Maximizing the Assistant’s Potential: Why Leadership Needs to Step Up

Administrative Profession Strategic Business Partner March 31, 2025

It’s interesting that my current schedule for 2024, has me in front of leadership teams and HR departments as often as I am their Assistants.

For 12 years I have been training administrative professionals how to step into their potential and add real value to their businesses.

But none of that works as effectively as it should do unless businesses and leadership understand how to use you and are willing to delegate.

Our latest stats tell us that 58% of assistants feel under-utilised. And 73% feel their organisations don’t understand the role or the potential of using them properly.

It seems that organisations are starting to wake up to the return on investment that administrative professionals can bring when their roles and the administrative function are structured properly, and when everyone understands how to best utilise them.

What are some things that you would love for your leadership to understand about your role?

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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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