Women Leaders: Who Is Running Your Calendar?

When you look at your calendar, does it truly reflect your priorities as a leader? For most leaders, the answer is an uncomfortable ... maybe? Instead of you driving the day, your calendar (packed with back-to-back meetings, reactive check-ins, and everyone else’s urgencies) is driving you.

Is your calendar running you?

This is the Tyranny of the Urgent. And it is one of the most pervasive, and quietly career-limiting, patterns I see among talented women leaders. We are socialized from our earliest days to be diligent and dutiful - and we usually rise up by being a stellar individual contributor. We get stuff done! 

Unfortunately, now that you are a leader, that is not enough. That "do it all" strategy has to change. You have to lead more and meet less.

The good news? You can take your calendar back. Here is a simple, three-step process to get you started.

Step 1: Do a Calendar Audit. 

Pull up the last three to four weeks of your calendar and categorize how you’ve been spending your time.

Ask yourself: what percentage of my time has gone to…

• Team meetings and group check-ins

• One-on-ones with direct reports

• Meetings with senior leadership or cross-functional partners

• Deep, focused work and strategic thinking

• Email, Slack, and administrative tasks

• Unplanned or reactive requests ("drive by" meetings or "drop ins")

Important: Do not judge what you find. This step is purely about awareness. The data is just data.

Step 2: Define Your Ideal Time Spend

Now shift your perspective. Set aside how things are, and think about how they should be — based on your company’s vision, your team’s goals, and what your position actually requires of you as a leader.

Consider questions like:

• Am I on target to meet my goals? (Do I have goals?)

• What does the business need most from my role right now?

• Which stakeholder relationships am I responsible for nurturing? 

• How much time should be dedicated to: managing up, developing my team, executing work myself?

• Where does strategic thinking and planning live in my week?

Break out your time across categories like self-management, team development/one-on-ones, managing up, managing stakeholders, project work, staff meetings, email/slack, etc. 

Write it down as a percentage breakdown, just like you did in Step 1. This becomes your blueprint for an intentional calendar.

Step 3: Compare, Reflect, and Realign

Place both lists side by side. This is where the real insight happens — and for many leaders, it is a genuinely eye-opening moment.

Common patterns I see leaders uncover:

• A majority of time "reactive," leaving almost no room for strategy

• Other people’s priorities creep in (aka the disease to please!)

• Over-investing in employees who struggle, while inadvertently neglecting  high performers.

• Self-care and investing in your development are rescheduled

• Relationships critical for visibility and advancement are chronically underfunded.

Once you can see the gap between where your time is going and where it needs to go, you can start making intentional adjustments: blocking time for strategic priorities, restructuring recurring meetings, realigning your priorities with your manager/CEO, and reclaiming your role as the author of your own schedule. 

“Your calendar is a mirror of your values — whether you chose that reflection or not.”

Effective leaders do not just manage their to-do lists. They manage their time as the strategic resource it is. These three steps are not a one-time fix — they are a discipline. And every time you return to them, you will discover something new worth shifting.

Happy Calendar Cleaning!

Work Smarter: One CEO's Success Story

The CEO of a well-known Nashville nonprofit was struggling to "get it all done." She was in meetings, calls or traveling all day, every day. After conducting a calendar audit and time study (she tracked her time for 2 weeks), she found that she was indeed falling victim to the dreaded Tyranny of the Urgent. 

One insight: An underperforming employee was taking too much time (and still not delivering) while Board needs were being delayed. 

Once she regained control of her calendar, she was able to realign her time with the most impactful priorities - and vastly improve her effectiveness as a strategic leader.