скачать книгу бесплатно
Despite all the complexity of the secretary’s work, I always remember my first job with a smile. At least because it gave me an understanding of the processes and devices of work.
Although, no, there is something else. I found out exactly who the most important person in the office is. More precisely, there are three of them. The secretary, the driver and the cleaning lady. Do not laugh!
The work of the first person is actually unrecognized and unrewarded. And before you challenge me on this statement, let’s remember together how each of you started in your administrative career.
And if you say that your way up has always been strewn with roses on the red carpet, and then in advance please forgive me if I do not believe you.
One time on Reception, my colleague and I were told to await the arrival of some tickets for one of the Vice- Presidents. This fact was controlled personally by the administrative director, and we had to immediately report on their delivery.
The next morning an uproar broke out in the office. The tickets were nowhere to be found! We searched for them everywhere: at the reception area, inside the office, and at the desk of the assistant to the President.
Although at the time it was obvious to me that it was pointless to look for them, since we registered the receipt of all incoming correspondence, and since there was no mark for the tickets in the registration journal, then there could really only be one conclusion – they were not delivered to us.
There was always a slight chance that someone took the envelope from the courier, forgot about the registration, and even forgot where they put it or to whom they gave it, but that chance was extremely small, because every pair of staff working on the Reception followed the same rules. And the probability that we amicably spit on the orders of our superiors was, to put it mildly, insignificant.
Be that as it may, a verdict of «You lost them!» was issued and, although my colleague and I were not fired on the spot, which seemed absolutely inevitable in such a situation, it was not very pleasant. Our supervisor herself took up organizing the reservation of new tickets, and all would be resolved, but that was not the end of things – the story continued.
After lunch, a messenger arrived from the courier company with the apparent «lost» tickets.
It turned out that they simply did not have time to deliver them to us the day before and did not bother to contact us to let anyone know.
It is not difficult to guess that there was another uproar at this! Only now the uproar was directed at the leadership of the courier service.
Towards the end of the day, when I made tea in the kitchen, the driver of the President of the bank came into the room. Of course, he knew about the epic story about the tickets. In general, news items like this are always spread with the speed of light in any company.
The driver was a man of a certain age, and from his point of view, when employees are accused of slipping, and then it is discovered that they were accused unfairly, then at the very least, they should receive an apology.
The whole story is to ask: how often do we notice people who by definition should be invisible?
We come to the meeting room after a meeting, and there should not be dirty dishes and crumbs on the table.
We arrive in the morning in the office, and under the table we have empty trash bins with a clean bin liner inside.
Once, however, the baskets were not empty, because there was some failure in the schedule of cleaning workers. At that time, I was already working as an assistant to the head of the department, and I took care of the situation myself, as it happened in my department.
Normally, when there is no rubbish, we take it for granted, but if the garbage builds up or appears where it should not have been, it is often only then that we sincerely begin to wonder, what is the problem? But it is nothing, it is just garbage. You, apparently, just forgot how it looks.
At this point, may I introduce you to Svetlana, the cleaning lady, about whose existence in your office you probably did not even know?
Next, we leave the house in the morning, and the car with the driver is already there, ready for us. And we do not need to wait, call an assistant or call the driver. Because they have already agreed among themselves, and you only need to get into the car.
And what if the person who is always driven by a personal driver, suddenly finds themselves having to go instead via the subway? I have seen this happen – and a more miserable creature was hard to imagine.
Although, you must understand that I tell this story with reservation: not everyone sees this as a tragedy of a global scale!
I think that the main thing is: when you got to the top and you are somewhere comfortable and you feel good, do not forget where you first started.
It will not change much in your life; it will change very little in the lives of subordinates, as their mistakes will still be noticeable. But it will help to save the human face and will not turn you into a soulless business card!
In one job interview when I asked about the personality of the CEO in the context of other things, the HR Director told me that the CEO’s current assistant tried to warn colleagues when the manager was about to come into the office: which was reminiscent of the very famous movie «The Devil Wears Prada».
Respect has nothing to do with servility.
And the management style, in which the manager’s door is always open to everyone, is much more effective than the one in which, despite the open door, no one enters it.
Main qualities of the perfect assistant
ATTENTION
Attention, attention and again attention. Especially in details. From «what kind of coffee your manager drinks» to «what time is better for board meeting». Of course, you will not find out everything straight away.
And what is more important, you will not remember everything. So, at first is better to write down everything.
Many people think that they have great memory. Yes, it might very well be, but this will not help you. Because at one moment the volume of what you should remember will go out of all possible limits and you will start to forget things.
Your diary and your notebook should become your best friends and partners.
Better to write down and then clarify if you didn’t understand something. Because there is a huge difference between clarification and repeat.
If you manager finds out that you tritely forget what he has told you this will cause irritation and concern that you cannot work efficiently.
Besides, top managers don’t have enough free time. And what they have, will not allow them to fight with your forgetfulness.
My first mistake – which will stay in my memory forever – was when I had forgotten to order a taxi for my boss. My career just started, I was very reliant and thought that I could remember everything.
Years have passed and now my table is full of color-coded notes with reminders. This doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with my memory, but, first there are a lot of very small details which you simply don’t need to keep in your head, especially when you can write them down.
And second, there will be so many more of these small details that it is a simple fact that you’ll never be able to remember everything.
So, the best thing is to resign yourself that you have a great brain, but not the supercomputer with terabyte of operational memory – and make notes!
ACCURACY
Mainly this is related to documents: letters, meeting minutes, presentations, etc.
There is nothing worse than chaos in documents, so my main advice is to keep your documents in order, both on your desk and on your computer.
This will help you to find any important information quickly, for example if you need to re-print a document, if the existing one cannot be used.
Also – make backup files of all your documents.
In your role you are likely to also deal with some of your manager’s personal documents, such as their passport and insurance documents (as a minimum).
I have saved images on my iPhone of the most important part of such documents, so that I can have the access to them at any time and any place.
I’ve also marked in filing folders to list what is where. There have been situations when this ordering system has helped me a lot.
Take the following as a simple example: imagine you are out in country house. There is no Wi-Fi. So, you didn’t take your laptop with you – why would you, if there was no internet? This is a normal situation: we are all people and we need rest.
However, business never sleeps. And on a beautiful Saturday evening at 9:30pm you receive an SMS from your boss who needs to urgently return to Moscow on Sunday. He tells you to «do something, create whatever is needed, but get me back».
Shortly – like always, you feel that everything is burning or has already been lost. You can try to use a travel agency, but their weekend employees cannot always help you in an operative mode. And not every agency actually works on the weekend.
So, if you have access to copies of all the documents with you on your iPhone, you can do it by yourself and you’re told «well done» because you thought ahead what you might need if there was any such sudden emergency. And yes, the boss has returned, everybody is happy, all things are one.
PUNCTUALITY
I think that it makes no sense for me to point out to you that you cannot be late for meetings, or that you must come to the office before your boss. These are all obvious things.
But we are all sometimes late. With the current busy mega- cities, traffic jams affect everybody – from secretaries to Presidents.
For an assistant though it’s better to be late when the boss in the office than when he is, for example, away on a business trip. (Of course, it is better in principle not to be late at all.).
But if you can warn your manager, when you absolutely have to be late, make it seem that your delay is planned – and that it is a sign that you are not like everyone else, – you can afford to come into the office later, as you have everything already set up to run like clockwork.
Remember: the assistant is like a good watch, so keep tracking the clock run. So, when there are situations beyond your control where real life takes over, you can warn that you will be coming in later to the office.
But, if there are known traffic issues with the road or some other circumstances before you start at a new job, it’s easier to discuss this during interview, than every morning to dash in late and be considered to be acting rudely.
In general, though, a good assistant cannot be late at all. Yes, there are some standard deviations, like a plus or minus 10—15 minutes on a standard working day, but that really should be the maximum.
Just remember that arriving on time is showing respect to colleagues who have the same working day as you do.
CONFIDENTIALITY
This relates to documents which the assistant works with which are not for public knowledge. If in paper format, it’s better to store in a closed desk and have passwords on the computer desk-top and email.
Maybe you think that I write about obvious things. Well, maybe and I’m glad that they are obvious for you.
I could argue that if everyone understood what confidentiality is and actually adhered to it, we would not be forced to place protection monitors on laptop screens and press Ctrl+Alt+Del to lock the computer when going out for lunch.
When I worked in a Japanese company there was a strict rule to block the screen on your computer when you went out, and the managers checked this strictly.
There might be no situations in your life when someone can read what he or she should not. But if a single case should happen and you didn’t protect the information when you could have, then there would be trouble.
It’s just one small question «What if?» – ask yourself and
then block the screen. It’s simple.
ACUMEN
If you know that your manager is going to have a meeting in the office, think ahead – what might be needed for it? Will they need lunch and you should order food? Think for 2—3 steps.
Make plans in advance, so that you will not have to urgently order pizza, print out 10 copies of documents, and be sure at the same time that the office will not run out of tea or sugar, or the printer will be broken.
Use every opportunity to make your life easier.
In most cases your boss will forget to ask you to book table in the restaurant or set up the projector in conference room.
There is nothing worse than having to call your IT guys when partners or clients are already in the meeting room. At this late stage, your boss may think that they cannot rely on you.
Plus, you yourself will get annoyed to running around «in a lather» just because you didn’t think in advance.
Learn to do everything perfectly straight away and show your business acumen – it will save you from many problems.
STRESS RESISTANCE
Don’t panic! You cannot be protected from all problems and stressful situations will always be part of your daily work.
It’s important to react properly. My first advice would be: even though everybody is in a panic and don’t know what to do, keep a cool head.
If you cannot do this – my second advice is to breathe. Give yourself one minute to think about the problem. This will not add or take anything, but you will have chance to think about the sudden question or problem.
Also, always remember that you’re the face and voice of your manager: and it’s not the right thing to do, to run across the office shouting «Boss, everything is lost!».
You cannot afford to do this. Everybody around may be at the point of killing them-selves, but you must keep calm, even if every step you have taken has failed. It’s not the end of the world, is it?
In case it is, you will still not be able to change anything.
Seriously, if you are able to stop for a moment and think even in a stressful situation and stay calm, it will save your nerves and composure.
COMMUNICATION
A good assistant is a good communicator. The person with perfect communicational skills and ability to talk to people properly in any circumstances, regardless who stands before them – whether colleague, client, partner or guest.
Many assistants when their boss is out taking the role of deputy to answer some questions, or to write mail on their behalf. Also, some assistants are the bridge between their manager and colleagues, and proper communication is vital here.
On one occasion before a business trip, my boss needed to review the files which were to be presented. The preparation of these was the responsibility of our partners. They were late in delivering the work and promised to send the final version straight to us before the meeting, and told us that changes were small.
That wasn’t good enough, and I was forced to write an email to one of the partners with a request to send everything before the meeting. From one side I couldn’t push them, but on the other I needed the result.
The way an assistant walks during communication with people can be on a tightrope stretched on the height of several meters, and the only way to find balance is the ability to communicate properly.
Always think before you talk or write.
Take an example from politicians. They ALWAYS think about what they say.
In this case the article of Sharon Salzberg «Why is every important mail better to send to yourself first?» is very useful, to prevent a situation where you can regret having sent it. Sharon advises to wait several minutes and re-read the written text.
Of course, it’s not so easy. The research shows that self-control is not the skill which everyone of us has. If you want to be sure that you really need to send the message and it’s important one, send it to yourself first.
And then think – is it really what you want to send? It’s like answering the phone call, not straight away, but on the third ring.
Sharon wrote: «Even Gmail can send your message in seconds, in real life you have very less unsent buttons».
RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE
The only person worse than the assistant who doesn’t want to learn, is the doctor who doesn’t increase their qualifications.
