or bundle three or more courses.

Many of our courses can also be delivered exclusively for your organisation, either virtually or in person, and tailored to suit your team’s needs. Contact us to discuss your booking and available options.

If you would like to learn more about this course or our other offerings, please contact the IPAA ACT team on 02 6154 9800 or capability@act.ipaa.org.au.