Brian Burge, Author at Office Dynamics - Executive And Administrative Assistant Training

December 2, 2019 By Brian Burge 1 Comment

Hired as C Suite EA and role description reads like an Office Assistant – Ask an Admin

Heather Asks:

Background: The majority of my career has been as an EA to a VP of Operations for a local Fortune 500 company. They “restructured” leaving my team with a job almost 2 yrs ago. I was lucky enough (or so I was lead to believe) that the role I was hired for almost 2 yrs ago was for a fast-growing local company that within the next 3-5 yrs will have a complete C Suite overhaul of new leaders due to retirements.

The c suite leader who hired me and I report to, I don’t do ANY work for. They hired a new VP to take the current CEO’s job in about 2 yrs. I do very minimal tasks for him as well and my role description consists of miscellaneous things from issuing credit cards for anyone to issuing cell phones to anyone to ordering catering for anyone in the building to filling the frig in the boardroom when it gets low. You get the point.

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September 12, 2019 By Brian Burge 6 Comments

Creating an Administrative Professional Protocol Manual – Ask an Admin

Christine N. Asks:

I’m finally getting around to creating my Administrative Professional Protocol Manual but I’m not sure if it should print everything out in a 3 ring binder (using dividers), using a One Note document, having it electronically in an online file or all of the above. What do most administrative professionals prefer?

Thank you!

Please comment below.

Ask an Admin was created by Office Dynamics to help administrative professionals with their problems through the help of their peers. We don’t always have an answer to each individuals problem but we know some of you might.

If you’d like to learn more about Ask an Admin or submit a question, you may do so here.

September 3, 2019 By Brian Burge 2 Comments

How Can I Start a Group for Administrative Assistants? – Ask an Admin

Emily K. asks:

I live in a town close to admin groups (like Meetup or non-profit groups) but each is at least 1.5 hours away. I would like to start something similar in my town. How would I go about starting a group that will be more than just me, sitting in a coffeehouse by myself?

Does anyone have any experience putting together and administrative group? Please comment below.

August 28, 2019 By Brian Burge 2 Comments

Too Many Meetings!! – Managing My Executives Calendar – Ask an Admin

April M. asks:

My executive’s calendar is jam-packed on a daily basis & she’s asking me to come up with a better solution to managing her calendar. She needs time to do work, answer emails, etc, but the requests for meetings are constant and a lot of them are at her request. They are needed. They are necessary to schedule. But how do you balance ‘free’ time with meeting times? I block out time on her calendar, but inevitably a meeting gets put in its place. We’ve tried to do only 5 meetings per day, but more often than not it winds up being 7 or 8 or more! I made the suggestion that decisions/discussions happen over email vs. in person in a meeting – but that’s not possible either most of the time. Does anyone have a good meeting/scheduling hack they use? Any good tips for me?

Thank you!

Office Dynamics actually has some info on this subject (see below) but we’d love to hear what tips or advice you have. Please leave a comment below.

We have an eBook called, Mastering Your Executive’s Calendar, a blog Calendar Management for Executive Assistants, videos, Calendar Management for Executive Assistants—the Holistic Approach, Administrative Assistant – Complex Calendar Control, Executives & Assistants Working In Partnership: The Definitive Guide to Success and Managing Your Executive’s Day.

August 13, 2019 By Brian Burge 12 Comments

Do You Have an Internal Admin Site or Hold Lunch N Learns Where You Work?

Admin on SF Peninsula asks:

Do you have an internal admin site where you work? Or maybe you’re thinking of creating one?

I co-designed one at my company and am interested in collaborating with you.

An internal admin site is the main company site with all the links that admins find useful for their jobs centralized in one place.

Additionally, I am considering starting a monthly Admin Lunch N Learn at my place of work. My current vision would be to rotate topics and have a combination of speakers coming in. Topics related to the administrative profession would be discussed. Admins and outside speakers would have the opportunity to share their skills, experience, knowledge, etc.

If you have been a part of, or have attended anything such as these, I would like to connect with you to discuss.

I’m looking forward to your responses!

Admin on SF Peninsula

August 5, 2019 By Brian Burge 2 Comments

How to Develop a Strong EA Group in a Company – Ask an Admin

Katrien B asks:

We are a start-up company with offices in EMEA and in the US. In EMEA (HQ) we have 2 EA’s and in the US 3.

As EA we encounter numerous challenges in working together due to different times zones, but we do our best to let our executives shine.

I would like to develop a strong EA group in the company as I believe this is important to our role, our business, as well as to our own professional and personal growth.

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