expectations of today's assistant

Expectations of Today’s Assistant

Welcome to April! We are into the 4th month of 2016. How is it going for you so far?

Office Dynamics is all a buzz with the anticipation and excitement of Administrative Professionals Week the end of this month. But we don’t just celebrate assistants the last week of April, we love to celebrate the profession the entire month. Why? Because administrative professionals are the backbone of every organization. Yes, leaders are extremely important but they really can’t function at their very best if they don’t have a great administrative or executive assistant or some type of support person.

I know this for a fact. Over the past month, I have been very fortunate to personally speak with and interview 14 top executives from various large corporations. That might not seem like many to you but to get a high-level super busy executive to take 30 minutes to a few hours to speak with me is a really big deal—especially in such a short time period.

Bottom line is that executives rely on their assistants from everything to scheduling their meetings and phone calls to travel planning, preparing presentations, keeping them on schedule, organizing their day, listening to their ideas, maintaining confidentiality and so much more.

I always say that there isn’t any one big secret to being a star-performing executive assistant. It is doing 100 things very well. That is not an easy expectation to live up to. Assistants are expected to work flawlessly and seamlessly. Their executives don’t like it when they make a mistake or mix up their schedule. Executives expect their assistants to read their minds, run their life, make time for their work out, be technically savvy, understand the reality of the executive’s environment, speak on their behalf, take the initiative, and be 3 or 4 steps ahead of them. As I said, this is no easy job. Not if you take the administrative profession seriously.

So in kicking off this wonderful month, I would ask that you celebrate with Office Dynamics all month through our Blog-a-thon, free webinar on April 26, flash sales and much more.

I’d like to also acknowledge the wonderful executives and companies who recognize that their administrative assistants are valuable and who have invested in their assistants’ education and professional development. You are the drivers of change who will make a difference for those in this profession.

Wishing you a fantastic week!

Joan Burge

Join in the comments below April 1 – 29, 2016 to enter our Blog-a-Thon for the Administrative Profession!

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