Is my boss BU, or am I?

[RubyWho]

Hello,

Long time lurker, but have been around a while, not a bridge dweller etc.

I started a new job about two months ago. Same industry I've always worked in, but a significant promotion from my previous role.

The issue I have is with my boss, and his form for asking me to sort things out which are impossible (it's all very Devil Wears Prada). One of the things involves arranging formal meetings in an organisation which never has free meeting rooms to book (there aren't any), and involving people who have packed schedules/are on leave.
If I point out that this is proving impossible to sort, he cuts me off and says "you sort it".
I can't sort it. This is the fifth morning in a row I've woken up with extreme anxiety about it. He seems to think I can, for whatever reason, magic rooms, and free schedules, out of now where.

The actual detail of my work, which isn't booking rooms, is fine and I have the experience to complete it. It's just this.
Additional details: we don't have a union rep, I'm not part of a union, haven't passed my probation.
I'm planning to meet with him tomorrow and say I've tried but what he wants is impossible, what would HE do so I know what to do next time?

Can I be sacked for failing at this? Although not an actual failure, it is in his eyes.
The anxiety and stress is starting to make me really ill (I have an anxiety disorder anyway)
Is this normal boss behaviour or is he BU?
Previous bosses have expected the same but did at least accept "i can't force someone to cancel everything in their schedule" with good grace...

[RubyWho]

Dates are set by my boss and the chair. As long as they can do them, everyone is expected to jump to it

[PuppyMonkey]

The only thing that worked when I was in a similar org was set dates arranged really far in advance. Invites go out via outlook calendar type thing (with an accept, decline response) but with a "we expect you to attend this is extremely important" type warning.

And just book a room somewhere local to you - you'd get discount maybe if it was going to be a regular thing -and hand boss the details/costings. If he goes off on one about it, ask what alternative he could suggest.

[Trifleorbust]

You need to be quite firm with people and say: this meeting is a business obligation and you may need to juggle other commitments. If you say it bluntly enough they may well fall in line. I would ask my boss for his authority to be this firm with people. Then if they still 'can't' do the times you have allocated months in advance, you need to present this as their performance issue, not yours.

[FinderofNeedles]

Definitely make sure you talk to other PAs about what these unavailable people are doing at the time the meeting needs to be held. Are they really unavailable? I know someone who has the weekly fire alarm test in her diary, marked 'busy' - she has no involvement in this but if you couldn't see the subject of the meeting you might think she was genuinely unavailable! I also know several people who never remove 'cancelled' meetings from their diaries. So you need to talk to people who know their actual movements: many important people will be invited to meetings they rarely attend.

Also, have you made it very clear what YOUR meeting is for? Hopefully if the importance of the meeting is clear, they will rearrange their own diaries and, for those who will be genuinely unavailable, they should delegate to someone who is free to attend to represent them. That bit's not up to you. Agree with those who say ask your boss to rank the attendees in order of importance and work from there.

I know how frustrating this is. When you can find a way through it, your boss will be well impressed!

[Ginmakesitallok]

Re the rooms - can you check with whoever has booked the room for the proposed meeting date whether they actually need it, whether you can help them find somewhere else? If not then you'll have to go external.

For folk who can't make it - do the standing orders allow for deputes? Not much you can do if they are on holiday, but if it's a meetings clash have you spoken to them directly to see if they can change things?

[category12]

You're just going to have to come up with a couple of venues (plus costs) and a couple of best-availability dates. Have him agree the venue & date, send out the invites - it's on on them to accept or decline.

You cannot strong-arm people into a room and it's their responsibility to come back with alternatives/explanations if it's impossible for them to shift things round if it's that important they attend.

[RubyWho]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll reply in full later (about to embark on a long tube journey with the DCs!)

[LookMoreCloselier]

If the dates are set by him then fine, just book it for those dates, it really isn't your problem that he has set the dates which look unavailable for people, bear in mind that people might have things in their calendar that are no longer going ahead, are not as important etc etc. If you can choose the time and can see their schedule then obviously where possible pick the best time overall. Wrt rooms, you will have to either go off site if there is a budget for this (in my company it is disallowed), OR contact the people who have suitable rooms booked in your company and ask them if their meeting is still going ahead/can be rescheduled as you need it for XYZ very important thing.

[Sunshineonacloudyday]

He doesn't sound very organised and he's your boss. Why not get the room first and then tell everyone the date. That makes more sense.

[Sunshineonacloudyday]

Can you not set up a meeting room outside of the work office. A meeting room in a hotel?

[notapizzaeater]

Can you not just invite them to the meeting - stressing how important it is and let them tell him why they can't come ? I had a meeting request come through last week when I was already booked for something else but this one was more important so I shuffled the other one.

[blueshoes]

Since you say your boss is otherwise lovely, he probably just thinks this is admin and wants you to 'sort it out' i.e present him with options rather than expect you to do the impossible.

If you need to call a meeting at short notice with many people with busy schedules, then it requires a LOT of legwork. You can feel better that you already have future meetings booked in the schedule but this one will be time-consuming and you will have to accept that and take it on the chin. It is a one-off.

I am sure he knows it is a difficult task. It is your chance to shine with your boss, not to say it is impossible to do. Since you are still on probation, it is a suicide mission for you to say you cannot do it and push the problem back onto him. Even if he is unreasonable, you sound senior enough that he would expect you to present solutions (with varying levels of closeness to optimal). You have already sussed out many of them. Now just organise your research - see him for 5 mins and get his thoughts.

In terms of availability, you need to call the most important participants or their secretaries to check their true availability, as another poster said. You will have to explain how important this (first) meeting is and can they move things around if necessary. I have had people dial in from holiday locations before. At the same time, ask for a range of dates/times from them. See if you can map out another date where the other important participants can do. If there is one, one option is for your boss and chair to move to that date.

The location thing is easily sorted - re: external location. That should not be an issue.

If this is the first meeting for a new governance structure that you were brought in to implement, do not underestimate the need to get people's buy-in. This regular meeting is just one of the things they would rather not do but you are changing their behaviours. Convince them why this meeting is important, speak to them in advance, put your name/voice in front of them. Tell them a little about your role whilst you are at it. Create a personal connection and some chit chat. It is amazing how a little social personal grease will make it easier for you to open doors in the future.

For the meeting itself, make sure it is well set up (check IT, slides, set up dial ins in advance), has an agenda, materials circulated in soft copy ahead of time and hard copies and refreshments at the meeting. Have a little informal chat to your boss ahead of it how he wants it run, who opens it and speaks and when. It will not run to clockwork (which is the nature of meetings) but at least you can sound reasonably slick as a team at the start.

Good luck. I am feeling excited for you!

PS I was hired into a newly created role at my current employer to create governance and change behaviours and so speak with some hard earned experience.

[mammybops]

I've had a few bosses like this.

My approach has always been:

1. Acknowledge why the exact solution they've asked for isn't possible
   
2. Outline best case solution with time/cost/compliance implications
   
3. Outline alternative solutions as per point 2
   
4. Tell them it's their decision which option to use but you will complete all the actions required
   
5. Follow up the decision on email
   

With compliance/governance issues we tend to place the responsibility to attend on the recipients making clear if they do not or fail to book onto an alternative session it will be seen as a governance failure from them personally which may have future role/contract implications.

Good luck!