Calling something an “emergency” doesn’t make it a true emergency. Most things can wait.
Urgent is rarely urgent.
Think about the last time you received a text or phone call from your executive during your off hours. Could it have waited until you were back online to address?
Most likely, the answer is yes.
This episode is a reminder that urgent is rarely urgent.
I talk about setting expectations with your executive, as well as the different modes of communication and how my executive and I rank them in terms of urgency.
Enjoy!
RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE
- Let us know what tips you have on setting boundaries with your executive in our Facebook group here
- The original blog post on this topic can be found here
LEADERSHIP QUOTE
I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00.380 –> 00:00:03.880
JEREMY: Hey, everyone, it’s Jeremy Burrows, host of The Leader Assistant Podcast.
00:00:04.300 –> 00:00:07.100
JEREMY: Today’s leadership quote comes from Dwight D.
00:00:07.300 –> 00:00:07.980
JEREMY: Eisenhower.
00:00:08.620 –> 00:00:13.220
JEREMY: I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important.
00:00:14.060 –> 00:00:18.660
JEREMY: The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.
00:00:21.980 –> 00:00:29.720
<v SPEAKER_2>The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become irreplaceable, game-changing leader assistants.
00:00:32.280 –> 00:00:33.960
JEREMY: Please review on iTunes.
00:00:34.380 –> 00:00:35.940
JEREMY: Episode 27.
00:00:35.960 –> 00:00:37.520
JEREMY: Hello, friends.
00:00:37.540 –> 00:00:38.400
JEREMY: Thanks for tuning in.
00:00:38.420 –> 00:00:41.280
JEREMY: I do want to say sorry for my voice today.
00:00:41.300 –> 00:00:51.860
JEREMY: I’m getting over a cold, but I really wanted to get this recorded because there’s only so much time in a day, and I have the time now, so I’m taking advantage of it.
00:00:52.360 –> 00:01:01.600
JEREMY: Today’s episode is about urgency and the fact that most things are not actually urgent.
00:01:02.220 –> 00:01:17.840
JEREMY: It’s a shame that this topic needs to be addressed, but many assistants, including myself, have experienced bosses in our prior jobs or in our current jobs, for some of you who treat everything as urgent.
00:01:18.560 –> 00:01:27.020
JEREMY: Off-the-clock text messages, phone calls while we’re on vacation, just leaving us annoyed, overworked, and burned out.
00:01:27.840 –> 00:01:43.780
JEREMY: Yes, true emergencies happen, and yes, some of us have to be on call 24-7, depending on our roles, but just because our executive calls something an emergency doesn’t make it a true emergency.
00:01:44.400 –> 00:01:45.800
JEREMY: Most things can wait.
00:01:46.800 –> 00:01:53.760
JEREMY: Think about the last time you received a text message or a phone call from your executive during off hours.
00:01:54.720 –> 00:01:58.140
JEREMY: Could it have waited until you were back online the next day?
00:01:59.220 –> 00:02:01.320
JEREMY: Most of the time, the answer is yes.
00:02:02.240 –> 00:02:11.980
JEREMY: So how many of those times would a simple email from your executive asking you to take care of it the next day have been more sufficient?
00:02:12.940 –> 00:02:18.140
JEREMY: Of course, it’s not your job to define what is or isn’t an emergency.
00:02:18.780 –> 00:02:20.160
JEREMY: That’s your executive’s job.
00:02:20.960 –> 00:02:25.620
JEREMY: However, it’s your job to be a good leader assistant.
00:02:26.180 –> 00:02:40.960
JEREMY: So one thing I would do to address this issue going forward is to sit down with your executive and set up expectations of when you’re online, when you’re offline, but also clarify what’s an emergency.
00:02:41.360 –> 00:03:10.920
JEREMY: Clarify what is in fact urgent and get in the habit of thinking twice before you reply to a midnight text message to help set boundaries for yourself so that your executive will get used to you not replying in these odd hours as opposed to you replying at all hours of the day, any day of the week, whether on vacation or not.
00:03:10.940 –> 00:03:17.160
JEREMY: So part of the blame is on ourselves if we are very responsive all the time and don’t set those boundaries.
00:03:17.680 –> 00:03:22.960
JEREMY: And also if we treat things that aren’t urgent as urgent, then our executive will tend to do the same thing.
00:03:23.300 –> 00:03:30.700
JEREMY: So the next time your executive pings you while you’re offline, ask yourself an honest question.
00:03:30.860 –> 00:03:36.500
JEREMY: Is this something that is urgent or is this something that I can handle when I’m back online?
00:03:37.100 –> 00:03:48.900
JEREMY: Now, you may have to do a few times where you reply back saying, I will get back to this in the morning, or I’ll get to this as soon as I get into the office, or can this wait?
00:03:49.880 –> 00:03:53.420
JEREMY: But just remember, urgent is rarely urgent.
00:03:54.660 –> 00:04:01.160
JEREMY: And sit down with your executive to clearly define what is an emergency and what is not an emergency.
00:04:01.640 –> 00:04:19.440
JEREMY: And the last thing I want to talk about in this episode is the mode of communication and sitting down with your executive and coming up with a plan for what mode of communication is priority and urgent and what is not.
00:04:19.840 –> 00:04:28.440
JEREMY: So for example, my executive and I, we have a system set up where a phone call is typically the highest urgency.
00:04:29.100 –> 00:04:39.120
JEREMY: A text message would be the second highest and then a Slack instant message would be following that and then email.
00:04:39.120 –> 00:04:46.020
JEREMY: So for example, if I get an email, typically if I can respond to it within 24 hours, I’m in good shape.
00:04:46.680 –> 00:04:52.140
JEREMY: If I get a Slack IM, I try to respond to it in an hour or so.
00:04:53.060 –> 00:04:58.500
JEREMY: If I get a text message, I try to respond to it within five minutes.
00:04:59.440 –> 00:05:07.180
JEREMY: And if I get a phone call, I answer it no matter what meeting I’m in, no matter who I’m meeting with, I absolutely answer that call.
00:05:07.640 –> 00:05:13.100
JEREMY: But my executive does a good job of not abusing that power of the urgent phone call.
00:05:13.720 –> 00:05:20.360
JEREMY: And he will only call me if he really needs to talk and it’s actually something that he needs right then.
00:05:20.940 –> 00:05:26.480
JEREMY: So anyway, you can sit down and figure out what type of communication works best for you and your boss.
00:05:26.980 –> 00:05:33.940
JEREMY: But I think it’s very good to have clear guard rails up with your medium that you use to communicate.
00:05:34.360 –> 00:05:35.400
JEREMY: So I hope this was helpful.
00:05:35.420 –> 00:05:44.920
JEREMY: You can check out show notes for a couple of links to articles where I talk about this topic at leaderassistant.com/27.
00:05:45.720 –> 00:05:48.960
JEREMY: And as always, I really appreciate you listening.
00:05:49.520 –> 00:05:56.480
JEREMY: Please email me at podcast at leaderassistant.com if you have ideas for the show or even if you’d like to be a guest on the show.
00:05:56.500 –> 00:06:00.380
JEREMY: I’d love to have you and love to chat and have you share your story with the world.
00:06:00.680 –> 00:06:02.800
JEREMY: Thanks for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.
