The Power of a Personal Assistant

If you are fortunate to have a good personal assistant I hope you realise how valuable they are.

A good P.A. will be your right-hand person. They will organise you and free up your time so you can focus on the important issues. They’ll keep everything running smoothly. They’ll also have good people skills and be able to communicate effectively with your clients and colleagues.

Unfortunately there are many P.A.'s in the work environment whose skills are undervalued and unappreciated.

I know of many small business owners who expect their P.A.’s to virtually run their whole business for them.

In many organisations the P.A. is totally forgotten when it comes to ongoing skills development. Often money is spent on sending key people to seminars and conferences, yet very little, if anything is invested into upskilling the P.A.’s. And the most important areas of all are in general life skills…communicating, dealing with people, attitude etc.

Jane’s Story
Jane works in the public service sector. She mentioned to me that the P.A.’s have organised their own yearly conference. They invite a guest speaker to attend so they can develop themselves even more.

This conference is supported by their managers. However they have no budget to run it.

It’s okay for the managers to attend their off-site conferences and seminars and have them fully funded by the powers to be. Yet the P.A.’s one and only conference is not funded. They have to contribute to it out of their own pockets!

What would happen if the managers had to pay for all the various conferences and seminars they attend?

What message does this organisation think they are sending to their P.A.’s?

No wonder staff turn-over is high. This organisation doesn’t value its core people.

Working Effectively With Your P.A.

qTrain your PA. Invest time and money into their personal and professional development.

qBe clear on the extent of the authority you are giving them.

qBe clear on what you expect from them.

qCommunicate with them daily – keep them in the loop.

qPraise and encourage them regularly

qShare your successes

The P.A’s Expectations
They want:

q A boss who communicates with them.

q A boss who understands that when they are given tasks to do, although they may have taken 2 minutes to discuss, could take the P.A. 2 days to complete.

qA boss who realises that the P.A. has to do many tasks as well as answering the entire phone calls. They often have many interruptions in their day, which can cause them to get very behind with their work.

qA boss who is appreciative of them and realises that the P.A. does have a life outside of work and needs to have time-out just like they do.

The Final Word
Although there are many people in the job market, finding a good P.A. can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

If you have found the right person, don’t take them for granted. Look after them and they will look after you.