The New Corner Office: Master the art of rescheduling

How to move commitments considerately

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of work, where location and hours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to reschedule things.
Well handled well, you might free up space in your

(00:27):
schedule and make others happy too. I'll start this episode
by saying that I really dislike rescheduling things in general.
I like to figure out before I commit to something
whether I am actually going to do it. I assume
that other people have busy lives as well, and they
are no doubt doing difficult things to make our original

(00:50):
time work. Keeping the commitment is really about being respectful,
so I almost never ask to reschedule things. But that
doesn't mean I don't sometimes welcome a little more breathing room.
I recently got an email from someone asking me to
reschedule a virtual discussion that was supposed to happen in

(01:10):
a few days. She explained the situation and said that
she was happy to keep the current time if it
was best for me, but if I was open to
another time, she would welcome the opportunity to move it.
I loved that framing the note was so respectful of
my time and that it honored the commitment we made.
She was only going to move the time if I

(01:33):
was neutral or if the new time worked better. As
it turned out, the original week was getting pretty crowded
for me too, so I was quite happy to move
the event to a different time. But I felt so
much better about the situation than some of the last
minute emails I've gotten from people over the years, just
announcing gonna have to move this, and not for really
serious emergencies or anything along those lines. Often it's just

(01:56):
too much other stuff going on, but that can you
usually be anticipated if we try so. If you are
staring down a busy day or week and you are
thinking about rescheduling a few commitments, try using a version
of My friends approach. First, plan ahead. You can see

(02:17):
if things are getting busy, so triage your schedule several
days ahead of time. This increases the chances that people
are going to be flexible. Then explain to the other
person that you will keep the original time if that
works best, but if they are open to moving it,
you would appreciate it. The event only moves if it

(02:40):
leaves the other person in the same place. Or better off.
That way, you're not being flaky, you're being respectful. You're
looking for solutions that help you both. And this means
that when the rescheduled event finally happens, the other person
will be in a far more positive mood about it.

(03:02):
In the meantime, this is Laura, thanks for listening, and
here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your favorite shows.