Online Executive and Admin Assistant Training

April 22, 2009 at 05:43 PM | (0) Comments

Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

Today is the day when bosses are supposed to pat their assistants on the back for a job well done. In fact, the whole week is supposed to be in recognition of administrative professionals but for us, here at ProAssisting, we’re just focusing on THE day which happens to be today! Happy Earth Day too, while we’re at it!

So please accept a “pat on the back” from us to you and just for good measure, you get a gold star too.

At the advertising agency that I work for, they throw us a breakfast and hand out $50 AMEX gift cards… very nice indeed and we all appreciate the fact that they take the time out and give a great gift to show us that they care but… we are the lucky ones.

You see, it’s the job of an assistant to remind their boss of all the important dates that busy bosses have on their calendars. And if you’re in a smaller company that doesn’t have an HR department to handle such events, the question then becomes: how do you go about reminding your boss that today is the day that they should appreciate you? Our answer to that question is: you don’t.

If you find yourself in this situation, don’t let the fact that your boss doesn’t have a clue that it’s Administrative Professional Day get you down. Take the “pat on the back” from us, the gold star up above and go about your day as any other. You know you do great work, we know you do great work and deep down inside, so does your boss.

All Posts, Organization,

The Most Powerful Assistant in The World

April 17, 2009 at 06:44 PM | (0) Comments

Obama and Love Who is the most powerful assistant in the world?

That would be Reggie Love; President Obama’s personal assistant or “Body Man” in presidential speak but a personal assistant nonetheless.

This reporting by ABC News does a good job of explaining what Love does for his job by listing some of what he carries with him to take care of his boss:

“…an array of small, everyday items, such as a toothbrush, mouthwash, cough drops, aspirin and wet naps.”

A graduate of Duke University and a varsity member of both their basketball and football programs (in addition to being on the Dallas Cowboy football team before being cut), I’m sure helped Love secure a spot working for then Sen. Obama.

What is interesting and relevant for anyone looking to be or already working as an assistant is to read all of the menial and mundane tasks that Love completes for the President of the United States contrasted with powerful politicians, heads of state and celebrities who want to be his best friend since he controls access to the most powerful man in the world.

The same holds true for any assistant. Namely, you will have to complete projects and tasks that you might feel are below your skill level or not worth your time but you need to keep in mind that with the menial tasks comes great access to information and interactions with superiors and outside contacts that will further your career path.

By not letting the small stuff get you down and keeping an eye on the big picture of your job and career path, you’ll be able to have a smile on your face when your boss asks for that wet nap.

You can learn more about Reggie and his job in this NYTimes profile done during the ‘08 campaign.

All Posts, Organization,

Plans. Always. Change.

April 14, 2009 at 06:46 PM | (1) Comments

blue-print Plans always change… you can count on it & you should plan for it. What was that quote?… oh, yeah:

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” - Robert Burns from “To A Mouse” & used in the title of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

And as an assistant, or future assistant, you would be wise to remeber that quote when making plans… meeting plans, travel plans, office plans… you get the point.

If you start from the point of view that whatever you’re in the process of planning has a high probability of changing, you can organize those plans in a fashion that makes them easy to change.

Whether it’s buying a refundable plane ticket instead of non-refundable, ordering food for two or three more people than are scheduled to be in the meeting, reserving a conference room when your boss says that their office is fine but you have a feelin’ they’re going to add more people to the meeting… all of these things are setting yourself up to add, subtract or delete as needed. You’re ready for those plans to change so bring it on!

On the flip side of that coin, sometimes plans change and there is nothing humanly possible that you could have done to expect the change or have prepared for it ahead of time. Weather delay which strands your boss in a city with no hotel rooms available; car breaks down; god forbid, a death in the family… each of these situations present changes that you don’t have any control over. And in these uncontrollable instances, if you’ve organized effectively, you’ll be able to have all of the information you need at your fingertips to alternate to a brand new plan “B” in the blink of an eye.

The take away? Think of how the plans that you are making can change, prepare for those potential changes AND be as organized as possible so when a change occurs that you could have never foreseen, all the information you need to implement an effective plan “B” is at your fingertips.

Last point: Accept the fact that plans change and don’t let changing plans get you down (especially when you put in a lot of work to make those plans perfect); such is part of your job as an assistant.

All Posts, Interpersonal Skills,

Under Promise + Over Deliver = Success

April 02, 2009 at 06:52 PM | (3) Comments

overdeliver If, as an assistant or intern, you are able to under promise but then over deliver on any task or project presented to you, you will be a success in your boss’ eyes.

This concept is simple at first glance but much harder to pull off in real-world work situations. You see, your boss always will ask for the world and you are there to give it to them… that’s just the way it is. When you have an assistant yourself, you’ll be the one getting the world but that discussion is for another post.

For now, we’ll explain our advice on how to under promise but then over deliver for your boss.

Following through on this equation, the first step is to communicate properly the obstacles that are in the way of getting what your boss wants… an example might be that the afternoon flight from NYC to LA is always booked in business and first class so getting one of those seats might be difficult when making a reservation two days before the trip. You need to communicate any facts like this to your boss so they realize that it will be an uphill climb to get that first class seat (or whatever it is that they’re asking for).

The second step is to find the first class seat. In the example above this could be accomplished by checking all three NYC airports for flights instead of just your boss’ preferred airport, La Guardia, AND you can have the flight agent search other airlines that your boss might prefer less but if there’s a first class seat, they’ll take it. When all else fails, you can take a look at your boss’ schedule to see if things can be moved around to accommodate an open first class seat at a less desirable time. Lastly, if you back is really against the wall, wait-list your boss in first AND business class on their preferred flight and keep your fingers crossed that one of those seats clear.

All of these tactics are a bit of outside the box thinking and that’s the whole point. The average assistant would not outline to their boss the difficulty of fulfilling their request and when they run into one road block in completing that task say that it’s not possible. You, on the other hand, set expectations properly and then use all of your skills and ideas to get the request filled.

Thanks to Network Performance Daily for the pic; they believe in under promising and over delivering in their customer satifaction so much that they wrote it on their wall… literally.