What I wish you knew about being an admin assistant

Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant, Office Manager, Administrative Coordinator, Senior Administrative Assistant and the list goes on an on. While our title defines our rank, it does not define our success. We are a group of dedicated professionals that are in the business of helping others. We are walking office dictionaries and in most cases, we are the foundation to success.

While the assistant tribe is made up of unique individuals, we can all agree that we love making lists. Lists are our lifeline to sanity! I can't speak for everyone but I know that many of you will get to #10 and shout, "AMEN!"

1. All positions deserve the same level of respect.

In our society, we often get caught up in titles but our title is not a reflection of our heart or our character. We are all equals and we deserve to be treated as such.

2. We not only know about the stress in the office, we feel it as well.

All office stress filters through the main office. We listen, we counsel, we intercept emails, we answer the phone, we read your body language, we see what you're eating for lunch. We know how to recognize stress from a mile away and we know if we don't do something to help prevent it, it will hit us like a freight train. We will listen to you vent but please remember, we will then need to vent about your venting. We are not immune to stress. We are just very good at managing it ... most of the time!

3. Just as stress filters through our office, so does everything else!

The smell of your leftover fish dinner, the sound of your obnoxiously loud ringer, the non-stop clicking of your pen, the cologne that you bathed in, your high octave laughter, the fly posse that came in the window that was left open; it all stops in our office for a visit. We will always annoy someone with our behavior but being mindful of the individuals that share your space results in a happy & healthy environment.

4. We have a great understanding of team.

Assistants have a very unique view of every ingredient required for a successful team. We recognize that calming an upset customer is just as important as providing high quality service. We know that something as simple as a printer jam can disrupt an entire meeting. We strive to make sure every ingredient is mixed in perfectly to create positive outcomes. Sure, there's an "I" in assistant but we know that our team must be successful in order to experience full satisfaction and feel accomplishment in our role.

5. Saying "No" is equivalent to talking about religion, politics or sex in the workplace. It's "mostly" off limits.

We often struggle with the ability to say no because we enjoy helping every member of the team. We will gladly help you with your project and add to the mountain of requests on our desk just so we can save the day. Assistants love being the hero of every ridiculous request.

Do you have a key to the 3rd floor paper towel dispenser that hasn't been opened since 1974? Of course I do! Here is a bobby pin.

Yes, it is possible to take advantage of an assistant. In which case, we must learn how to say, "no, no, absolutely not, no thank you!" but we mostly just want to respond with, "consider it taken care of" as we fly off to our next task!

6. The person answering the phone is not your enemy.

Your anger may be justified but how many assistants have you been mad at lately? My guess is that your anger is 7 degrees separated from the assistant that is answering your call. By definition, assistants are in the profession of helping others. Be kind and I promise, we will help you find happiness!

7. Dear Executives: Please don't assume that we can't do your job.

You would be better off assuming that we don't want to be the executive rather than assuming that we can't be the executive. We are educated, we are driven and we dream big! We don't belong in a box where it is impossible to grow. We should have access to the same ladder that every Executive had to climb. Let us determine how high we want to go and support us the same that someone along the way supported you.

8. No, we do not like the taste of envelopes but we lick them anyway because everything else just wastes time!

#timeismoney

9. Multi-tasking may be our biggest strength

But last minute requests still throw us off our game. The role of an assistant is always changing and every day is incredibly unpredictable. It should come as no surprise to learn that Miss Predictability is our favorite office helper. She is welcome any time and if you can support her visit in any way, you will quickly become our favorite coworker. Very simply, we create deadlines so we can meet the deadlines that are expected of us. I should mention, assistants do not enjoy missing deadlines.

10. We have a thankless job but we still welcome recognition.

It may seem like a waste of time to thank us for the way we handled a phone call or to send a thank you card for a seamless meeting but it's well worth your effort. Recognition increases drive in all professions. Verbal recognition could be exactly what was needed to get through a hard week and a hand written thank you may be the exact motivation needed to complete a difficult project. Kindness speaks loudly!

We live in a world where ideas run wild like baby gazelles but every idea is not worthy of production. An assistant's role requires great planning and attention to detail. We thrive in environments where strategic thinking and thoughtful decisions are made. When haphazard planning and reactionary decisions are constant, we fail. Our success is heavily reliant on our environment.

The most successful leaders have one very important thing in common, AMAZING assistants!

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This guest post is part of a series tackling this topic. If you would like to read more, see below in "related posts" or click on Guest Bloggers in the categories to your right. If you would like to contribute to this series, email AuthenticallyAmy. We all have a story to tell.