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Post by Really Red on Apr 22, 2016 13:34:12 GMT
Background
I'm headed to a meeting later this morning. The Sr. VP asked me to have this meeting and include some of his staff. On the very lowest of the totem pole (LOTP), is a woman who:
Declined my first invite, even though her schedule said she was free
Declined my second invite, even though her schedule said she was free.
Not completely stupid, I asked the group when the best day would be and HER team gave me a date. She never responded.
Set a FOURTH date and LOTP's colleague wrote and said she only worked mornings.
OMG! How hard is it to block your calendar? How hard is it to respond to ANY of my invites and say "I don't work afternoons?" So I have to send out a FIFTH date and I'm embarrassed (and annoyed) and poor VP has to keep changing his very busy calendar. He does not like to hear excuses so I was brief.
My question:
LOTP is nice, but clearly not super bright, hence the LOTP status. She is going to say something to me. If it's bland, like thanks for changing the meeting, I can say "Sure," and drop it at that, but if she says something else I am going to be hard-pressed not to say "It would be helpful to block your calendar." That sounds snarky to me, but it also sounds super fake if I say it doesn't matter, because it did and it was annoying to send FIVE invites to a Senior VP. So is it okay to say that? Would it hit you the wrong way? Is there something more mild to say? I work a lot with her group and I love every other person there. LOVE them, but I don't know her well and this has not put me in a good mood towards her.
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Post by littlemama on Apr 22, 2016 13:36:57 GMT
I would ask her if she knows how to block time on her calendar because you were choosing meeting times based on calendar availability and it might have avoided so many changes if everyone's calendars were up to date. Offer to show her how.
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Post by annabella on Apr 22, 2016 13:46:22 GMT
At my company we don't use that feature, so when a new employee came I had to explain to her that no I will not block my calendar for walking back to the office from lunch. She just needs to ask me when I'm free. I personally don't mind sending people emails and going back and forth to find a good time, but I realize that doesn't work for everyone. I just find blocking my calendar for planning time so elementary. I know I need my day free to do paperwork or whatever. This woman of yours may not think that meeting is of any relevance to her, hence her attendance optional. I would just call her up and say your attendance is mandatory and we will work around your schedule, when are you free.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 30, 2024 0:42:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 13:58:39 GMT
If it was really more important to you that you not have to send multiple invitations to the meeting to the senior VP, a phone call to this person after the first decline would have saved you.
Sending an invitation makes it seem like the invitee has a choice.
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Post by marzbar71 on Apr 22, 2016 13:59:41 GMT
While we don't block off time for lunch and normal day to day activities, it seems that if she only works mornings, it would behoove her to block out every afternoon. It's a pretty easy recurring event to set up.
If she said something to me, I would probably say "oh, I wish you had responded to the first invite that you only worked mornings. I would have arranged something differently".
If she's low on the totem poll, she probably doesn't get invited to many larger meetings and her group already knows her schedule.
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Post by bigbundt on Apr 22, 2016 14:02:00 GMT
Does your company use that calendar feature as a whole? My company doesn't and I don't because I work from home whenever my schedule allows. No way would I be able to block out when I was unavailable because I don't know where my day is going to go. Sometimes I work mornings, sometimes afternoons, sometimes late at night.
If it were at my company and I was in your position, I would have found three available times in my VP's calendar, blocked them tentative and then sent out an email to all invited asking them when they were available and rank from 1 to 3 the most preferable time to worst. Once a date and time was agreed to, THEN I would have sent out an outlook invite. In my experience people ignore outlook invitations because they don't know they are supposed to accept or decline. They don't know that they can respond to the invite so they do nothing. They will respond to a normal email though.
Or I would have just told the VP that this lady couldn't make any of the times available and will not be there and take my cues from him/her.
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JustTricia
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,842 
Location: Indianapolis
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Post by JustTricia on Apr 22, 2016 14:03:02 GMT
I would just say something along the lines of "I didn't realize until so and so informed me on such date that you only worked mornings. Had I known, it would have been easier to find a date that worked for everyone."
No snark in your voice, but it would make it clear that you and everyone else were inconvenienced as well
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Deleted
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Sept 30, 2024 0:42:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 14:03:47 GMT
Is she actually a must-have person to be there, as in the work cannot get done if she is not? The norm at my company is that we do our best to accommodate everyone's schedule, but it's rare that you actually can. Sometimes we record meetings for those who couldn't attend to replay at their convenience. Sometimes we just give them notes. Whatever.
No way would I reschedule a meeting *that* many times for one person. One reschedule if IMPERATIVE and that's it.
If she wasn't responding to emails, I would pick up the phone and call her and find a good time.
She's making you look foolish and STOP!
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Post by pealikecrazy on Apr 22, 2016 14:19:40 GMT
I agree that she might not know how to block out her calendar.
She's probably just clueless. Some people are annoying like that! Don't let it get to you.
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Post by Really Red on Apr 22, 2016 14:26:47 GMT
We have 1600 employees in our office. We ALL use Outlook and we are all told to keep our calendars up to date. It is not optional!!! Meetings are a serious way of life here and Outlook invites are not optional unless it tells you that you are optional. Everyone takes them seriously. I cannot be expected to baby an employee by picking up a phone and calling her. I had to invite her as she is one of the reasons for the meeting. littlemama Ha ha!! |
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keithurbanlovinpea
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Flowing with the go...
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Post by keithurbanlovinpea on Apr 22, 2016 14:29:50 GMT
While we don't block off time for lunch and normal day to day activities, it seems that if she only works mornings, it would behoove her to block out every afternoon. It's a pretty easy recurring event to set up. If she said something to me, I would probably say "oh, I wish you had responded to the first invite that you only worked mornings. I would have arranged something differently". If she's low on the totem poll, she probably doesn't get invited to many larger meetings and her group already knows her schedule. This. If the expectation within your work environment is to block times on the calendar, then I would say something like the above or along the lines of, "I'm sorry. I did not see any blocked times on your calendar and I didn't realize you only worked mornings. It would be helpful if you could indicate your work hours on your calendar and then we can avoid the back and forth for future meetings." However, I have worked for companies where the block is simply not done. That makes it trickier. Then I would go with what @busypea said and just schedule it based on what you see open, keeping the schedules of the most senior people in mind. Side note: I worked for one company where we not only honored the block as sacrosanct, but also had to share our calendars with the team so they could see exactly what the item was in case someone more senior than you wanted to override what you had scheduled. I learned to use the "Private" button in Outlook real fast. |
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Post by auntkelly on Apr 22, 2016 14:30:30 GMT
Did she know the Sr. VP expected her to attend the meeting? I have included people on meeting notifications when I really didn't expect them to attend, it was just an FYI. Regardless, I would have picked up the phone after she declined the first invitation and asked her when would be a good time to reschedule.
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Post by bigbundt on Apr 22, 2016 14:43:55 GMT
I cannot be expected to baby an employee by picking up a phone and calling her. I had to invite her as she is one of the reasons for the meeting. Normally I would agree with you but by not doing this you are inconveniencing a bunch of other people, including your VP, with multiple emails. Your task is to get the meeting set up, sucks that she isn't playing like everyone else but it is what it is. I am constantly chasing people down for things, I hate it and it really messes up my workflow but at the end of the day *I* do what needs to be done to get my job done even if it means babying someone. I just curse them under my breath.  |
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Post by cmpeter on Apr 22, 2016 14:53:03 GMT
We have 60,000 employees and it is corporate culture to keep your calendar updated.
For a senior level VP meeting, I would have used the scheduling feature to find a few spots that looked open for everyone. Then I would have confirmed which time worked best for him.
Then I would have sent the invite and specifically mentioned that he asked for the meeting and specified the attendee list.
I work on the west coast and most of my work colleagues are on the east coast. I do block out my mornings so I don't end up with 6:00 am calls. But, if a VP or higher sends out an invite for a 9:00 am EST meeting, I deal and join at 6:00 am PST. I respond to all meeting requests. If I decline I indicate why. If it's during a booked or blocked time slot, I contact the meeting organizer to see if a) it's worth me rescheduling or b) they want me there enough to reschedule.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Apr 22, 2016 14:53:27 GMT
I probably would have emailed her after the 2nd time to tell her that we can't hold the meeting without her and that, since using her calendar wasn't working, she needs to give me 3 times that would work (or that she should look at everyone else's calendar and find a time that works for her).
We have an expectation that calendars are up to date, and I do get a little snippy when people's calendars aren't up to date because it makes it harder for everyone else. If someone works an unusal schedule, they can set their work hours in Outlook. I'm equally snippy when I look at someone's calendar and every second between now and Christmas is booked (probably because of their staff members vacation requests).
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Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 22, 2016 14:57:26 GMT
Seriously, half my day is spent on scheduling matters and this would have really pissed me off. It is protocol where I work that any time spent out of the office during 8-5 business hours is blocked off on your calendar. I am very fortunate, as I have a boss whose schedule is so crazy and I manage it for her. If I were in this scenario, I would have brought this to her attention and she would have said something to the person's manager. When you are scheduling large groups of people, it is imperative that Outlook show correctly. But I think if she denied the first meeting, I wouldn't have rescheduled four times. At that point I would have picked up the phone and tried to figure it out. When I have someone who is key to a meeting decline, I pick up the phone and figure out why exactly they are declining when their schedule looks open.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Apr 22, 2016 14:59:05 GMT
We have 1600 employees in our office. We ALL use Outlook and we are all told to keep our calendars up to date. It is not optional!!! Meetings are a serious way of life here and Outlook invites are not optional unless it tells you that you are optional. Everyone takes them seriously. I cannot be expected to baby an employee by picking up a phone and calling her. I had to invite her as she is one of the reasons for the meeting. littlemama Ha ha!! I would just pick up the phone and call her. Just explain the situation and that you didn't know that she only worked mornings. Then I would ask her to block out her afternoon calendar. She may not have thought to do that as she doesn't work at that time. It seems like you are making this hard on yourself. |
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Post by hop2 on Apr 22, 2016 15:03:05 GMT
Id be more annoyed by the lack of complete/informative response the first million times than about the calendar thing.
But I understand if it's mandatory in you company she ought to do it.
Either way after invite 2 and lack of clear response she's totally unprofessional and needs some training
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Post by cmpeter on Apr 22, 2016 15:03:45 GMT
No way would anyone here pick up the phone to check your calendar availability. It's on you to keep that updated. I could see an IM maybe. But, if I didn't have my early mornings blocked off (just like the NY folks block off their calendars after 5:00 pm) my leader would have taken me to task for not updating my calendar. Ain't nobody got time for chasing down a low level employees availability. It's on her to make that known.
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Post by utmr on Apr 22, 2016 15:23:37 GMT
Personally I wouldn't be concerned about not being snarky. I'd just straight up say "the culture and expectation here is that you keep your calendar current. We plan meetings around senior-persons availability and you inconvenience everyone when we have to reschedule multiple times because you have failed to keep your calendar current. Do you know how to do that?"
If it's a training issue, then I'd explain it (it's truly not rocket science) and then let her supervisor know I had trained her.
One problem I've had was travel. Our folks are very good about being current but sometimes they forget to block off "in the air" time. There is a feature in our travel system that will mark your flight times as unavailable. Doesn't sound like that is LOTP's issue, but it's a cool feature that some of our road warriors didn't know about.
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psiluvu
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Posts: 3,217
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Post by psiluvu on Apr 22, 2016 15:32:01 GMT
No way would anyone here pick up the phone to check your calendar availability. It's on you to keep that updated. I could see an IM maybe. But, if I didn't have my early mornings blocked off (just like the NY folks block off their calendars after 5:00 pm) my leader would have taken me to task for not updating my calendar. Ain't nobody got time for chasing down a low level employees availability. It's on her to make that known. Exactly that ^. If I had to double check with every non response to each event or meeting I schedule I wouldn't get much else done in a day. |
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Post by melodyesch on Apr 22, 2016 16:27:34 GMT
We have 1600 employees in our office. We ALL use Outlook and we are all told to keep our calendars up to date. It is not optional!!! Meetings are a serious way of life here and Outlook invites are not optional unless it tells you that you are optional. Everyone takes them seriously. I cannot be expected to baby an employee by picking up a phone and calling her. I had to invite her as she is one of the reasons for the meeting. This. We don't have meetings for the sake of meetings. If I've scheduled a meeting, it's because it's necessary and I will mark you optional ONLY if you are optional. What a complete nightmare it would have to be to call 10 people and try to juggle setting up a meeting because people won't keep their calendars updated. Especially if my manager is included because she has a really tight schedule. Everyone at my company that I am involved with keeps their calendars updated. Now in this case, I would not have sent 5 invites. I would have put in the meeting planner that the VP had requested their presence and after she declined it without suggesting an alternate time, I would have called her specifically to ask her why she declined with no reason and did not suggest an alternate time when her calendar was marked as free. Then I would ask her if she needed help setting up her schedule in Outlook since she's off every weekend and that's not currently indicated. |
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Post by Delta Dawn on Apr 22, 2016 16:44:18 GMT
If I had a dr. appointment and didn't want to write it down I could just decline the meeting and tell my supervisor that I wouldn't be able to attend. We weren't required to write everything down in our schedules by any means.
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Post by Drew on Apr 22, 2016 16:50:46 GMT
Calendar etiquette is imperative in a business that employs this method of scheduling. Everyone has to be on board for it to be successful. It's a very valuable company tool. Are you in a position to send out a general email to that affect and make sure she gets it?
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Kerri W
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Post by Kerri W on Apr 22, 2016 16:52:33 GMT
Does she not have a group leader? In this instance, I would mention to them that you're having difficult setting up the meeting because she wasn't following company policy regarding her calendar. Seems like that is an issue her "boss" needs to take up with her, not your responsibility.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Apr 22, 2016 16:56:25 GMT
This is a situation where you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. It doesn't matte what is typical in your company. When you've sending multiple invites to the Snr VP - it's not going to reflect well on YOU. At this point it's all damage control as you should have figured out way earlier that what you were doing wasn't working.
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Post by ladytrisha on Apr 22, 2016 18:51:30 GMT
we have an exec admin at our work and she just doesn't even try to look at the calendar and then invites everyone. I said why am I invited (admin for person who should go) - she said "so you're aware" ... okay, so put me on the CC, not the invite list! Duh. And she's makes $20k more than any of us who know how to use the features. ugh.
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Post by littlemama on Apr 22, 2016 19:08:22 GMT
We have 1600 employees in our office. We ALL use Outlook and we are all told to keep our calendars up to date. It is not optional!!! Meetings are a serious way of life here and Outlook invites are not optional unless it tells you that you are optional. Everyone takes them seriously. I cannot be expected to baby an employee by picking up a phone and calling her. I had to invite her as she is one of the reasons for the meeting. littlemama Ha ha!! I work in a 10 person office and meetings are scheduled by yelling down the hall "Hey, is everyone going to be around this afternoon?" |
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Post by annabella on Apr 22, 2016 19:11:34 GMT
we have an exec admin at our work and she just doesn't even try to look at the calendar and then invites everyone. I said why am I invited (admin for person who should go) - she said "so you're aware" ... okay, so put me on the CC, not the invite list! Duh. And she's makes $20k more than any of us who know how to use the features. ugh. Yes the EA to the CEO at my company does this too. |
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Post by ladytrisha on Apr 22, 2016 19:21:02 GMT
our exec admin called me to verify my boss is on vacation (yup, 2 weeks - he's actually flown to Germany to assist the refugees - seriously makes me question the validity of me vacationing with my fat butt on a beach, but I digress).
Anyway, all week long, I keep getting his invites. Seriously, how many times can I go "hello, he's still in Germany just like his outlook calendar says"
He's out saving the world, and you can't send an invite correctly! LOL
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