To think that good managers don’t ask colleagues to “look in my diary and book something?”

That's a misunderstanding of being a manager

I tell my entire team or anyone that’s asks me to meet to book a time in my calendar that works for them. I’m not a PA, I don’t have a PA , If you want to meet me then you’ll have to look yourself!!

likewise, I always check everyone else’s calendar before booking things to avoid clashes.

My manager might ask for a meeting, and ask me to put a time in. It’s not a power play or delegating responsibility, it’s because I may have something to prepare beforehand and she wants me to find a time when I know I’ll have done the task rather than put me under pressure to complete something earlier than planned.

I think if everything else is good, and there’s respect on both sides it really doesn’t matter who books a meeting.

Can’t begin to explain how little of an issue this is, I think this is a very petty thing to be annoyed about.

A manager's job is literally to delegate menial jobs to others. Do you think the CEO of a large company cleans the toilets herself.

This is always my thinking. They might not fancy a 9am meeting with me 😂

It's fine, that's why we share calendars.

It’s giving you some respect - you will have things in your diary so they won’t dictate a time - whilst acknowledging the hierarchy- you are lower so you spend time on the routine of looking for a time slot

I"m not sure I would define leadership by "ability to book a meeting"

Leadership is the ability to inspire people. Not to take on some admin.

I’m a manager and I might ask a member of the team to pop some time in my diary to look at something. It gives them the chance to choose a time that suits them and saves me the admin when I’m already doing many other things. My team don’t seem to mind. Sometimes I will choose the time but that’s usually when I want to do it at a specific time or I happen to have my diary open.

It’s not a managerial thing. If you want to meet me then you look at my calendar and figure out when we are both free. I’m not doing your thinking for you.

I’m not getting the problem. The alternative is this:
Email 1: Can we meet 10:30 AM Weds.
Email 2. No, sorry, can do 2PM though
Email 3: Nope, I’ve got something on. Thurs at 9?
Email 4: Better for me on Friday, same time.
Email 5: Great, I’ll send the invite.

What a massive waste of time sending all those back and forths when the colleague could have just looked in the calendar and sent a link for a time that suited both!

Really not getting why you think wasting everyone’s time on pointless back and forths is good management.

Meh, I like that approach better than randomly having a meeting booked into my calendar by my manager with no warning.

I really hope not. I have to have that approach much of the time because I’m running from meeting to meeting whilst simultaneously trying to solve my team’s technical problems in the odd spare minutes. And if it’s a day like that and you don’t find yourself a slot then someone else will and I won’t get to you until what they’re after is done too. My team are splendid professionals who understand it’s not a power play or laziness and anything that makes our collective lives easier is a win so crack on with booking time if they need it.

It is standard practice. Though I think the person asking for the meeting should be the one to book it.
I'm a manager and I get a bit annoyed with constant emails that say 'can we find time for x' when they could just book in the time. My diary is up to date, stop fannying around and just pop something in. And the ones that say 'let me know when you are free', nope, not spending time I haven't got checking my diary for you when you can easily do that yourself.
Exception for external meetings obvs as they can't see my diary.

I always thought it was nice of me to have my staff do this instead of thinking my time is the most important. They can choose if they have a meeting in the morning or afternoon or on a Tuesday or whatever. Maybe they like to work earlier hours one day a week or have lunch later than I do. It’s definitely not because I’m being lazy, I’m respectful of their time and happy to flex to accommodate.

The person requesting the meeting looks through calendars and finds the slot.

I usually have more fixed meetings in my diary so it’s easier for me to look for a suitable gap in the diary. I much prefer that to my manager squeezing in a time when I might have post meeting notes etc.

Maybe they are …you know…busy? If they are the manager it’s pretty reasonable not to expect them to do the admin.

It depends, they may want you to book a time that suits you.
Provided you can see their diary and they are not block booked all day every day I don't see the issue, takes 1 minute to put in a meeting if you don't need to fill it with agendas etc

If you want my time, you take the initiative and book the meeting. If I want your time I’d do the booking, regardless of who was the more senior. IME it’s quite standard for senior people to expect others to book the meetings, even if they asked for it, usually because they spend less time at their desks