How do I toot my own horn with my manager and ask for a raise?
Let me know if you found this video helpful. And if you have any questions, please email me at teri@tericase.com or tericase@gmail.com and I will respond in a video*.
Have a great week.
Teri
*you will remain anonymous
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It’s all about you
Today’s message is short and sweet. Short because this will be brief. Sweet because it’s all about YOU–it has nothing to do with being an executive assistant.
I’ve never met an executive assistant who didn’t have a goal, a dream, or a creative passion outside of the office, but she/he often felt too drained, overwhelmed, or unable to find the time to pursue this personal goal whether it was going to school, writing a book (mine), making a quilt, starting a non-profit, glass blowing…so many great intentions, ideas, and projects! So little time to execute!
So today, I want to share this post by Dan Blank, We Grow Media: Invest in Whitespace.
I’m a Dan Fan and credit him for most of the momentum in my creative life. The above newsletter will inspire you to invest in yourself, and his suggestions are all free. Literally, his recommendations can be followed by you at zero expense. I highly recommend subscribing to his Friday newsletter, and jumping at any chance to take his courses or participate in his Mastermind sessions.
But wait, there’s more for you.
Kelsey Browning, author extraordinaire, has a free beta-course to help you start and finish your Big Creative Project in January. The project can be anything–it’s your project–and all you need to do is click on the above and complete an application.
I hope this update pumps you up about your personal life. Let me know if you follow any of the recommendations or sign up for any sessions with Dan Blank and, or Kelsey Browning. I’ll most likely be there with you! And by all means, feel free to share this update with anyone you think might be interested.
Good luck investing in yourself and have a fabulous time wrapping up 2016.
Teri
P.S.: If you’re interested in learning more about my creative life, here’s my personal website.
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I Support You
I know each of you are facing two important processes that will not only financially impact your life, but will impact your job satisfaction and work-life balance:
For your year-end review, now’s the time to pull out your 2016 objectives, recognition you’ve received, and any SMART changes you discussed at your mid-year review.
And you can use this guidance to set your SMART goals for 2017.
If you have any questions, want to toss around a few ideas, or need any help, please do not hesitate to contact me.
You’ve got this!
Teri
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Proactive vs. Reactive
Every excellent executive assistant I’ve ever worked with has a similar trait: she finds a solution to a problem. Not a Band-aid to the problem, but a proactive solution to avoid the problem occuring again.
This trait is often demonstrated in the way she approaches issues in her personal life, too, which brings me to the following.
With the recent tragic murders our nation has suffered on both sides of the law, I want to proactively participate in looking for a solution and being a person of change in a productive manner.
From now until September 1, 2016, I am donating 100% of my profit on Goal Settings for Assistants to a proactive organization, The Badge of Life. You can read more about the proactive efforts of The Badge for Life and WHY I chose them in this newsletter on my personal website.
If you’d like to participate, please Click Here to order a paperback or e-book of Goal Setting for Assistants which includes an example of an EA’s annual performance goals from beginning to end.
Please feel free to share, share, share this newsletter. I look forward to updating you in September with the amount of money donated. Thank you so much for participating.
Until next time, stay proactive.
Teri
P.S. Do you have a topic you’d like me to cover? Please contact me, I would enjoy helping.
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You Own Your Goals – Stay SMART
We’re about to enter the seventh month of 2016 and this means that you have six months left to meet the performance objectives you agreed to six months ago—goals that will determine your contribution to the organization and possibly a bonus, merit increase, or promotion. Continue reading
“Manage my business”
I recently met with an executive and asked him a simple question, “What makes an exceptional executive assistant?”
He said, “She or he knows how to manage my business.”
By business, he meant HIS business not the company’s–his priorities, his responsibilities, his everything from emails to calendar to meeting goals and expectations.
The next day I was speaking with an executive assistant I used to work with who I consider an exceptional assistant. She was preparing to interview for a role with an C-Level executive who has a reputation for being difficult due to his communication skills and lack of organization. My colleague and I discussed how she might best support someone like this manager and it evolved into this post because whether you are trying to be a more proficient assistant with a current manager or going to work with a new manager, there are two areas of focus that will improve your mutual success.
Be Resourceful
I am a firm, FIRM, believer that the best executive assistants can be measured by their degree of resourcefulness.
Someone who is resourceful knows how to find the answer and the best solution, and this equates to identifying the next steps necessary to meeting a deliverable. Someone who is resourceful can take a small amount of information and run with it. Being resourceful means the assistant has strong relationships with co-workers, knows who does what, understands the company’s policies and processes, and can anticipate needs and outcomes of his/her manager’s business.
In fact, whenever I’ve been interviewed for a role and have been asked, “How do you gain trust with a new manager?” I always answer, “I make learning the company’s resources, both in process and in people, my priority so that he/she can ask me to take care of something without worrying about the when, how, and what needs to be done to accomplish the request.”
Resourceful steps you can take whether you are supporting a new executive manager or want to improve the relationship with your current manager:
Project Management
Next to knowing your resources, identifying the best way to stay organized is key. Each manager works and communicates differently. The tools you used to stay organized and on track with a previous manager may work for you, but it may not work with the new manager. It’s not just about your responsibilities, it’s about his/her responsibilities and the team’s responsibilities and this is where project management tools often become the best manner of staying on target with deliverables, due dates, and shifting priorities with more than one person on the team.
Here are a few tools I recommend. Most are free. I encourage you to carve out some time to check these out and see if one will work best for you and your manager:
And the below is a how-to YouTube video for MS Entourage. It’s impressive.
https://youtu.be/CwASqTuMQcI
Do you have tips you want to share on gaining trust with a manager or staying organized? Don’t hesitate to chime in. Also, are there any specific topics you’d like me to address?
Happy Working.
Teri
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Ready! Set! 8 – 12 – 4 — FLEX!
Have you ever noticed how many meetings are scheduled to prepare for other meetings?
How many times have you heard your manager or a co-worker say, “I have so much to do, but I’m going to be in meetings all day.”
Unnecessary meetings and a lack of time to focus on goals and responsibilities is one of the number one reasons milestones are missed. Short of declining the meetings and looking like you, or your manger, isn’t a team player, how does one address this problem?
With calendar management.
After years of experience supporting an executive, I began blocking his/her and my calendar as follows:
Monday – Thursday
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: FOCUS
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: FOCUS
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: FOCUS
Friday
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: FOCUS
1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: FLEX
FOCUS times are exclusively reserved for your manager to do his/her job and get stuff done, and therefore, make progress on milestones and goals. This is not time for meetings. It’s time designated for focusing and preparing for everything on his/her plate.
With technology and ‘open door’ calendars where we can and should be able to send invitations for meetings, some people, including other assistants, might be frustrated at these unavailable blocks of time. Your boss might even look at you like you’re crazy when you suggest the blocks. “How will it make me look? Like I’m not working!” he or she will object.
But here is why they are wrong and why it works.
So talk to your manager, and make this suggestion. Give it a trial period. This simple change in calendar will increase productivity and team satisfaction.
Let me know how it goes, or if you need any help at admin@evolvingea.com.
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As an assistant for the past twenty years I have experienced a wide range of expectations with regards to the role and performance in the role. While some of this was simply management “style,” it is also clear that the role has been evolving. The changes are sometimes reflected in the different titles; Secretary, Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Administrative Assistant I/II/III, Senior Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant, Senior Executive Assistant, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Executive Coordinator, Business Administrator, and so on and so on. However, I have found that a comprehensive assessment of the role and its evolving place in the workplace has been lacking.
At any given time, an Executive Assistant can be someone who has been an assistant for forty plus years, or a recent college graduate with less than a year of experience. The following reasons might skew both the manager’s and functional team’s expectations of an assistant’s capabilities and therefore, create inconsistencies in responsibilities and even stereotypes:
Whether I’m screening a phone call, meeting a guest, or coordinating a meeting, in all interactions I am dealing with the person’s (manager, guest, consultant, co-worker, peer) single perception of what and who an assistant can be, and how an assistant can contribute to and impact department and corporate goals – one person might think I am only capable of, and responsible for, answering phones, setting up meetings and greeting guests. Another person might understand that I am a user of all processes, touch all departments, understand the company from the ground up, and in fact, might know more about the inner workings of the company than most employees. And when roles are being eliminated and unanticipated gaps in process created, the responsibilities and slack are being picked up by assistants. Assistants are wearing more and more hats. The role is constantly evolving.
Our Mission
The Evolving EA™ website is about the assistant and for the assistant. Our goal is to provide a resource for assistants to become more proficient in the role and/or move above and beyond the role if so desired by focusing our time and energy on our core Executive Assistant Competencies: initiative, judgment, leadership, change management, communication, execution, problem solving, integrity, conflict management, accountability, and resourcefulness.
We want to educate and train other people about the role and encourage companies to leverage and recognize the competencies and skill sets of assistants, and their contribution to corporate goals rather than perpetuating stereotypes. Click here to print our mission statement.
One of the best ways to create clarity about your role with your manager and the company is to create clear annual performance objectives and the companies most of you work for are probably coordinating their goals for 2016 right now. Our next feature stories will be,
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Good luck and let me know what you think.
Teri & Team
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