The Right Way to Share Executive Priorities with an EA Weekly

You are a busy executive who has onboarded an executive assistant to handle administrative tasks so you can focus on your strategic roles. However, you are still experiencing inefficiencies, such as scheduling bottlenecks or the EA taking too long to handle your requests.

Wondering how to share your weekly executive priorities with your EA to help them support you more effectively?

It all comes down to how you communicate your priorities. Your EA needs clear instructions on which tasks to prioritize and how to meet your expectations to reduce frequent back-and-forth.

TL;DR – What’s the Best Way to Share Executive Priorities with an EA Weekly?

As a 2025 Inc. 5000 company (ranked #2,466) and with years of experience supporting C-suites at companies such as Pandora, Victoria’s Secret, and WNBA, ProAssisting has established the best way for executives to share weekly priorities with their EAs including:

1. Weekly strategic syncs
2. Using priority tiers
3. Leveraging digital tools
4. Timely updates on new events
5. Implementing feedback mechanisms 

Download Ethan and Stephanie Bull’s “The 29-Hour Workday” to learn how you can partner with your EAs effectively to accomplish weekly priorities, while still reclaiming up to 15 hours.

What Executives Get Wrong When Sharing Priorities

Sometimes, executives assume that knowing which tasks to prioritize should be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, principals end up frustrated and inconvenienced the most when their EAs prioritize the wrong functions. 

Other ways executives cripple their EAs’ effectiveness include:

• Failure to Define Roles: This results in EAs not knowing which roles fall strictly within their purview and which require their executives’ oversight. Consequently, EAs may take on too many responsibilities, leading to burnout, or too few, leading to inconsistent and inefficient results.
• Oversharing Information: Executives who provide endless instructions to their EAs overburden them, thereby compromising their ability to deliver. Savvy executives limit the information they share to their immediate priorities, while also providing sufficient lead time for upcoming tasks. 
• Withholding Information: Some principals do not provide their EAs with sufficient information, impeding their ability to anticipate and address the executive’s needs. This results in frequent last-minute requests, which burn out EAs.
• Micromanagement: Overbearing an EA makes them feel that you do not trust their judgment or their ability to fulfill their responsibilities.  

Reddit user CoffeeWithMyGiraffe shared their experience as an EA partnered with an executive who was a micromanager:

“My boss will send an email, then come into my office to tell me she sent an email, and then proceed to tell me about the email. I got it one second ago. Simmer down 🙄”

Essential Components of an Effective Weekly Priority Update

The best executives understand the need for converting their weekly priorities from being mere to-do lists to being a partnership that drives strategic alignment with their EAs. 

A comprehensive weekly priority update covers the following areas:

• Provide a “Why” Behind Each Priority: The update should outline executive priorities and provide context, so that it doesn’t feel random. EAs need to understand the rationale and purpose behind each priority so they can make better decisions autonomously without constantly checking in with their executives for approval. 
• Elaborate Instructions: Principals should clearly state what they want their EAs to do, including what they consider success, given the delegated executive assistant tasks. The success criteria should be actionable to allow EAs to plan effectively.

photogcapture highlights the significance of clear instructions when partnering with an EA in a Reddit thread: 

“Clear instructions. Ex: instead of writing “please set up a meeting with my directs”, write, “please set up 30 min meetings with my directs, each individually over the course of the next week. In person or virtual is okay.” – see the difference?”

• Outline Strategic Priorities: The NAIS Survey on Executive and Administrative Assistants noted that EA roles are shifting from traditional administrative tasks to more strategic work, such as project management, data collection, and analysis. Therefore, executives should specify which tasks have the greatest impact on their strategic roles, enabling their EAs to prioritize them.
• Highlight High-Risk Items: Principals should identify priorities that could cause bottlenecks or create inefficiencies along the way. An example would be a high-stakes meeting, where a stakeholder has yet to confirm availability. 
• Feedback and Reflection: The best updates include a review of the previous week’s priorities, including completed and uncompleted tasks, and the reasons behind success or lack thereof. Such reflection helps the executive and EA to learn from past mistakes and build better alignment and cohesion over time.

Best Ways to Share Executive Priorities with an EA

Understanding that weekly priority sharing is integral to maintaining a strong executive-assistant partnership is only one part of the puzzle. Executives must find ways of communicating their priorities to their EAs in ways that stick without consuming excessive time or creating information overload.

The following strategies can help executives keep their EAs’ efforts aligned with their strategic roles:

1. Weekly Strategic Syncs

Executives should organize weekly 30- to 60-minute sessions where they share their priorities, allow EAs to seek clarifications, suggest action plans, and reiterate their expectations.

Money_These shared gave some insight into weekly meetings in a Reddit thread: 

“Weekly 1×1 on Mondays for me – enough to touch base on new/pending items. Follow-ups and updates are handled via email.”

2. Using Priority Tiers

Executives should establish a priority tier that ranks tasks as critically urgent, high urgency, medium urgency, and low priority.

This helps EAs to sequence their work, ensuring high-impact strategic tasks are always handled on time. It also provides guardrails for reorganizing their executive assistant’s daily checklist whenever principals go to their EAs with urgent tasks.

3. Leveraging Digital Tools

Introduce project management software to help EAs track tasks, project progress, and deadlines in real time.

Additionally, principals should give their EAs access to their calendars and provide scheduling tools to help them regularly audit the week’s schedule and align meetings and events with strategic goals. 

4. Timely Updates on New Events

Besides the weekly meetings, principals should loop in their EAs about any material changes that may affect the executive’s schedule. That includes sudden travel plans, unexpected visits by key stakeholders, or meeting cancellations.

The updates should be through Slack or SMS, so that EAs can act on the new information quickly and adjust the executive’s schedule.

5. Implement Feedback Mechanisms 

Executives should develop structured avenues for their EAs to raise issues before they escalate. An open-door policy shows EAs that their principals value their opinion and feedback, giving them a sense of ownership of the strategic goals.

Additionally, EAs find it easier to suggest improvements to the existing systems and workflows, which helps clear bottlenecks that could be throttling the executive’s productivity and performance.

Applied these strategies, but are still experiencing workflow inefficiencies?

Executives who still complain about missed deadlines or misguided priorities, even after regularly engaging their EAs, are probably paired with the wrong executive assistant. 

ProAssisting has decades of experience supporting executives at global brands like Oracle, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Walmart, and their ProAssistants understand the integral role EAs play in multiplying their principals’ performance. Also, fewer than 5% of applicants make the cut to be ProAssistants, which ensures executives receive support from elite EAs who understand how their support has a strategic impact on their executives.  

Book a one-on-one call to discuss how a ProAssistant can streamline an executive’s schedule to align with their weekly priorities.

How Executive Assistants Use Weekly Priorities to Drive Execution

According to the ASAP Report on Administrative Professionals in North America, the role of executive assistants is evolving toward a strategic business partnership, including decision-making and project coordination. This shift means principals should keep their EAs in the know, so they can leverage their executive assistant superpowers to anticipate and address issues before they become bottlenecks.

Reddit user Substantial-Bet-4775 commented about how EAs can have a strategic impact on their executives’ performance:

“To me, it’s about being proactive vs. waiting for instructions. It’s about knowing what matters to the exec and what they are working on so you can plan accordingly. Do you know if they have a big meeting or pitch coming up? Free up time on their calendar so they can dedicate themselves to preparing for it by moving non-essential meetings.”

When executives make their priorities clear, EAs can:

• Allocate the Executive’s Time More Efficiently: EAs are best placed to protect their executives’ calendars and time slots, such as ensuring strategic work is not interrupted by low-value meetings. Also, elite EAs serve as their principals’ gatekeepers, protecting them from frequent distractions, mainly when focusing on strategic work.
• Proactively Schedule: EAs can anticipate their executives’ needs and accordingly sequence their schedules to align with key desired outcomes.
• Ensure Communication Alignment: EAs speak to numerous stakeholders on their executives’ behalf. Understanding their principals’ priorities ensures consistent communication that aligns with the brand or role.
• Leverage Tools for Efficiency: When EAs understand executive priorities, they can use tools to automate routine tasks, freeing up time to focus on higher-impact work. They can also use the tools to manage projects and track deadlines, supporting their principals more effectively.

Tools That Support Weekly Priority Sharing

There is a growing suite of digital tools that are making executive-assistant collaborations easier and more transparent. 

Here are some executive assistant tools that principals could leverage to share weekly priorities with their EAs more effectively and ensure accountability:

• Document Sharing and Productivity Platforms: These tools let executives create weekly priority lists, add context, and view past versions. They include Google Docs and Microsoft 365. In addition, they could use Notion to create and share weekly planning dashboards with their EAs.
• Task and Project Management Tools: These tools provide visual boards that help executives and EAs track progress on priorities, assignments, and projects for the week. They include Asana, Trello, and Monday.com. 
• Calendar Management Tools: These tools help EAs schedule and prioritize meetings and travel, automatically block unwelcome parties, and reschedule tasks. They also integrate seamlessly with communication tools, such as email, Slack, and Zoom. Examples include Reclaim.ai, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook. 
• Communication Tools: These platforms streamline communication between executives and their EAs. Additionally, some tools, such as Slack and Teams, let users create separate discussion threads for specific priorities. 
• Knowledge Management Tools: EAs can leverage these tools to take meeting notes, log executive decisions, and ask follow-up questions within context. They include Evernote and Obsidian.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are answers to common questions about the right way to share weekly priorities with an EA:

How Long Should Weekly Executive Priorities Take To Review?

A well-structured weekly review should take between 30 and 60 minutes. 

This is sufficient time to review the past week’s performance, discuss current priorities, and clarify expectations. 

Who Sets Final Priority Decisions Each Week?

The executive retains final say on the priority decisions each week. 

However, EAs can play an advisory role, for example, by suggesting ways to manage and sequence conflicting priorities.

Can Weekly Priorities Change Midweek?

Yes. Executives often have to navigate gradual and sudden changes in their working environment. 

As a result, the weekly priority list should not be rigid; it should be flexible enough to allow executives and EAs adapt to new information, such as cancelled meetings or rescheduled flights.

Should Weekly Priorities Include Personal Tasks?

It depends on an executive’s personal boundaries and working relationship with their EA. 

If an EA also manages an executive’s personal scheduling, such as family commitments and travel plans, then it is prudent to include such obligations in the weekly priorities. Otherwise, the executive’s professional priorities take precedence.

Conclusion

An executive’s weekly priorities are not just a to-do list for their EA; it is an opportunity to achieve strategic alignment. It provides direction and empowers an EA to make autonomous decisions, strengthening the principal-assistant partnership. However, building a strong relationship with an EA begins by finding the right executive assistant.

ProAssisting only contracts executive assistants with at least 5 years of experience supporting C-suites, and who understand how weekly executive priorities impact their principals’ strategic performance. 

Its rigorous vetting process results in fewer than 5% of applicants making the cut, producing elite ProAssistants who can perform up to 95% of the roles an in-office assistant handles while working remotely (saving 50-80% in EA-related expenses for executives).

Schedule a call with ProAssisting today to learn how the right EA partnership helps executives multiply their performance.