Being a gatekeeper is an important part of being an EA, but being a good one is even more important. The definition of gatekeeping in the role of the modern day EA is basically acting as a security guard for your boss. Ultimately you are there to protect them. Whether it be from external parties trying to buy their time, or internal parties trying to grab '5 minutes' with them, it's our job to ensure their time is used in the most efficient way and spent on the most important priorities.
Once upon a time the role of gatekeeper was defined as just screening external calls and ensuring that no one unknown got through to the Exec. It was the EA's role to act as the shield that would protect them from the cold callers and time wasters that would take away from the other priorities of the day. But as the role of the EA has developed, so has that of the responsibility of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping has now evolved as an effort to shield and protect your Exec from internal team members trying to flood their diary, with sometimes very unnecessary meetings. But its important for us to understand the priorities of our Executive so that we can 'gate keep' internally in the most efficient way and ensure that hey are meeting with those that are considered urgent and necessary. So how do we do this? I've detailed below for you all my 5 best pieces of advice on how to be not just a good gatekeeper, but the best.
Find the balance: The balance I'm referring to here is the art of being able to prioritize what needs to happen today and what can happen next week, or even later. This is something that we all struggle with everyday. I can't tell you how many times a day I'll have my fellow colleagues email me or approach me on getting a 'super urgent' meeting in the diary that MUST happen today or first thing tomorrow morning. Sound familiar? Of course it does. But just because it might be a super urgent priority in the eyes of the meeting requestor, it doesn't necessarily mean its a priority to your Exec. The best thing to do is ask the meeting requestor questions around the timelines and deadlines of the decision their seeking and what the impacts are should things run late. Once you establish the time frames then YOU can allocate the time that works within your Exec's calendar, not the other way around. So rule number one will always be around finding the balance to ensure everyone is kept happy.
Don't NO everything: We all probably know this one all too well. We've all worked with fellow EAs that just say NO to everything, no matter what it is. This is what I like refer to as 'EXTREME' gatekeeping, and no one likes to be on the receiving end of it. There is nothing worse when you have to deal with an EA whose answer is NO to every request you have for your boss to meet with theirs! Not only is it frustrating for the meeting requestor, but undoubtedly you (and your boss) will end up with a bad reputation for being difficult, unapproachable and inflexible. Everyone is busy, especially the Execs that run these large companies we work for, but just because they're busy, doesn't mean you can't shuffle things around to accommodate something that is urgent. Again it's about finding the balance. If you're not asking questions about how urgent the request is, then there is something wrong (and probably with you!). It is incredibly frustrating to deal with EAs who don't ask questions of timelines and deadlines, and who don't understand the request and the circumstances around it. But yet they still 'gate keep' trying to protect their boss from what seems like to them yet another meeting. Its necessary sometimes to actually consult with your Exec on these things rather than make these decisions on your own, which takes me to my next point.
Consult with the Boss: Although its a great skill to be able to effectively make decisions on behalf of your boss, sometimes it is necessary to actually consult with them on meeting requests that come through that are flagged as urgent. It doesn't make you less of an EA to have to ask your boss something, in fact it shows you in a better light. You need to be able to differentiate however, what you should be consulting with them on and what you shouldn't. As I mentioned in the last point, don't be one of these EAs that don't consult with them on anything and just say NO to everything, as ultimately you will end up being the reason why decisions are delayed, projects run late and costs go over budget. You might think you're being a smart and effective gatekeeper, but meanwhile you're stuffing up EVERYTHING! This takes me to my next point on being flexible.
Be flexible, accommodating and friendly: Just because its part of your role to be act as security for your boss, its not a ticket to being rude, inflexible or unaccommodating. There is an art to your approach when dealing with requests of your boss. This applies especially when dealing with external parties that are trying to get in front of your Exec or trying to catch them on the phone. If you've ever been in sales you'll know how difficult it is to cold call or get your message across to someone who has nil interest in speaking with you. So be polite, let them speak and just wrap the conversation up as quickly and politely as you can. I usually just ask them to send me through an email which I can then review and filter as necessary.
Email or meeting: To be a 'golden gatekeeper' you need to be able to identify the meetings that can be done over email, or alternatively that can proceed without your Exec even being present. Depending on how senior your Executive is you can find yourself having to filter and prioritize hundreds of meeting requests a week. But there is literally not enough hours in the day and week to accommodate all the requests, and so it becomes necessary to ask the questions, "can you send him/her an email about it?" or "can you do the meeting without him/her?". And if the answer to either is no, which it usually is, its worthwhile consulting with the boss on their position on it. These are the tactics that become very necessary when you get to a point in their calendar on a particular week where you literally cannot fit another meeting in, nor can anything else be swapped or moved. Sometimes gatekeeping needs to be a united approach from yourself and your Exec. A united approach is often a worthwhile strategy when you then find the meeting requestor trying to go over your head and direct to your boss to try their luck with them! Cheeky, but it happens.
At the end of the day, the best way to be an effective gatekeeper is to be in the know. You need to know what your Exec's priorities are, and what it is that their team are working on. It's a must to sit in on the team meetings to hear what the priorities are in each of the areas that sit underneath your Executive. Additionally if you can schedule one on ones with your boss to discuss their priorities and the priorities that might be on the foreseeable horizon, then it will make you more in the know. You CANNOT do your job effectively if you don't act as part of your team and don't act as a partner to your boss. You might think you can be a good gatekeeper by screening the odd cold call and email, but as I've laid out, gatekeeping is so much more than that, and something that is really the majority and crux of our role.
