I've just come back off my hols. I was in Cyprus for two weeks and as expected, I've returned to a full inbox with emails clogging up my memory space. So thanks to Gareth Vorster, online news editor, for holding the fort in my absence.
Wouldn't it be fantastic though if we all had a dedicated PA on hand to take care of everything while we're away? I wouldn't then have to face the mammoth task of wading through and responding to e-mails, listening to voice messages and prioritising my workload for the next three days. However, if you're one of the lucky ones that is blessed with a PA, then listen up.
A savvy PA is the backbone of any office and can be instrumental to your business. Choosing the right PA for yourself and your team, can even break or make you. We have a team PA and she's the glue that binds everything together. We'd all be lost without her...So, how do you know you're onto a winning PA?...
Deborah Meredith, City PA:
"An excellent personal assistant is hard to define. Pop stars may be holding onto that all-important ‘X’ factor but the country’s best PAs have to come ready – packaged with factors ‘A’ (attitude) and ‘I’- (intelligence)...
This industry has always held my interest because it’s about so much more than typing and answering the phone. I love the daily problem-solving and opportunity to help a business run smoothly.
Over the years I have had the privilege of working with some incredibly inspiring, senior businessmen and women. I’ve learnt much from watching their differing styles of leadership as well as the behaviour of those around them.
Leaders who always got the most out of their staff would be the ones who could communicate and delegate well, before standing back to allow the assistant to get on with it. This process becomes progressively more effective for the leader and encouraging for the PA.
As for the PAs, well the most successful ones developed very sophisticated means of interrupting the boss or deciding what was the most appropriate travel, accommodation and speaking engagement he or she’d prefer at any one time.
They were sophisticated because they had taken the time to understand their boss, the business, the clients and the staff. As a result they would get the job done in the fastest time and would always get the best staff responses. They were the ones who were really empowered to succeed.
By empowered I mean these workers had a confidence and strength that combined their academic knowledge and industry skills with a high level of emotional and creative intelligence as well as a can-do attitude.
Good PAs understand the value of trading markets and business turnover as much as the office politics. The best ones are highly employable because they are successful business-savvy service providers.
The digital online climate we live in means that 21st century businesses need the same PA skills but they now need to be applied from a distance and with greater expected efficiency.
A growing number of senior PAs in the UK have realised the need to support standard setting within the industry as many newer PAs seem to be less qualified and motivated to succeed.
What should you look for in a PA:
• Education. A PA should always be ready to learn, not just academically and vocationally but also from those around them in the office.
• An excellent PA will also anticipate any worries you might have about the business by keeping in touch with your finance director, the sales director and thereby keep on top of industry news, making life easier for you.
• Trust. Just as it is good for criticisms to be shared discreetly it is just as important to be able to entrust your PA with confidential information.
• Builds relationships with others and makes a point of meeting with them occasionally for lunch to get a better picture of the organisation’s state of play. Your PA can be your eyes and ears but make sure that your PA knows the difference between confidences and gossip.
• Technology. PAs are constantly being challenged to take on the latest gadgets and gismos to increase their speed of response and so are best placed to apace with technology as it develops meaning they often take the initiative in knowing what purchases should be made in-house and can train you up.
• Surprise. All businesses go through change so PAs learn to expect the unexpected. Over time they learn to anticipate change from watching the news or listening to the staff, customers and suppliers. What’s more they can be the source of surprise as they anticipate and prepare for change before it happens."
Comments (4)
Posted by Lindsey Hawker | October 19, 2007 2:14 PM
As a PR/Marketing strategist I recognise the business benefits to my clients of an intelligent and communicative PA.
A good PA service is definitely the key to well-administrated and organised business leader- very few would argue with that.
However, the advantage of a virtual PA is the added lean-thinking value that enables HR departments to employ the services of one or a hundred PAs at any one time for as long as they need, without incurring agency fees and without having to pay for lunch breaks, sick days etc.
This form of remote assistance can help a business, an organisation or a local authority meander through growth spurts or change management challenges that are commonplace today and can also ensure digital technology use is maximised to encourage effective and efficient time/cost-management.
HR advisors would do well to encourage team leaders to consider such benefits and to take advantage of businesses like www.city-pa.co.uk to adopt a more flexible, profitable and productive approach to projects and change without the employment complexities of agency support or full time staff.
As an aside this form of service can also benefit the workers who can offer a more flexible home-based approach to their working lives to accommodate the needs of PAs who may also be mums.
Surely, happier workers can also make more effective practitioners.
Posted on October 19, 2007 14:14
Posted by Denis Campbell | October 19, 2007 8:31 PM
For me initially, the idea of hiring a PA was akin to the shoemaker hiring someone to make his own shoes. It felt very much much like snob-appeal "look at me I'm so self-important."
Today I am, so sorry to have so underestimated and undervalued the truly professional role these folks play and frankly we don't know what we'd do without ours. The money we spend saves us tenfold in terms of time and it became a question of how could we have been so stupid to do it all ourselves for so long...(?) because it was what we always did or thought we couldn't afford it. Well we now see we could not not afford to go without this vital service.
Part of it is that we both grew up in the world of Big 8 then 6 then 5 then 4 Accountancy firms and shared a secretary/PA amongst 5 or 6 directors which really meant the partner we reported to got his stuff taken care of and we did all of ours ourselves (the natural order of life in a big firm).
That self-sufficiency carried on into broader work as a growing change consultancy still working hard with our clients but needing help to keep our busy lives in balance when away.
Long live professional PA's!
Posted on October 19, 2007 20:31
Posted by Janet Walker | October 20, 2007 7:41 PM
For most of my working life I have been a PA (now a self-employed VA) except for the three years in which I was a Manager and Co-ordinator. I returned to PA work simply because it gave me considerably more satisfaction. Supporting someone efficiently and empathetically so that they were freed to do what they did best always resulted in winning partnerships where there was mutual respect, interdependence, and the ability to learn from one another - as well as great productivity.
My very first boss is now aged 88. He's just written the following testimonial for me:
"When you were a full-time 'visible' PA I found you invaluable in that role, freeing me from much that I could not encompass personally. Your photographic memory, your understanding of the 'ethos' of the matter in hand and, above all, your efficiency meant that I could safely leave you to look after my concerns when I was away on my many travels. Then, when you became 'virtual', I could - and did - leave safely with you the intricacies of handling electronic communications - which were and are mostly beyond my ability - in such a way that my correspondents felt they were still in touch with me direct."
Need I say more?!
Posted on October 20, 2007 19:41
Posted by Kate Bacon | October 23, 2007 12:15 PM
I coach and train asipring and exising VAs, as well as running my own successful VA business supporting executive and business coaches and trainers.
Prior to this I worked as a PA/executive assistant for 12+ years in the corporate sector.
The starting point for setting up a successful VA business is a solid background as a PA in the "real" rather than "virtual" world. The skills that today's PAs possess go way beyond the old fashioned view of the typing pool and unofficial tea-lady.
Today's PA has to be able to effectively manage her own time, her boss and all the other members of the team. She or he needs to be proactive, able to think on their feet, a negotiator, an excellent communicator as well as have second-to-none organisational skills.
PAs and their newer industry partners VAs are invaluable!
Kate
Posted on October 23, 2007 12:15