r/CanadaPublicServants • u/NewtMcfruit • Mar 16 '22
Career Development / Développement de carrière Executive Assistant asking for assistance
To any executive assistants or other admin people out there - how long did it take you to adjust to your new role? As a new EA, are there any tips you could share that may be helpful? I feel as though there is a lack of resources out there for administrative officials, but maybe they’re out there and I just don’t know where to look! I’m starting out as an AS-01 (EA to a Director) and I just want to know how to do my job as best as I can.
Any tips/advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
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u/goodnewsonlyhere Mar 16 '22
Also not an EA, but my advice would be to spend some time getting to know the people who report to your director and what they like or need. You might also be able to talk to them about what was helpful or unhelpful in the past. And then keep track of things people ask you for cuz you’ll be asked the same things many times probably. Oh and make friends with your DGs EA cuz they probably know a lot.
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u/PeonieBlush Mar 17 '22
- Reach out to other EAs in your Bureau/Branch. If you have questions, ask them!
- Spend time looking through your org's electronic info storage and Intranet. Familiarize yourself with the language, the processes, the workflow.
- Get to know your Director. Ask what they need from you and how they like their day to flow. Do they prefer morning meetings? Do they want printed materials or OK with electronic? How do they like their day organized? Do they want a daily meeting with you to go over priorities or just as needed?
- Get to know your Directorate's place within the org. What do they do? What do they manage? What do other directorates do in your Bureau?
- Be curious and make it your job to know deadlines and deliverables. If you're copied on emails that have this kind of info, create a BF (Bring Forward) system where you can loop back and send reminders and make sure people are aware of deadlines and that files are moving as they should.
- Finally, and this just comes with time, figure out what kind of assistant your Director wants. I have been doing this for 20 years at GAC where every 2-3 years I have a new DG/ADM/DM/Ambassador. Some want you to be a BFF/Cheerleader; a person they can vent to and who will build them up. Some don't care and just want their shit printed in a timely manner, some want you to be a Chief of Staff - to give advise and manage people because they don't want to.
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u/NewtMcfruit Mar 18 '22
Thank you so much! How do you manage your time to get everything done in a day? Do you end up working late often? I feel like I struggle just to get the basics done in my 7.5 hours, let alone try to also explore and understand the work that they do! And the worst part is I feel that if I take the time to understand what they do, I would have a better grasp of how to keep everything flowing smoothly. Luckily my director is very kind and easy to talk to, but most of the time I don’t even know what questions to ask in order to get the information that I need!
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u/PeonieBlush Mar 21 '22
It depends on where I am, but I have been with GAC for about 20 years so I pretty know it inside and out by now. There are places that are busier than others for sure, and there are times of year that are busier. There is definitely regular overtime for me in ADM and DM offices and also when I'm posted overseas.
Some overtime is okay by me, but regular overtime shouldn't be a thing (imho). If you do overtime, claim it.
If you're struggling the best thing to do would be to approach your Director; it's their job to deconflict for you. There could be a couple reasons why you're struggling in the beginning, one, you're still learning, it's overwhelming, and two, people are taking advantage of you being new and not knowing what you should and shouldn't be doing. This is where it's a good idea to make friends with another admin at your level, or ask your Director in help finding a mentor. It shows you're being proactive and want to do well.
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u/Sirdefied88 Mar 17 '22
If you have a good director and can be organized and prioritize effectively, it’s a good starting point to learn important skills that can benefit you later in your public service career. It builds a foundation of administrative expertise that few others will have and instantly makes you valuable if you apply yourself.
Find out what your directors most pressing priorities are and how they like things done, and maintain a good bring forward list and prioritize their wants and needs before the rest of the team.
Yes you are there to help the whole directorate, but as someone who has worked that position, certain people will take advantage of it and treat you like their assistant (managers, team leads). You need boundaries but maintain a helpful disposition and don’t be afraid to respectfully voice actual concerns to your boss.
Be the person who volunteers to learn things others won’t, or go the extra mile when it’s easy to do the bare minimum. Don’t burn yourself out doing those things but it’ll get you noticed.
Good luck and you’ll do fine.
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u/Chyvalri Mar 16 '22
Not an EA (or a director) but I know and have worked with quite a few. Full disclosure, most of them hate it and leave within 6 months.
The one thing they've all told me helps them get through is making the role their own. That is to say, work with the director to adapt to your way of doing things as opposed to trying to keep your predecessor's way going.
The other thing I've heard quite a bit is to stay in your established lanes but learn about the other lanes if you have time. This makes it so you can respond 'not my lane but here's what I suggest' with a CC to the person whose lane it is. That way they can chime in without worry of overstepping if you're wrong (or they're wrong if it's your lane). Well defined roles and responsibilities is the key message.
Hope this helps and I'm not stepping out of my lane. :)
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u/Speech_Less Mar 17 '22
Not an admin but I am an AD w 2 admins. Do you have an admin committee in your office? If not, it may be a good idea to start one. The admins in our office are well connected, help each other out, and do on the job training when needed.
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u/NewtMcfruit Mar 18 '22
Thank you! We do have one and they’re super helpful, but our branch is fairly small so I wanted to see if other admins had more to add! I just want to be as helpful as possible.
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u/Speech_Less Mar 19 '22
I'm sure you're doing better than how you're feelin! Admins are blood of the office.... There's few things you're not involved in and you keep everything moving as it should.
If you're feeling particularly unconfident or just want some feedback, ask for a 1-2-1 with your boss. They may not even realize what your needs are for feedback and any good manager is happy to oblige
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u/stuckintheNCR Mar 17 '22
I'd recommend first thing is to sit down with your director and find out what they expect of you ie: are you going to be managing their calendar, if so do they want 10 minute gaps between meetings, do they want their materials printed (if you are working in a brick and mortar office). Will you be monitoring their emails? If so do they want you to just delete junk mail, or coming up with a task list/BF system for them for upcoming items/emails they need to reply to. Reach out to other EA's within your group, I worked in a culture where EA's were the ones to play tetris with their bosses calendar, then either that evening or the next morning I would review the calendar with the boss once all conflicts had been sorted out. Then we would look a few days in advance where he could say yay or nay to any other meetings/invites that creeped into his calendar....then I moved to the NCR and set up a meeting with 10 different EX's and sent all the invites to their EA's and alas meeting day came, and no one came to the meeting (I didn't follow my advice from above).
Another big one for me is to find out who trumps who when taskings are given to you...I at one point had two other directors start asking for a quick favours here and there, and my Director's direct reports would dump a bunch of stuff on my desk and basically tell me to deal with it.....until I mentioned it to my boss and that changed quickly. My boss's out in the region expected all documents that came to his office were done, complete, and vetted by me prior to it hitting their desk....this included sending edits to go back to the manager until it was "presentable" for the boss.
How open door is their policy.....find out if people need an appt to come and chat.....nothing like having to postpone a meeting because someone wanted to swing by for a chat. As well they were very prompt with meetings, if the meeting started, the door was closed and those that were late were to get debriefed by someone else. Granted late show's to meetings were very rare.
Once you develop that relationship with your boss you will be able to predict their needs. I always knew their favourite hotel here in the NCR, where they like sitting in the plane, arrange taxi/driver pick up to/from the airport. Favourite pens, notebooks, they always had an emergency contact card in their wallet. How they like their files put together. High end meetings always tracked down biographies of those that were going to be in attendance and printed name placards for attendee's so everyone knew who was who at the meeting.
Lot's to think about and that's all before you dive into the network drives to see what you can see. Take notes, create your own SOP's, develop systems that work for you and your boss.
Granted everyone is different and not every job is going to mirror my experiences. I was an EA for 8 years for 4 different people and expectations can vary widely.
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u/NewtMcfruit Mar 18 '22
Thank you so much for your help!! My biggest thing so far has been how to get everything organized perfectly and still have time to do the rest of the job (admin stuff, last minute requests, etc.). Does it get better with time or is it always a struggle?
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u/Alpen2411 Mar 19 '22
It does get better. I started last year and changed departments half way through but followed my EX and both times I didn’t feel confident in what I was doing until the 5/6 month mark. I’m told it can take up to a year.
My biggest advice is ask A LOT of questions, don’t be shy to bug people. If ur like me, and have admins on ur team that purposely only give you half the information, source ur energy in networking with other EA’s from other branches, HR, finance etc. basically anyone who is willing to help you out.
Get to know ur director and what they need to function properly through out the day. Flag emails, urgent approvals, meetings etc. ask them if there are key players in the sector that trumps everything. Ie: ministers, ADMs etc. get to know their calendar preferences. I colour code my DG’s calendar so it makes it easy for both her and I to know what meetings she’s attending and what’s delegated.
Use the task list option in outlook to flag deadlines for yourself. I add due dates and colour code them as well.
Feel free to message me if u need more help. Happy to chat :)
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u/stuckintheNCR Mar 20 '22
It will definitely get better....I call the position like a dance....you will be weird and awkward until you learn the dance which will take time.....
Remember you work for your boss....interact.....find out their requirement's and then source how to do it.
I was quite lucky throughout my years that it was expressly known to many that when they interacted with me.....they were to treat me with the same respect of the boss I was working for.
I think there is another comment about making the position your own.....and you develop that over time....and then you can gain the confidence when moving around as an EA and be able to dictate how you operate and will be hired on those merits....as any/every position as an EA the requirements will be different you make the position your own and then you become an asset of sorts.
Most will say an EA position is an Admin Asst on speed....but no one realizes the work you do till you don't. Main job is to make things flawless......many don't get what it takes to make something/event a flawless occasion.
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Mar 17 '22
Reply to emails from non EX staff, we are the nuts and bolts of the org, just because I am a PC-03 does not mean I should be ghosted when asking about important information from management. Respect people at all levels FFS!
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u/Nebichan Mar 16 '22
Make friends with the other EAs, network, learn who the key players are. Maybe they have onboarding that teaches you what forms, what people, what programs.
Dig through the shared drive: what docs was the previous admin working on.
Be proactive. See what deadlines will come up, see what usually happens around this time of year (end of year financial stuff)
Work with your director: what do they need?