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

[ThisArtfulRobin]

I’ve had a few managers over the years who constantly say, “just look in my diary and book something,” instead of proposing a time or taking initiative. It feels like a small thing but in my experience, the best managers take more responsibility for their own time and don’t push the admin onto others, especially when they’re the ones asking for a meeting!

AIBU to think this is just laziness and a lack of basic leadership skills? Or is it actually standard practice now?

Depends, who asked for the meeting?

sorry, you did say. If someone wants to meet with me, they should book it. Otherwise, I’ll book it.

That doesn't bother me in the slightest

Most people at managerial level don’t have the time to do other peoples admin

Is it not allowing you to book time at your convenience? Find a free slot in their diary then book a time that suits you?

’Look in my diary and book something’ sounds like giving you the opportunity to choose a time that suits you tbh.

It's being efficient with their time. If they are being paid £50k and the employee is on less, it makes more sense for the more junior employee to spend time trying to find a slot. I have to book my own 121s with my boss.

Im not seeing the problem to be honest.
I assume it means find a free date and schedule!

Personally I quite like it

It's the decent approach...it allows the person requesting the meeting to chose a time that suits them best.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

That would make sense if I were the one asking for the meeting but it’s usually the other way around - they initiate it, then pass the scheduling back to me. It’s not about convenience so much as ownership. Good managers, in my experience, handle their own requests instead of delegating the admin to whoever happens to be there.

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

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.

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 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.

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 completely understand that managers are busy but so is everyone else. I just think there’s a difference between being busy and making a habit of offloading basic tasks onto others. The best managers I’ve worked with were busy too but they still respected people’s time by taking ownership when they initiated something.

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