Call scheduling is a Mindfuck
There are many things that I can describe as 'irritating' but finding a time that fits like 20 people on a single email thread is definitely on another level.
The moment I need to switch to something else - quickly work on a table, read a report, or get on a call, I get like 10 reply-alls on the same email chain that say different things. And there is always that retarded one who seems to think that if he's available, the whole team is, or should be (i.e. you get contradicting slots from people within the same party). Then I open the calendar, see if things work, and start sending messages to people asking if they can move some random tentative invite to later. Of course, people don't give a single damn about it because calls should be automatically set up. You send 4 chasers until they reply 'yes'. By the time that happens, you get another set of reply-alls from insecure idiots asking where their invite is. 'I can't see it!'
And before you tell me I should loop in PA's - I can, but they are always too busy doing travel receipts and I'll be getting chasers from people all around. Also I learned the hard way that they are not mistake-proof with this when one of them scheduled a call which is 4am for someone in a different time zone.
I get that every part of 'high finance' is so old-school just because it has to be, but can't people just think through for once and invest in some sort of software that's out there that makes things easier? I'm sure there are thousands of apps that allow multiple parties to raise a request to set up a call, put availabilities as blocks etc. It's probably been there since 2000. Compliance issues? B/S - I don't even see what's in my VP's diary.
At one point we had a client who's doing some sort of agricultural business who pointed out that our way of scheduling calls is 'extremely inefficient, stressful and antiquated'. This is coming from a company where the head of M&A equivalent couldn't be bothered but to wear some worn off dark green t-shirt in calls. Jesus christ.
Do any of you work in a firm that does things at least a bit differently?
Scheduling calls is 100% the worst part of this job… so stressful when the VP is harassing you to “get it on the calendar ASAP” as if convincing MD/their assistant to respond to my emails is at all in my control.
My favorite scenario:
MD: “let’s schedule this for tomorrow”.
MDs calendar is entirely booked from 8am to 10pm.
Me: “Hi MD, your calendar looks pretty right tomorrow, do any slots work for you”
MD: “CCing my EA”
EA [waits 4 hours before responding]: “sorry MD is booked all day tomorrow, how about two weeks from tomorrow?”
VP calls me: “How is this not scheduled yet! Needs to be tomorrow”
This is 100% what I'm experiencing at the moment.
One of the things I've gotten used to is to blatantly call out who's in the wrong, especially when things are outside my powers. I think keeping silent (or worse, apologizing) for things that were clearly not my fault is taken as acknowledgement that I should have done better. When people just don't reply in time and invites don't get sent out in time I would just say to my VP that I've chased multiple times and people are not responsive, perhaps they should raise it in the next weekly call or whatever. This way it becomes their responsibility and I look like I've thought through what is the solution for this problem.
Doesn't make this process efficient though, just helps me keep my temper.
Unfortunately I feel your pain, BIG TIME. Back in my consulting days we were working on a buy-side post close integration project with stakeholders everywhere from South America to France. To make matters worse, my main client was a VP who resided in California but the company was in FL. Therefore I had to connect with him regularly schedule meetings and it was a NIGHTMARE. Every major stakeholder had a sliver of availability each day, we had three consulting companies to collab with, and sometimes needed to bring in some of the PE fund guys as well. It should go without saying that I couldn't see 75% of the required attendees' calendars, so sometimes scheduling a meeting took HOURS. To make matters worse, oftentimes others would schedule over meeting invites so we would need to reschedule, only to begin from scratch. I was the most junior guy on the project so I scheduled all meetings facilitated by our firm. I have never had more respect for PAs. All I can say is no, I have not experienced more efficient ways to navigate these issues, and it was for a long time the bane of my existence.
My one suggestion would be if you can, propose a time while on a call with all the key stakeholders, and hope that the less important members will move things around to make that time work. Once all the leads (IB MDs, PE partners / Corp Dev MDs / Consultant MDs) sign off on a time, everyone else is basically forced to make it work.
If people reply with "I cannot see the invite" I would ignore unless they are very senior, and then just resend.
Sorry your situation is hell, I can relate all too well.
OP, the secret is to be bold and take charge.
If there's 10 people on an email, I will email directly or call the MD that is the most important that needs to be on the call (or the admin). Once I get a slot I reply all
"Team, looks like thursday 1pm works for md. I am sending around an invite, thanks!"
Now everyone has to reply all and tell this MD why they are so important they cant make his meeting. Most don't, and they find a way to attend it.
+1. Why Calendly hasn’t become the standard is a complete mystery to me.
A lot of you are new and I’m going to give you a long gone, burned-out ex-analyst pro tip.
Check schedules and prioritize the most senior individuals, you, and your direct manager. Send the invite with the following:
”Team, this time seemed to work best for the group—glad to adjust if another time would be more productive.”
Now watch as people move their schedules to fit the meeting or a few MD’s go back and forth and say,
“Can’t make that, any chance we could do the eve?”
”9pm works for me”
”yup, me as well”
You respond with an updated invite to 9pm and say, “team adjusted to 9pm to better accommodate schedules”
On the back end of my stint, I would only look at like 1 or 2 peoples cal and just watch as other people figured out the time so I didn’t have to if there was a conflict. That said, often people would just assume that was the only time that worked so they would adjust their schedule to the time I set. Especially when there are a ton of people on the call, it’s going to be a clusterfuck every time, don’t spin your wheels on something so nonsensical.
Definitely feel your pain on this one. Calendar juggling is a real pain. You have senior people that are booked all day, mid-level that block off calendar time, and others where everything looks tentative. Of course everyone is double or even triple-parked (e.g., accepted multiple overlapping meetings).
A couple of considerations...
- VP project management during initial org. meeting: Here there should be a calendar timeline with the key milestones, background, etc. There should absolutely be a meeting cadence baked into this. If you are helping build this deck and you see it's missing, add it and put a red box around it with a 'to be confirmed'. Call it out in the email to the VP. Additionally, determine a particular hour each day that--if needed in under 24hrs--can be booked in the event of an emergency/critical item. This will be discussed during the org meeting and the VP--and really MD--should insist. I typically look to book Monday and Wednesday. Why? Monday: set goals for the week and give quick updates. Wednesday: check on progress towards goals for the week and look ahead to the next. Also - most business people travel Thursdays. So you're just asking for trouble scheduling meetings then. Friday meetings (discussed below) are too late
- MD can't make the meeting and wants to reschedule: Determine if this is a critical meeting that needs the MD. If no, quickly judge if VP can handle solo, then loop in your VP (not through email, but through Skype/Teams/Text/whatever) with the development. As a former banking VP, I'd likely reach out to the MD in these scenarios and say 'I got it and I'll send you over the takeaways. Anything material needing your decision will be tabled to a sidebar conversation'. 9 times out of 10 this would be more than sufficient. Then all you do is give the key person on the client side the heads up and reassure them of no disruption. Result? Meeting as planned
- People in wildly different timezones: Alternate times each meeting. Folks in London, NYC and Australia on the same call? For example; 1st meeting: 5pmET / 10pm London / 8am Sydney. 2nd meeting 8amET / 1pm London / 11pm Sydney. Someone is going to have to bite the bullet. But if the call is recurring, make it equitable. People will appreciate it. Sometimes it will suck and you'll have to take a 1am call. That just happens in cross-border
- Booking times at xx:10 and/or xx:40: If you notice people are in back-to-backs all day and your meeting is really only a touchpoint, then book it 10 mins later than the standard times. Example, instead of 1:00pm, 1:10pm. Why? They'll be late anyways. At the very least they'll appreciate you giving them 10 mins for biological reasons or to grab water/coffee/food
- Booking important meetings: Never--unless something absolutely critical came up--book an important meeting Friday afternoon (or morning for that matter). Why? If it was so important, why wasn't it booked earlier in the week? Also, we may work weekends, but everyone else will forget. So you'll have to remind folks Monday. Waste of time. For other important meetings, early in the week and another touchpoint mid-week
- Take ownership and be direct: Client CFO & MD both have a 1pm slot open? Tell the team that's the time of the invite. No one will tell the client they have more important things going on. And who on the deal team is going to tell the MD they have another conflict? This is a much better route than checking with everyone if that time works
I'm not going to touch on virtual and/or in-person meetings. It's just going to be a mess if you have a mix of virtual and in-person. Just live with it. Everyone gets it.