Thinking Like A Manager
Joan Burge had a great post this week about thinking like a manager. It’s part of her series on “Becoming an Administrative Superstar”. Her post got me thinking about my own experiences as an Executive Assistant and most especially my first Executive Assistant position. Put Yourself In Your Boss’s Shoes When you work as a [...]
Ask the Admin: My Boss Is Having An Affair
We have a doozy of a question this week, folks, and I’m hoping some of you can help the writer with some advice: I just found out that my boss is having an affair. Normally I wouldn’t care. I mean, who he sleeps with is none of my business, isn’t it? The part I’m having [...]
Getting Coffee: Personal Errands Personified
Should you get coffee for your boss? I find this question over and over in the searches on my site. Why are admins asking this question. Why is it important? Personal Errands Getting coffee is really just the tip of the iceberg. What most admins are asking about is running personal errands for your boss. [...]
Should You Text Your Boss?
photo credit: ydhsu While perusing the many blogs that I follow, I saw this blog post on LifeHacker about the etiquette of texting your boss. It started me thinking about how much technology has changed during my career and how we respond to it as Administrative and Executive Assistants. Using text messages is a good [...]
Ask the Admin: Managing E-mail for the Boss
This question came from Jody: Did you get any feedback on how assistants typically work with their boss’ email? My boss has never had anyone help him with his vast quantities of email and I am wondering where to look for best practices. I did not get any comments on the post I previously wrote [...]
Screening Sales Calls
Part of the executive or administrative assistant’s job is to screen incoming calls. The hardest ones to screen, sometimes are sales calls.
Ask the Admin: Staying in Touch While Traveling
Lisa sent me the following e-mail: Do you have any tips or advice for communicating daily, weekly or priority items when traveling for weeks at a time. Thanks for your e-mail, Lisa. As it happens, I worked for 3 years for one boss who traveled almost 50% of his time, so I learned a great [...]
Mentoring a Young Executive
At some point in your career, you are going to be working for someone who has never had an assistant before. One of the toughest, but most rewarding, jobs an Administrative or Executive Assistant can have is helping a young executive learn how to partner with an assistant. Understanding the Need to Delegate In my [...]
How To Really Be on Top of Things as an Administrative Assistant
What’s the chief characteristic of being a great Administrative or Executive Assistant? It’s knowing everything, or at least seeming like you do. The best assistants are those that can aptly handle managing the boss’s calendar, sorting his mail and screening her calls without having to always stop and ask for information or permissions. But how [...]
Managing Calendars Part 2: Scheduling More Than Meetings
In my last post, I talked about using discretion in scheduling meetings. Today, we’ll go into other ways to manage your boss’s calendar to increase his productivity. Keep the Calendar More Full Than It Looks Let’s face it. If there’s a blank spot on your boss’s calendar, someone’s going to want to schedule a meeting there. [...]
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