Executive Assistants: Value your Worth!
As an Executive Assistant your job is to aid the executive do his/her job to the best of their ability, although more times than not the job is often understated and not given the ‘round of applause’ that it so rightly deserves. As someone being fairly new to this profession and industry, I wanted to write a short blog outlining the key roles of an Executive Assistant and the importance of the role.
As an Executive Assistant you have to learn how to anticipate and read the moment. Executive Assistants know what the executive has to do every single day, what must be completed, what’s the goal, what are the deadlines. They are willing to respect someone else’s point of view and work within that parameter. Executive Assistants who are terrific at what they do are very, very collaborative. They understand the business that they’re in and the motivation of the executive. And they learn this from always communicating with the executive.
As an Executive Assistant you know that you are managing the life of someone else, and you are there to make a difference. Your role is to put out fires, fill the gaps, anticipate the executive’s needs and exercise judgment based on those needs. You are a business partner, you understand the politics of a situation and you understand how business functions, as a whole. You’re expected to know exactly what your boss is thinking and why.
Executive Assistants are in a strategic support role. The very best Executive Assistants use their intuition, judgment, business knowledge, motivational techniques and personal leadership to become an integral element of the executive’s professional and personal life. They adapt their technological skills to create and manage time-saving solutions. They want to be constantly improving. They have to be reliable and have self-discipline. These skills apply to those who choose to pursue challenging careers at all levels. The main principle that drives the talented assistant is a commitment to continuously improve. Assistants think, act and work with others to minimize crises, make decisions and save executives time. This attitude and skill set applies to all employees.
There are many assistants, and many individuals, in companies who don’t realise how important they are to that company. Every time you expand in a role, you add more value to yourself, to the management and to the company. But it’s up to you to ask for more responsibility and to ultimately grow your career.
Ashlee commenced with Capital EA in January, and has been learning the world of all things executive support in all its glory!