When Everyone Else's Urgency Becomes Yours: How EA's Can Protect Executive Focus

Tips and diplomacy for managing the reactive world your Executive relies on you, to tame.

In a high-velocity office environment, it’s often not the planned tasks that derail the day; it’s other people’s urgency. As the executive assistant, you stand in the gap: you absorb, deflect, juggle, coordinate, and try to protect your executive’s capacity to think, plan and lead. You’re the calm in the storm, even when the storm is caused by last-minute fire drills, conflicting priorities, and colleagues who believe immediate means “now”.

You are not alone. Research shows that EAs frequently encounter endless interruptions, competing priorities, and a sense of being overwhelmed by the breadth of the role’s demands. One guide reports that interruptions are the number one productivity killer for assistants. Another study of EAs working in education found that common themes included “being overwhelmed” and “helplessness” due to high workloads, a lack of support, and unclear role boundaries. A recent piece noted that effective EAs free up their executives’ time for significantly more strategic work by acting as gatekeepers, buffer builders, and strategic partners.

If you recognise that scenario, where others’ urgency becomes your pressure, take a deep breath. Let’s explore how you can shift from reactive chaos to calm control (or at least better managed chaos) so your executive can focus on what matters most.

1. Map the Reality of “Urgent vs. Important”

Your role requires you to evaluate requests rapidly: is this truly urgent for the executive (and the organisation) now, or is it urgent to someone else and therefore less mission-critical?

Tools such as the Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent/Important) can help you categorise and prioritise requests. For example:

• Urgent & Important: A board-level decision meeting called at short notice.

• Important but Not Urgent: Strategic offsite planning for next quarter.

• Urgent but Not Important: Last-minute request from a busy-bees colleague to “pop this in the calendar for the boss”.

• Neither Urgent nor Important: General admin tasks creeping into your priority list.

  
  

When you consciously adopt this framework, you establish the language and boundary to ask, “Does this need the CEO’s time today, or can it wait?” It gives the EA a voice when someone asks for “immediately”.

2. Build White-Space and Buffer Time for Your Executive

In busy, reactive environments, your executive may be booked back-to-back, leaving no room for thinking, reflection, or planning; yet, these are precisely what leadership needs.

According to the research, one guide notes that EAs can create “white space” for both themselves and the executive by blocking time, and when something urgent arises, they utilise that buffer rather than their strategic time.

Some practical tactics:

• Reserve non-negotiable blocks (e.g., 60 minutes twice a week) in the executive’s calendar labelled “Thinking/Strategy – DO NOT BOOK”.

• Build 10–15 minute buffers before/after major meetings so the executive isn’t thrown straight into the next slot.

• At the start of each week, map known priorities and ask: “What must my executive’s head space be for this week?” Then schedule around that.

  
  

By protecting space, you enable your executive to show up more proactively rather than constantly reacting.

3. Influence Others With Diplomacy and Clarity

Here’s the sticky piece: you’ll always have people coming to you (or directly to the executive) with “urgent requests”. While you may not have formal authority over them, you do have influence. Your challenge is to shape behaviour kindly, firmly and consistently.

Consider these strategies:

• Front-end clarity: Create a simple guideline or calendar request process for meeting scheduling (“If the purpose, attendees and agenda are not provided 48 hrs in advance, we will assume it’s not executive level.”)

• Polite push-back scripts:  “Thank you for this. I’d love to support it. To ensure the executive remains focused on strategic priorities, can we schedule for next week instead of this afternoon? I’m free Tuesday afternoon, and we can lock it in then.”

• Visibility of boundaries: By consistently using the same response, you build the expectation that you steward time. Over time, others will think twice before coming with “urgent” unless it truly is.

  
  

The key: You are representing your executive’s capacity. You are not being difficult, you are being deliberate.

4. Use Technology and Systems to Reduce Noise

You don’t have to absorb all the chaos manually. Effective systems help you triage, filter, and respond in ways that protect your time and that of your executives.

From research: Filtering email notifications, stopping constant inbox interruptions, and creating a structured check-in rhythm reduce the drain on your time.

Some ideas:

• Set “office hours” for certain types of requests (e.g., “I check meeting requests at 10 am and 4 pm.”) and communicate it.

• Maintain a “pre-qualified meeting request” form: purpose, outcomes, attendees, duration. If the form isn’t completed, the meeting will not be booked.

• Use calendar colour-coding to show “must protect”, “buffer”, “optional meeting” for quick visual cues.

  
  

When you build systems, you shift from firefighting to facilitation.

5. Debrief Regularly – Because Constant Reactivity Clogs Your Focus

If the default state is constant reactivity, you’ll never carve out time for planning and leading.

Schedule a short weekly debrief/preview with your executive:

• What unexpected fires came up this week, and why?

• What worked in how we managed them (or didn’t)?

• What does next week look like? What are the non-negotiables?

• Where do we need to build a buffer or shift behaviours?

  
  

By doing this, you create a rhythm of reflection and adjustment rather than always “on the back foot”.

Final Word

Dear EA, you absolutely carry the hidden super-power of enabling your executive to lead rather than react. When others’ urgencies try to hijack your executive’s time, you get to say (with diplomacy, firmness and strategy): “Not today. Let’s make space for what matters.”

You’re not just keeping diaries, you’re enabling impact.

Keep being the difference-maker.

If you would like to know more about how you can work better with your executive, check out our EA Academy >> https://www.pepworldwide.com.au/eaeoacademy

Warmly,

Tania Willis

Executive PEP Coach

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