Do you know how to ask for AND GET what you want or need in your administrative assistant or executive assistant job, role, and career? Would you like to know how to better communicate what you can do, can’t do, will do, won’t do, need and want in the workplace in your administrative role?
This could be anything from asking for a salary increase or funding to attend a conference to asking for an interesting work assignment or even asking to decrease your workload if you’re overloaded now.
It could be communicating your accomplishments (admins have plenty of them), negotiating impossible deadlines, conveying your boundaries, explaining needs to multiple managers to meet their expectations, and more.
There are so many things administrative professionals need or want to communicate in their jobs, roles, and careers. What’s tricky is how to do so effectively—so you get the needed or desired results of your communication.
In order to get results in your executive assistant or administrative assistant job, role, and career and be an effective administrative professional, you must use strategy in your communication. Think before you speak or write, and plan what you will say and how you will say it to move toward getting the results you require or desire in your administrative professional job, role, and career.
This also makes for more efficient communication, as well as effective communication, between you and your manager or executive, coworker, colleague, vendor, customer or client.
This is why Karen Porter, a former assistant herself and founder of The Effective Admin brand of professional development resources, wrote this book Communication Strategies for Administrative Professionals:
--to encourage administrative assistants and executive assistants to step up and ask for what they need and want to do their jobs well and to have satisfying administrative careers.
--to help administrative assistants and executive assistants state what they can do, can’t do, will do, and won’t do for those they support.
This does not happen nearly as often as it should in the workplace.
The ONLY WAY to ensure your needs and wants are met in your workplace in order to do your administrative assistant or executive assistant job (and do it well) and in your career desires is to STEP UP AND COMMUNICATE strategically—as needed or on a regular basis.
If you’re ready to take baby steps to make your voice heard in your workplace, this is the book for you. It has quick reads such as short chapters and quick, specific ideas to help you communicate strategically in the office.
But don’t buy this book just to add it your “career library” at home. Buy it because you’re going to pick an idea out of it and try it out. Implement something from the book (any one thing is a start and could impact your job or career positively). Read, think, act!
Karen Porter is a virtual job performance and career success coach and advisor to administrative professionals globally and founder of The Effective Admin (TEA) brand of resources – serving thousands of administrative professionals since 2004. Her educational and informational professional development resources contain job performance and career management strategies for administrative assistants and executive assistants.
