The Assistant Role is a Strange One

Administrative Profession May 10, 2023

Unlike other job groupings within the business, such as finance, sales or marketing, the executive support function doesn’t have its own department. Instead, they work horizontally across your businesses and therefore are often siloed. This leads to non-collective thinking and often there is no cohesive plan or leadership for assistants.

It’s telling that when we run events, one of the most common pieces of feedback we get is, ‘Thank goodness it’s not just me. I thought I was the only one dealing with that problem and that I must be doing something wrong’.

Can you imagine finance or marketing with no leadership? It’s unthinkable. It would be chaos. So why is it OK for a business’s administrative professionals? Time and again, I see businesses with no career path, no performance review, no succession planning and no value measurement for assistants. In fact, in many companies, particularly in the US, the only way to get promoted is to move up the ladder when your executive does.

Isn’t it time to put some structure into place for your administrative function?

TOP TIP: The best place to start with this is to download the Global Skills Matrix from globalskillsmatrix.com

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If your assistant always agrees with you, you don’t have a partner.
You have a mirror.

And a mirror can’t warn you when you’re about to walk off a cliff.

Here’s the thing:

• The best assistants sense-check decisions and ask why.
• They push back on processes that waste time.
• They flag risks you don’t want to see.

That isn’t insubordination.
That’s what partnership looks like.

Many executives still confuse silence with loyalty. It isn’t.
Silence is fear. And fear kills performance.

If you’ve hired well, you already have someone who sees what you don’t. When they speak up, they’re not undermining you. They’re protecting you. That’s their job.

I tell every assistant I train: your role is not to be afraid of your executive, but to be afraid for them.

So the next time your assistant challenges you, pause before shutting them down. Ask yourself: What am I missing?

Because here’s the paradox: the voice you silence might be the very one that saves you.
The smartest voice in the room isn’t always the loudest.
Sometimes, it’s the one you’re not ready to hear.

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