Give your executive assistant real access, a short daily check-in, a weekly review, and written rules for your inbox and calendar. Then let them run it. Much of the value is lost when the owner keeps doing the same work in parallel.
The rhythm
Daily: a short check-in
Ten to fifteen minutes, at the same time each day. Keep it to three things:
- Today and tomorrow on the calendar: anything to move, prepare or cancel.
- The list of emails that need you. Answer them in the meeting, or say when you will.
- Anything new: requests, changes, worries.
If you are in back-to-back meetings, do it in writing. The assistant sends the list, and you reply by a set time.
Weekly: a review
Thirty to forty-five minutes, once a week. Cover:
- Next week's calendar, meeting by meeting.
- Open follow-ups and who owes what.
- Travel and deadlines in the coming month.
- One process to improve or write down.
- Feedback both ways.
A weekly review template works well as the agenda.
The access
Your assistant cannot run what they cannot see. Set up access properly on day one.
In Gmail, use delegation. A delegate can read, send and delete mail for you. They cannot chat as you or change your password. Google says a personal Gmail account allows up to 10 delegates, and a work or school account up to 1,000.
Never share your password by email or chat. If shared logins are needed for other tools, use a password manager with shared vaults.
Calendar
Google Calendar has five sharing levels. For an executive assistant, the usual choice is to let them make changes and see event details. If you keep private events, the level that lets them make changes but shows private events only as busy keeps those hidden. Give "make changes and manage sharing" only if they will share your calendar with others for you.
Files and tools
- A shared folder for travel, contracts and briefs.
- Their own seat in your project tool and CRM.
- Card or expense access with a clear limit.
Rules for the inbox
Write these down. Every rule you write is one question you never answer again.
- Sort everything into four groups: needs me, you answer, waiting on someone, archive.
- You answer scheduling, confirmations, receipts and simple requests without asking.
- You draft, I approve: anything to a key client, anything about money, anything with a complaint.
- Only I answer: hiring and firing, pricing changes, legal matters, personal notes to close contacts.
- Send me one list of needs-me emails at a set time each day, with a one-line summary each.
- Flag anything urgent by text or chat, not email.
- Unsubscribe me from newsletters I have not opened in a month.
Rules for the calendar
- My working hours and the days I never take meetings.
- How long each meeting type runs, and the buffer between calls.
- Focus blocks that are never moved without asking me.
- Who can get time this week: key clients, my team leads, my family.
- Meetings I decline by default, and the polite line you use.
- Every external meeting needs an agenda or it does not go in.
- Travel days stay light: no calls in the first hour after landing.
The how-I-work page
Write this once, in an hour. Update it each time you correct the same thing twice.
My priorities this quarter
- [Goal one]
- [Goal two]
- [Goal three] If a request does not help one of these, it can usually wait.
My hours
- Working hours: [times, time zone]
- No meetings: [days or blocks]
- Reachable after hours for: [what counts as urgent]
People who get fast access
- [Names or roles], always.
- [Names or roles], within a day.
How I like information
- Short, with the decision I need to make in the first line.
- One daily list, not many separate messages.
- Bad news early.
What you decide alone
- Scheduling, travel, routine replies, purchases under [amount].
What always comes to me
- Anything that changes a promise to a client.
- Pricing, contracts, hiring, legal matters.
- Anything you are unsure about.
How I write
- Tone: [plain, warm, direct]
- Phrases I use: [examples]
- Phrases I never use: [examples]
- Sign-off: [example]
- Example emails: [links to five to ten real ones]
Mistakes that waste a good assistant
- Answering emails yourself after you handed over the inbox.
- Booking meetings on your phone without telling them.
- Giving feedback only when something goes wrong.
- Keeping rules in your head and correcting the same thing every week.
- Treating them as a typist instead of a second pair of eyes on your week.
When something goes wrong, fix the rule, not only the email. How to give feedback to an employee covers the conversation itself.
Next steps
To decide what to hand over and how to write it, see how to delegate tasks and the SOP template. For your own side of the week, time management for business owners helps.
Nive is being built for this problem: you write how your business works and how you sound once, and it drafts emails in your voice for you to review and send. Join the waitlist to get the demo first.