WHAT IS THE ROLE OF AN EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT?
There’s been a big challenge defining and understanding the role of Executive Assistants.
Whether it is the academic giant, exceptionally talented and career Executive Assistant like Juliet, or an Award-winning professional who stumbled into the profession like me or the transitional (I’m here until the next thing shows up) person, our appreciation for the people who occupy these roles needs to improve.
Asked who an assistant is, what seems to be the standing definition is “someone who does the mundane little things so that the executive can do the strategic things”
What a terrible answer.
And that is not the worst. During our office tours with sponsors and donors, I remember a staff saying this is Brenda. She manages the National Director’s diary. I almost cried. Not because I don’t manage the National Director’s diary but because on the list of things that I do, that would be the last thing on my mind.
Now you must be wondering, okay so what do you do?
Well, no one wakes up to do an MBA, two Master's degrees, and other certifications if all they are doing is managing a diary and doing mundane little things.
We oversee and manage communications for Executive teams, Boards and strategic alliances in addition to coordinating all their affairs. Those great reports, letters and presentations don’t work on themselves and figuring out the angle or what to communicate when or where, and finding necessary information requires attention, industry knowledge and a hell lot of interpersonal skills.
And don’t get me started on the dynamics of managing up, down, and laterally. As an Assistant, you are required to lead the leader of the entity you work in. You are not just leading the person, but their team and their work!
Do you know what it is like to walk into your executive’s office and saying, what you are about to do is wrong, I think you should do this?
Or what you did was wrong and here’s how you can fix it?
Or let’s not do this like that but like this
Or hey, I think this is the person you should assign for project A?
You should try it.
And when you are done running around fixing things, and thinking for the organisation, you have to be a friend, sounding board , counselor and sometimes a coach to your executive- depending on the need.
I don’t know if any other Job requires this but for the Executive Assistant, this is a crucial part of the job and one that isn’t listed. Be there for the rant, the banter, the laughs, and those terrifying moments when your leader messes up and you need to tell them all will be well and help them fix it.
Those are some of the things that can be added to the ‘mundane little things’ list. And if you have more time, look into Public relations, project management, and the million other “little things”.
So no, nothing about what Executive Assistant’s role do is mundane. Okay, maybe the filing…I dread that.
Each day is a new day to solve a problem, contribute to greatness, kickass, fight with people or if you mess with us; throw a power bomb!
Powerbomb.
That’s a term I learnt from Juliet Adong, a career Executive Assistant. Juliet says it is okay to powerbomb someone. If you are an assistant whose role people keep downplaying or if people downplay you because of your role, you might want to show them who is the boss…but nicely or not!😊.
The Job of an executive assistant is like a roller coaster. You wake up in the morning with a clear set of priorities, then your day starts and your boss has an even bigger list of priorities which should, by all means, take precedence over everything else. You have to be willing and happy to change direction as soon as the need arises while keeping track of all the important assignments.
There are days when you have to stay up on your feet for 12 hours. There are days you will have to put in 18hrs. Problems are arising almost every minute, phone calls buzzing off the hook, staff surrounding you and seeking attention, visitors needing attention, etc.
It is exciting, it is exhilarating, it is amazing but also has great potential to be stressful, so kudos to all you heroes out there who keep the executives on track.
