I am blocking ( blocking out ) your time to discuss or reserving your time .. (2025)

Hello All,

I am sending a email meeting invite to my boss, what is the correct sentence to use ?

"I am blocking your time next week to discuss ..." (or) "I am reserving your time next week to discuss.." (or) both are incorrect ?

Please help.

Thanks

Thank you James.

Basically my boss has an assistant so with help of them I got to know that his calendar is free next week. In this scenario should I still be requesting his time for meeting ?. Please suggest on how do I put it across in an email.

I would write "I would like to set up a meeting with you from X to Y next Thursday to discuss (something-or-other). Are you available?" Even in a casual boss/employee relationship I would be looking for permission or approval: "Hey boss, can we meet next Thursday from X to Y? I need to talk to you about (something-or-other)" or "Hey boss, I need to talk with you about (something-or-other). How does next Thursday from X to Y work for you?"

In our company all of this is handled through meeting invitations in Outlook, so there is no actual email from me to my boss. If I had to write an email, I would write something like the above.

To say you are reserving or blocking out his/her time implies that you have the authority to tell your boss where he/she should be and what he/she should be doing. That falls outside the normal definition of "boss".

Please note that it's "block out", not just "block". "Block" is to hinder/deny/impede. "Block out" is to reserve time in this context.

Thank you very much. I understand i sounded too bossy

Even the meeting invitation which I am about to send is via Outlook.. However I basically put couple of lines on top of the agenda to let him know that i "block out" his time.

Newblitz said:

... I basically put couple of lines on top of the agenda to let him know that i "block out" his time.

Click to expand...

If you have not yet sent the message, please listen to what JamesM is trying to tell you in posts 2 and 4, and do NOT say that. There is no way to sound polite while you are telling your boss that you made a decision about his calendar. Bosses do not like it when people who work for them tell them what to do.

Yes I wont .. I understand the reason behind that. I would use this term for my sub-ordinates..

Thanks so much James & Egmont for taking your time and replying to my question.

Newblitz said:

Yes I wont .. I understand the reason behind that. I would use this term for my sub-ordinates. [...]

Click to expand...

Even with "subordinates", I don't think it would be wise in most situations to say "I am blocking your time". In a good working relationship, a boss respects his people, and often trusts them to organise their time. Even if he or she is calling a mandatory meeting, the meeting invitation would usually be polite: at the strongest, something like "I'm setting up a meeting at [....]. Please be sure to attend." Besides, if it's an Outlook meeting invitation, the time isn't normally blocked until the invitation is accepted.

I realise that cultural differences may come into play, but I've been in working environments in many countries (including India) and I think that what I've said above generally holds true.

JamesM said:

[...] Please note that it's "block out", not just "block". "Block" is to hinder/deny/impede. "Block out" is to reserve time in this context.

Click to expand...

There may be a regional (AE/BE?) difference here, James. While I agree that "block out" could be used, I've also frequently heard and used "block" in that context: "I'll block Monday afternoon for you", "Can you block a couple of hours for me?" Google searches for "block an hour" and "block some time" show examples of that usage (even after you weed out the irrelevant ones).

Ws