Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome to become
a personal assistant course. My name is Kenzie,
and in this course, I will share with
you my knowledge and expertise in becoming a valuable PA. Executive
personal assistants have always played an
important role in business. Their role and
responsibilities have evolved, but assistance are still vital to the profitability
of any organization. Training to become an
effective assistant will make you a valuable employee who assists management
on the road to success. With that in mind, let's
review our goals for today. At the end of this course, you should be able to adapt to the needs and
styles of management. Communicate through
written verbal and non verbal methods. Improve time management skills. Manage meetings effectively. Act as a phone gate keeper. Use the tools of the
trade effectively. So are you ready to get started? IES, join me for this class, and I wish you a happy learning.
2. Working with Your Manager: Working with your manager, A assistance, work to make
life easier for the employers. This requires assistance
to be adaptable. While you should never work
in an unsafe environment, it's imperative that you adapt your communication and
work style to the style, needs, and responsibilities
of your boss. This will help ensure that
you have a productive, and amable work relationship. Adapting to their style, you do not always get
to choose your manager. While there's every
possibility that you will find your
manager's style amable, you must prepare yourself for a manager who presents
more of a challenge. You will have to work with
people, you find difficult. However, you may be able
to turn a negative into a positive if you take the time to understand
your manager. This understanding
will allow you to adjust your responses
appropriately. Common difficult
management styles, authoritative commander. This management style doesn't
respond well to criticism, expect things done
in a certain way. Additionally, outcomes matter
more than the task itself. Approach, phrase
concerns, ask questions. Do not say no directly. Do not volunteer
information about projects unless asked
pessimistic style. This type of manager can never see the bright
side of life. Time is wasted, second guessing, and it is easy to become
a free counselor. Approach, actively listen to determine if the
negativity is justified, offer suitable solutions,
but remain professional, provide positive updates
whenever possible. Approach, actively listen to determine if the
negativity is justified, Ofer suitable solutions,
but remain professional, provide positive updates whenever possible,
control freak. Also known as the micromanager, this type of person
has trust issues. Every action you make is
questioned and double checked. Approach. The best way to gain trust is to deliver projects that are
complete and on time. Additionally, you should
provide updates on work without being asked,
anticipate their needs. Your job is to reduce the
number of distractions or minor tasks that your
manager has to handle. You should not expect every need to be clearly outlined for you. For example, your employer
should not have to explain that they shouldn't be interrupted during a
meeting with the CEO. You should anticipate this need. Anticipating managerial needs is an essential skill that every
assistant should learn. Anticipating needs
requires using common sense with each task. For example, if you schedule
a flight and book a hotel, the need for printed
boarding passes and the map with directions
should be anticipated. By paying attention to
the needs placed on your manager and anticipating
needs before they arise, you will make yourself
an invaluable employee and
respected assistant. Getting your responsibilities
defined while your job description will provide most of your
job responsibilities. It is necessary to clarify certain aspects of your
job with your employer. Much of this is based on
their personal preferences. You should initiate
a discussion to clarify information if
your manager doesn't. Your responsibilities will
change with each manager. So you should have
a conversation whenever you work
for a new manager. Responsibilities to
define is phone, e mail, or face to face
communication preferable? Do you have a reminder system? Do you schedule meetings with or without consulting
your employer? Is any training necessary? Once you have your
responsibilities outlined, you need to write them down. This will ensure that you
do not forget anything, when to take the initiative. Managers expect assistance
to take initiative. However, it's important that you do not overstep your bounds. The key is deciding when it is appropriate to
take the initiative. The answer will be different
in every situation. Understanding when to
take initiative requires you to know your employer's
needs and expectations. Some managers are
more comfortable with employees taking
initiative than others, so you should act slowly. Regardless of who
your manager is, you need to begin
with smaller tasks until you earn a
sufficient level of trust. For example, you could
conduct research for a project your manager
needs to complete. Later, you could create a
PowerPoint presentation or volunteer to draft correspondence
and without e mails. Remember, only to take
initiative when it is appropriate and based on your
manager's wants or needs. It will be easier to see when it is appropriate
to take initiative, the longer that you and
your manager work together. However, if you believe your manager would be uncomfortable with you
taking on a project, you should discuss it before
taking action. Case study. This is Susan's second position
as a personal assistant. She is sure that her manager
will be pleased with her and doesn't feel that she needs to discuss her
responsibilities with him. Susan chooses to
communicate with her boss using e mail which her
last employer preferred. She also takes over
scheduling meetings because it had always
been her role. Her manager soon called
her into a meeting, unexpressed unhappiness
with her performance. It turns out that he only checked e mail at
the end of the day, and he considered several
scheduled appointments to be a waste of time. Susan took this opportunity to clarify her
manager's expectations.
3. Administrative Soft Skills: Administrative soft skills, an assistant also functions
as an administrator. Your job requires you to
work with different people. An administrative soft skills
are essential for success. Developing social intelligence, business acumen, social
management skills, and active listening
will improve your working
relationship with those around you and make
your life much easier. Social intelligence Social intelligence is the
empathy, understanding, and cognition that is necessary to be effective
in a social settings. It allows us to identify and interpret social cues
and react appropriately. Empathy is the ability to
understand or share feelings. Some people are naturally
more empathetic than others. However, it takes more than empathy to have effective
social intelligence. You run the risk of
creating animosity if you react inappropriately
in social situations. This requires an
understanding of social norms and
cultural customs. Remember that different cultures have different social cues, so you should take
some time to research cultural customs when
working internationally. Ways to improve
social intelligence, pay attention to others. It's easy to become caught
up in our own lives. Paying attention to others, particularly your manager will improve your social
intelligence. Practice cues,
practice interpreting social cues that
you see in others, learn to interpret
facial expressions and become culturally
aware of those around you. Self monitor. Before you blurt out a response
in a social situation, think about its appropriateness. This will improve your
social intelligence. Basic business cument. Business cument is the ability
to look at the big picture and make the necessary decisions for the good of
the organization. While many executives
practice business acument. Assistance must also develop business acument
to be effective. Developing business cument
requires you to stay informed about the
different aspects of the business and industry, and educate yourself on the financial equations
and their meanings. Will allow you to see the impact your role has on
the organization. So here are some ways to
improve business acumen. Research using the
Internet, books, and journals, network
within the organization. Take classes when necessary. Practice interpreting
financial reports, pay attention to how your role
affects other departments. Office management, and assistant must also operate as
an office manager. This requires you to take
on special roles that are necessary in order for the
department to move forward. Poor management skills will prevent productivity
for everyone. Skills required, plan. Plans are essential for success, but the assistant
must drive the plan forward by making sure
that steps are executed. Schedule. The schedule and its details are typically
the domain of the assistant. For example, you would make a list of people to
attend a meeting, contact them, and book the
location of the meeting. The assistant must
keep everything filed, organized,
and accessible. This includes
paperwork, schedules, travel, financial
papers, et cetera. Order. You will be responsible
for ordering supplies. This requires you to keep
a careful inventory, and order at the correct time. Active listening.
Listening skills are essential for the assistant. Listening and understanding
everything that is said may be difficult in
a fast paced environment. This is where active
listening will help. Active listening allows you to connect with and
understand the speaker. Additionally, it is the
skill that may be honed, ways to improve
active listening. Pay attention, Face the
speaker and make eye contact. Let the speaker know
that you are listening. Turn off distractions and
focus on what is said. Respond. Do not
listen in silence. Respond when it is appropriate so that the speaker
knows you are listening. Body language will
speak for you. So be aware of how
you present yourself. Remain open minded. Avoid preconceived ideas
when speaking with someone. Allow the speaker to finish. Do not interrupt, even if
you have something to say, paraphrase, restate
what the speaker says to make sure
that you understand. Answer. B respectful when you answer the
speaker case study. Robert was in charge of the details for a
company conference. He had to talk to a lot of
people when making the plan. The keynote speaker
gave him an agenda. But he was trying to multitask while he took down
the information. He managed to write down
wrong arrival time, and no one was there
to pick her up. Both his manager and the
speaker were unhappy, and Robert had the problem of fixing the issue at
the last minute.
4. Effective Time Management: Effective time management, calendar management is essential
to your time management. It's important that you keep both a personal and
professional calendar and sync them in order to prevent
overlap and confusion. Fortunately, there are
countless applications that allow you to easily manage your calendar at
home and at work. Outlook is a popular
and provides a color coded system and pop ups that help you keep
track of your schedule. If you are in charge of
your manager's calendar, be sure of what you are
allowed to schedule. Here are some steps
to management. Schedule recurring meetings
and tasks for each month. Include time to travel and
follow up for each activity. Include personal
and vacation time, early, or you never will. At the end of the day,
review tomorrow schedule, Schedule daily tasks, schedule
single meetings or tasks. Schedule time to reply to
e mails, and return calls. Prepare for changes
and surprises. No matter how
carefully you plan, there will be surprises and changes that disrupt
your schedule. While some surprises and
changes are emergencies, most are interruptions
that eat up your time. In the case of an emergency, you will have to
change the schedule. Most of the time, however, you can take control of the
situation if you plan ahead. You need to schedule a time to handle surprises in your day, and take a few steps to limit the interruptions
in your workday. Steps to take,
analyze the surprise, determine if you need to address the interruption
immediately, or if you can wait. Say no. Obviously, you have
to use this one carefully. However, no is appropriate when an employee wants help with a minor project while
you are in the middle of a major project with
an upcoming deadline. Schedule, Plan time when you
will not be available to handle surprises and times
that you will. Limit time. If someone does surprise you, limit the amount of time that
you spent with the person, get straight to business
and do not chat. Keeping others on track. As an assistant, it's
your job to help keep other people on track,
particularly your manager. The person in charge
of scheduling, you are responsible
for making sure that your manager arrives
at meetings on time. You need to remind
your manager about meetings and help keep
them on schedule. Reminders can be
set through e mail, given in person,
or over the phone. You may also need to extend the reminder to other people
attending the meeting. Project updates will probably
be sent to you as well. You should establish timelines
for updates and check in with employees when if the updates do not
show up on time. It's not your job to hoover
over other employees, but staying aware of updates
on the timeline will help you keep other employees on track to complete their
projects on time. Urgent, important matrix. Being able to differentiate
the urgent from the important is essential
for time management. The urgent slash important
matrix is a useful tool that will help you identify which tasks needs to
be addressed first. Urgent tasks such as
picking up dry cleaning or fixing the printer often take
up too much of our time. Urgent tasks do
not help you meet your goals and can
become distractions. Important tasks help you meet your goals and the activities
that reach the goals. For the best productivity
and time management, give priority to the
important tasks. However, you have to identify the important tasks,
first, case study. Jane scheduled her
calendar every day, but she was never able
to stick with it. She felt like she spent her
time putting out fires. But today was going
to be different. Jane planned on checking e mail and voice messages in the first 15
minutes of her day. One of the employees
caught her on the way in, and he was in panic. He told her that he
lost the itinerary for the meeting the next day and didn't know what to
do with his calendar. She retrieved one for him, and he spent the next 20 minutes asking her questions
about the meeting.
5. Tools of the Trade Part 1: Tools of the trade.
It's impossible to be an effective assistant if you do not use the
tools of the trade. The tools of the trade for an assistant go beyond
simply printing, filing, and taking messages. You need to become
familiar with machines, computer programs, and etiquette to become
a successful assistant. If you are unsure about
any job related tools, you should take the time to educate yourself.
Email protocol. Today, e mail is a necessary
form of communication. E mails allow people to respond when convenient and it's easy to save e mails to servers and prevent the loss of
valuable information. Understanding basic e mail
protocol is essential, considering that it's
the main methods of communication in
the business world. An e mail is similar
to a business letter, but it doesn't require a heading
with a date and address. When sending or
replying to e mails, there are a few basic
guidelines to follow. Double check the address. Make sure that the wrong address was not accidentally used. Not double checking
could cause problems. CC carefully. Do not carbon copy your
entire address book. Only copy people on e mails
when the issue concerns them. You may also blind
carbon copy to protect the privacy
of your recipients. Choose a subject
and heading that is professional and pertains
to the topic. Salutation. Use standard
greetings like Aeta. Introduce yourself if you have not met the individual before. Body, maintain the
professional tone and proof rate for mistakes. Do not use all caps because
it's considerate yelling, formatting, do not
overthink formatting. It's a message, not a web page. And the basic paragraph format is typically all
that is required. Additionally, you should avoid distracting fonts and emoticons. Sign off, sign off like you
would a business letter. Office machinery,
being an assistant requires a basic understanding
of office machinery. The company that you work for determines the machinery
that you will use. Each organization
has different needs and purchases
equipment accordingly. However, some devices are
more common than others. Common office machinery
includes faxes, scanners, copiers, printers, postage machines,
shredders, and telephones. It's not enough to simply know how to use a
piece of equipment. You should familiarize yourself with ways to
troubleshoot problems. If you do not have the
manuals for a faulty machine, you can always look
up the item online. Computer and software skills. Every assistant needs to have basic computer
and software skills. Not expect anyone in your organization to teach
you how to use a computer. The computer and software that you use will depend
on the organization. You should be familiar with
basic computer skills, such as keyboard and mouse use, external devices, and
retrieving files. Most companies require an understanding of
Microsoft office, which includes word
for documents, Excel for spreadsheets, and
PowerPoint for presentations. You should be familiar with
databases on the Internet. You may need to use financial
software such as Quicken. Some positions also require a basic knowledge
of graphic design, communication skills, ability to communicate is necessary
for a successful career. You need to brush up on both your verbal written
communication skills if you want to make
a good impression. While it's true that writing is not the main
aspect of your job, you will have writing tasks. Remember that people will judge your abilities based
on your writing style. E mails, reports, memos, proof reading may fall under the assistance domain.
Improve writing. Spell check, run a spelling and a grammar check on
everything that you write. Proof read, typo secure
after a spell check. Proof read for grammar and
spelling. Be professional. Use a professional
tone in your writing. Avoid s lank and informal terms. Use mistakes. Do not become offended if someone points out
a mistake in your writing, learn from the mistakes
and do not repeat it. Writing is a skill that
you can easily improve. Take a class from
time to time to hone your writing and improve your
communication techniques. Assistance also need
excellent verbal skills. You will need to demonstrate
proper phone etiquette, plan events, and inform your manager about
important topics. You may also have opportunities
for public speaking. Ways to improve your
verbal communication. Think. Consider
everything you say. Do not simply respond. Speak clearly and speak
slowly to be understood. Do not ruffle off as
fast as you type. Be confident, make eye contact and monitor your body language. Get to the point, do not rumble, speak concisely, B sociable. Remain professional while
making others feel at ease. Share the conversation. Dominating the conversation will make people feel uncomfortable. Listen. Practice active
listening skills. We are not always aware of
how we communicate verbally. You can ask friends
and family for feedback and model your verbal
communication on others. Case study, Jesse had more than e mails to write and
reply to than normal. And she was in a hurry. She sent out an e mail with employee reviews
for the department attached to the head of HR, and she CC the
managers involved. A few minutes later, an employee called and asked
to talk about his review. Confused by his request, she checked the e mail and
realized that she accidentally sent the e mail to her
entire contact list rather than a single group. She sent another e mail asking everyone to disregard the
previous communication, but the damage was already done.
6. Tools of the Trade Part 2: Of the trade, part two, ever changing technology is shaping the job
of the assistant. You must pay attention to
the tools of the trade and adapt as social convention
and technology changes. Keeping up with the tools of the trade will
allow you to become an invaluable assistant phone
and voicemail etiquette. You are the voice of the company when you answer the
phone and make calls. It's necessary to follow basic etiquette so that
you represent yourself, your manager, and
your company well, identify yourself
when someone calls. Ask before placing
someone on hold. Answer the phone within
three rings, be friendly. Do not eat or chew
gum on the phone. Know what you are going
to say before you call someone, Lmit
personal calls. Do not call people
before or after business hours unless
prior permission is given. Voicemail is a useful tool. However, in a fast
paced work environment, many people do not check their voicemail as
often as their e mail. You need to decide when a
voice mail is necessary. If you have a great deal
of information to impart, voicemail may not
be the best option. When you do use a voicemail, follow the basic etiquette. Prepare. Know what you're
going to say ahead of time. Do not rumble, or the listener might not finish
listening to your message. Be concise. Leave the brief
message with your name, your number, and the
purpose of the call. Speak clearly. Speak
into the phone, turn off, background
noise, and annunciate. When setting up
your own voicemail, avoid cute or silly
outgoing messages. B professional, and keep the outgoing
messages up to date. Word processing. Word processing is an essential part of
any business position. The word processor has replaced the typewriter for the
creating documents. Common business documents
include reports, memos, letters, and
legal documents. While most companies use Microsoft Word as the main
word processing program, other options are available. For example, Abby Word is
an open source application, and Google Dog is a web based. The word processor that you use will depend on
your organization. Do not panic if
you find yourself working with an unfamiliar
word processor. They all have similar operations and most offer tutorials. Word processors are more
than glorified typewriters. They provide a number of tools, including spell check,
grammar check, the ors, dictionary, editing,
word counting, formatting, and alignment to make creating documents easier. Taking advantage of
the tools available, will improve your documents, making them more professional.
Business writing. Business writing
includes e mails, memos, reports, and
business letters. Each one has its own formatting. But there are a few
basic guidelines you can follow with all of your business writing to ensure that the message is
clear, and effective. So here they are.
Identify your goal. Determine if you need to inform, persuade, et cetera. Understand your audience. Create your message around the expectations and
interest of your readers. Your audience will determine
the tone that you use. Stay concise. Use short, simple sentences, so that
you do not lose interest. You should also
condense information to keep message
shorter structure. Make sure that your
topic transition easily. Use space to emphasize
breaks for different topics. Grammar and spelling, check your grammar
and spelling with the word processor and by proof reading,
Internet research. As an assistant, you will have to do a great
deal of research. The Internet makes this
task faster and easier. All research, however,
is not created equal. Basic search engine results are based on clicks
and keywords, and they will not always provide the detailed
information you need. You should familiarize yourself with specialized search engines, such as first gov.com. A number of databases, such as ABI slash
Information research also allows you to
access information. When you find information, always determine if you
have a legitimate source, a block based on opinion
with little research cited, for example, would this
aspect, case study. Ken was running errands for
the first part of the day. So he kept his
phone close to him. He received a call
while he was driving, so he let the phone
go to voice mail. He arrived at his destination and listened to the voice mail. It was a caterer
calling back with a quote for the
next large meeting. There was so much
background noise that Ken could barely
hear the message. Additionally, it took forever for the caterer to
get to the point. Ken was so annoyed
that he erased the message and decided
against using the caterer.
7. Being an Effective Gatekeeper: Being an effective gate keeper, assistants are gate keepers. It's your job to save your manager the time
and sle of distractions. This may be preventing sales calls or witting
unnecessary information. Being a gate keeper
requires you to be savvy and develop the ability
to see through tricks. So how to filtering
data and information. Filtering data and information
is part of your job. You need to determine
what your manager needs to see and know and
what is unimportant. For example, you do not need to pass along
a sales catalog. In order to know what
information is important, you need to understand your
manager's interests, goals, who are essential to projects and the names
of family members. When determining whether or not to pass along information, you need to ask a few
qualifying questions. The exact qualifying
questions you ask will depend on your
company and your manager, but you can begin with
some general questions. For example, is this important? Is the manager the only
one to handle this? Is it relevant to goals? Can I address this myself? Is the source reliable? After you determine what needs to be seen
and what doesn't, your manager will
not have to wait through useless information
or distracting requests? Learn to say no. Part of your job as a gatekeeper
is to say no. Your manager's time is valuable, and many people will try to make appointments when
none are available. They will call to distract your manager throughout the day. Sales associates are trained
to get past gay keepers, but you cannot
allow them access. No matter how hard people
try, you need to say no. You do not need to be rude. You can offer to take a message
if someone is insistent. Sales associates will
occasionally attempt to sell the assistant directly
and befriend them. This occurs, you need to
explain that you do not make such decisions unexplain that you will take a message. As a personal assistant, you will also deal
with difficult people. Every assistant has to deal
with difficult people. Conflict is sometimes
unavoidable, but it's sure to appear
when you practice saying no and preventing people from
reaching their objectives. Difficult people
present themselves, you need to repress
your fight and flight response and
engage in conversation. So how to handle
difficult people. Speak assertively.
A passive tone indicates that you
are uncertain, B assertive, respectful.
Address the request. Make it clear that you are
rejecting the request, but not the individual. Avoid sarcasm. Do not use sarcasm and address it when it
is used against you. Rest, restate the problem in a different way for
another point of view. Compromise. You need to be willing to compromise
in certain cases. Occasionally, difficult
people may become dangerous. If you feel threatened, do not hesitate
to call security. Now you also need to
recognize the tricks. People train and
write articles about tricks they used to
get past gate keepers. Sales calls and
other interruptions do not always be obvious. People will try to trick you. You must familiarize
yourself with common tricks so that you can recognize
them. Tricks can be. They will use the
manager's first name and give the impression
that they are friends. They will not volunteer
information about why they call, hoping you will
let them through. They will be assumptive and not ask to be transferred
to the manager. They will say that they
have important news that affects the manager. We'll use your first
name and try to befriend you with
multiple phone calls. There are many more tricks
beside the ones listed. Research additional tricks and share stories with
other assistants. Now let's look at
this case study. Laura was comfortable
fielding sales calls. She cat tricks every day, saving her manager the sle of high pressure cold
calls. One day, though, Tom called and asked
to speak to Anthony. Anthony was her manager, and Tom was his brother. Laura had never
spoken to Tom before, but he was on a list of approved names that
Anthony gave her. So she transferred the call. After a few minutes, Anthony called her
and told her to be more careful
screening his calls. The Tom on this call
was not his brother, but a sales representative. It was the first time that anyone managed to
get past Laura.
8. Organizational Skills: Organizational skills
with the PC schedule that assistants have to keep, organizational skills are
essential to success. You must learn how
to prioritize, plan, and work
towards your goals. Organization is a skill that you can always
work to improve. However, by implementing
the following techniques, you will improve your
efficiency as an assistant. So prioritizing your workload, will work more efficiently
if you learn how to prioritize your workload
into four tiers, use the urgent, important matrix to help you
identify your tasks. The tasks will be given priorities based how urgent
and important they are. Top priority should be given to the tasks that are both
urgent and important. This need to be
done immediately. The second priority
should be given to the tasks that are important
but not as urgent. If you spend enough time on
tasks in the second tier, you will reduce the
number of urgent tasks. Plan to do these
tasks the same day. The third tier includes urgent but unimportant tasks
that should be done today. If you ignore tasks
in this tier, they may become both
urgent and important. The bottom tier includes tasks that are not
urgent or important, label them as tasks that
cannot be forgotten. These tasks may carry
over to the next day. Goal setting, you need
to establish goals to prioritize and organize
your work related tasks. You should establish
long term and short term goals for your
personal and professional life. It's important to align your short term work
goals with your managers. It's also important that
you create smart goals. Goals cannot be achieved
if they are impossible. Smart goals make it
easier to achieve success because you know that success is
within your reach. So what are smart goals? These are actually cuments to S for specific M for measurable, A for attainable, R for
relevant, T for timely. So specific goals
must be specific. An example of a specific goal is replied to all e
mails measurable. Measurable goals allow you to realize when they are attained. For example, research for 1
hour each day, Obtainable. All goals, particularly
short term goals need to be attainable. For example, completing project, a week early is probably
not attainable. Relevant. Goals must be relevant
to your situation. A goal to learn a
new language is probably not relevant
to a financial project. Goals require
specific deadlines. For example,
complete the project by 5:00 P.M. On Friday next. Plan for tomorrow today. You should schedule the next day when the current day ends. Planning each day
in the week is not feasible because your tasks
and priorities will change. You need to wait until the end of the workday
to plan for tomorrow. List all of the meetings, appointments, and relevant
events in your plan. Note and finish tasks for today, to combine with new
ones for tomorrow. Make a list of all tasks for
the day and prioritize them. Add the tasks from the
list to your plan, according to their priorities. If you take the time to
plan at the end of the day, you will be able to save
time the next morning and stay focused on your
plan. Staying on track. Keeping your
organizational skills on track is easier set than done. Your life may be
organized on paper. But it is easy to become overwhelmed when the problems
and distractions come. However, staying
on track will make your life easier and
increase your productivity. Here are tips to
staying on track. D clutter. Keep your work space clean and free of clutter. Put away files and papers, once you have
finished with them, and at the end of each
day, use technology, software, and apps are available
to keep you on schedule. Two minute rule. If a task
takes less than 2 minutes, such as filing a paper you
are done using, perform it. Will prevent tiny tasks
from piling up balance, schedule your personal
life's needs, such as exercise and
hobbies, be flexible. Your schedule is
not set in stone. Be ready to adjust
it, if necessary. Now, let's look at
this case study. Alan decided that he was
going to become organized. He created smart goals, prioritized his activities,
un established his schedule, but his plan began to fall
apart by the second day because Alan's manager gave him an emergency
project to finish. His down time was gone, and there was no way
that he would be able to keep up with the
schedule he created. Alan decided to stop trying
to keep him organized and focused on handling the
emergency his boss gave him.
9. Confidentiality Guidelines: Confidentiality guidelines.
As an assistant, you will be privy to
confidential information. It's imperative that
you learn how to handle this information and keep privileged information from
leaking to the public. Following confidentiality
guidelines will make you a better
assistant and improve the level of trust
that your employer has in you, your
confidentiality duty. Confidentiality is one of your basic duties
as an assistant. You will have access
to company secrets, employee records, and
financial information. Failure to keep information
confidential will damage your reputation and the reputation of
your organization. In certain circumstances, lack of confidentiality
breaks the law. HR will have information
on this topic. You need to treat all
information that you come across at work
as confidential. Do not share information
with friends, co workers, clients, et cetera. Unless you are specifically told that it's part
of the public domain. Most breaches in confidentiality
are not malicious. While it's true that
some people are motivated by greed or revenge, a breach of confidentiality
may be caused by attempts to impress
rivals or clients. Extenuating circumstances
may also cause breaches, meaning that accidental
slips happen. You need to be careful handling
confidential information. Never repeat anything that
is related to your job, even when people tell you that
they are cleared to know, be diplomatic, and discrete. As an assistant, you are
expected to be diplomatic, and discrete in the workplace
and when socializing. You are in a unique position because of all the
information that you handle. You need to be careful
about what you say, who you say it to,
and where you say it. Do not join in employee
gossip and never discuss sensitive information
in a public setting. Be diplomatic about refusing
to join the gossip. Reject the action,
but not the people. As you separate
important information from the unimportant, you will stumble across intriguing
correspondence that you do not fully understand. You must resist the urge to investigate the information
or jump to conclusions. Simply pass along information without asking
hypothetical questions. Employers expect this level of discretion from a
personal assistant, keeping data secure Due to the sensitive nature of the
information that you handle, you need to take steps to make sure that you keep
the data secure. The company should
have security to protect physical
copies of information, and you may have
to log your files. The data on your computer, however, need
additional security. Take a few simple steps to make sure that your
information is safe. So here are some steps to take. Check with IT to make
sure that the security and software on your
computer is up to date. Do not open e mails if you
do not know the sender. Create a strong password
with numbers and symbols, and do not save it
to your computer. Enable password protection,
log your computer, and encrypt files
that are sensitive. Now, what to do in
sticky situations, you will find yourself in sticky situations when
you work as an assistant. You need to handle
them carefully. This situation will vary, no matter the situation, you will need to implement
problem solving to handle it. So possible situations, and employee gossip and
drains productivity. You manager friends
you on Facebook, an employee shares
too much information. You believe someone is
stealing from the company. Problem solving follows
a basic pattern. Identify the problem, look
at the problem objectively. Brainstorm ideas, identify risks and
benefits of each solution. Make a decision. Now, let's
look at this case study. An employee is brought in to
help launch a new product. She is in charge of monitoring, focus groups, and
reporting the feedback. The product is not complete
and is still a secret. Everyone has been warned
not to discuss the project. One day, the employee
is seen discussing the changes in design with
some co workers during lunch. The co workers are not
part of the project. When reprimanded, the employee explained that her friends
wouldn't betroy the company. It was safe to talk to them, and she didn't provide
detailed information. What do you think
about this case? Think about it. Was it
right to act this way?
10. Special Tasks : Special tasks as a
valid assistant. You should be prepared to take on special roles and tasks. You will find yourself
interacting with clients and managing
social media. You may be managing projects
and hosting trade shows. With a little practice
and research, you will be ready
for any situation. Now, let's look at project
management skills. Many assistants also play a role of project managers
for their employers. You need to understand
the basics of the project management
to be successful. Five steps of project
management are start plan, execute, manage, and end. The start doesn't
include you because it involves choosing a project
and project manager. The next step is plan. At this phase, you determine that steps that are
necessary for the project, this includes a risk analysis, estimate of resources,
work breakdown structure, activity sequence,
schedule, budget, risk analysis, and
communication systems. Much of this will
be decided for you. Execute At this phase, you are responsible
for making sure that the tasks for the project
are completed on time. Manage. You manage a project by creating status
reports on the progress. The status reports are
sent to the manager and complete the project
by writing a summary of the project that
includes its scope, changes, lessons learned,
impact, and successes. Now let's move on trade shows. A trade show is a
chance for a company to display the product or service
the organization provides. Trade shows are the
perfect venue for finding new customers and generating
interest in the product. Your role in the
trade shows may vary. You will probably have to schedule and coordinate
the trade show, but there is a chance that
you will have to attend. If you do attend, prepare
the following tasks, assist with Booth setup. Develop and all present
demonstrations, interact with potential clients. Trade shows demonstrations are
advertising opportunities. You need to tailor the
presentation for your audience. For example, you should play up money saving
opportunities for CEOs and innovation for IT buyers, interacting
with clients. Assistants have to
interact with clients in person on the phone
and through e mail. It's important to
be friendly and professional in your
communications. Build rapport with clients by remembering their names,
interests, and needs. Keep a reference
list to help you. You are already familiar with
email and phone etiquette. Now your personal
interactions need to be honed so that you can become
the face of the company. Face to face
interactions, grooming, be well groomed and dress
professionally. Body language. Do not fidget and
pay attention to your stance and facial
expressions, right side. Influence people by staying
on their right side, and gestures, se open but
limited hand gestures to appear trustworthy. L ean forward with an open
posture to indicate interest. Next is social media management. Social media is
an important tool on a personal and
professional level. You may be responsible for managing the company's
social media, but you will definitely
have to manage your own. No matter the platform you use, you must be careful to present
a professional persona. Once you join a platform, choose the necessary
security and follow pages and people
that interest you. Now you are ready to
develop relationships, how to develop professional
relationships. Post links about your job, create compelling
stagus updates, link company blogs, link
pictures and videos, praise others, celebrate
all successes. Use social media carefully. People have lost their jobs because of
questionable postings. If you wonder whether or not
something is appropriate, be on the side of caution. Now, let's look at
this case study. Jenna was nervous about meeting new clients
at a trade show. She was fidgeting and biting her nails before the show began. She memorized the demonstrations and was ready to
answer any questions. When the show began, Jenna
had trouble concentrating. She stattered and shifted
her weight while talking, so she didn't make any sales. After the show, her manager told her that she
needed training to deal with the public
before he would bring her to another trade show.
11. Conclusion: Hey, congratulations. You have completed this course. I hope that your journey to understanding the
skills necessary to being an effective
executive or personal assistant
is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update
your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and
years to come. And here are the
lessons learned, time management strategies,
effective communication, how to anticipate needs,
office machinery, and skills, how to be a gatekeeper,
organizational skills. And in conclusion, I would like to share with you
words from the wise. Peter Ducker, efficiency
is doing the things right. Effectiveness is doing
the right things. Steve Dobbs, be a
yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where
excellence is expected. Henry Ford coming
together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is success. Thank you very much
for being present. I would like to wish you all
the best in your new career.
Mackenzie Wilson
