ABOUT THIS VIDEO
WEEK 15: This is Cognitive Being Territory
From Joan’s book, Underneath It All, learn about being a “cognitive being” and the many benefits you will derive.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to Week 15, This Is Cognitive Being Territory. If you remember, in week one (1) we discussed how this is cognitive being territory and how we are not robotic order takers or task doers.
Moving on, we seen on the subtitle of my book Underneath it All you will see the words Postgraduate Level Revelations Lift Administrative Assistants to new Heights. Worthy of mention, an administrative assistant need not earn a bona fide college degree. Post graduate status for our purposes entails learning and know how that isn’t exclusive to a class room setting. Moreover, most admin(s) who earn college degrees don’t automatically earn post graduate status. The idea is, you don’t have to have a degree to be an outstanding administrative assistant.
In week one of the series, I spoke about the need to be a cognitive being and I made a specific statement. “Robots need not apply!” I really want to put emphasis on that especially with the up and coming competencies we’re going to learn. As we move along, you will need to really use your brain in order to achieve STAR status as an administrative professional.
I also talked about being fully engaged from the time you walk thru the door until the time you leave. I’d like to add some items to that, if you have the book Underneath it All, turn to page 2 reading from the bottom it reads: “A Cognitive Assistant doesn’t settle for “top of the mind” thinking. In a recent Office Dynamics training workshop, there were five teams working on assignments. Team members knew they would have twelve minutes to complete each segment. One team repeatedly finished ahead of the others. You might say—these administrative assistants are sharp! If you guessed their speed was a result of their keen abilities… you would be mistaken. The other groups really massaged their assignments while this ahead-of-the-pack group used “top of the mind” thinking to find their answers. They stayed in the shallow end… didn’t dig deep. In short, they probably could have done better if they remained engaged in the matters at hand. Instead of remaining focused on assignments, they spent time chatting amicably.”
This is a true story, and too many times in our training sessions, in our teams (of four or five) it is not unusual to see a group that finishes the task before others. However, as we read earlier the problem is, they’re not going deep. They come up with the typical ideas that everyone comes up with! You’re going to find the best answers when you DIG DEEP.
Activity for the week, for those of you who have the book, Underneath it All, complete the activities on pages 8,9 and 10. For those of you who don’t have the book, I’m going to read some action steps from page 4, it reads:
- THINK! Remember you’re a Cognitive Being.
- Add to your daily To-Do List: Practice continual improvement.
- Don’t be in such a hurry to get a job done that you take short-cuts that sabotage results.
- Be in the moment. This means to be fully focused on what you are doing.
- Demonstrate excellence. Help raise the bar for those around you.
Remember, Think, Dig, Deep!! Focus on the assignment at hand and worry about the others later. Remember write me! I’d love to hear your success stories. Have a great week!!
Until Next Time…