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
