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The Organised Times Vol 9.15- July 2005
In this issue:
How to Attract and Keep a Personal Assistant
Hi!
Many managers will often say their personal assistant is invaluable to them yet they often treat them as if they're not.
Day after day, week after week the P.A. is in the office, slogging away making sure the work gets done. In many instances it is the P.A. that holds the business / department together.
Many of them are so conscientious they won't take time out and will stay at their desk until the work is done. Not only are they integral to the running of any business, their income and the way they are treated may not always reflect the importance of their role.
Jenny's Story
Jenny has worked for her current employer for the past three years and thoroughly enjoys her role as Personal Assistant to the General Manager. They have a great working relationship.
If she requires the occasional afternoon or morning off to deal with personal matters, all she has to do is ask. Her boss praises her regularly for her contribution and rewards her … sometimes monetarily and other times with a dinner out or movie tickets when they achieve their sales targets.
Because of this attitude with her employer, she does her utmost best in her work and never thinks twice about working overtime on the odd occasion. In fact she works twice as hard because she’s appreciated and has some flexibility in her working hours.
This is a totally different situation to Jenny's previous employer. Jenny had been working for another organisation where her boss was 'married to the job'. Although he had a wife and family, his behaviour didn't reflect this. He worked all hours of the day and night and couldn't understand why everyone else went home at 5.00 p.m.
Although she did her utmost best to organise him and get the work done on time, he would always ask for tasks to be done just when she was getting ready to leave for the day.
On the many occasions when she worked back or took work home so that her boss would have what he wanted for the next morning, he never thanked her. He just assumed that's what she should do. He never considered her needs. She was a single parent and therefore had major responsibilities. She had a life too. Her boss on the other hand was fortunate to have a wife who didn't work and took care of their personal life.
Prior to Jenny being in this role, there had been three other people who had worked in her position, and each one had lasted less than 3 months.
Jenny had enough, she left after 6 months and found her current position. It wasn't the money that was her main issue. It was the flexibility and appreciation. Although her boss was pleasant enough, he just didn't understand that there is more to working with someone than just paying their wages.
Learn How to Look After Your People
As soon as you have people to manage, the most important skill you need to learn is how to look after them.
Every client I have coached will often say their biggest challenge is the people that work for them.
There are many reasons for this including hiring the wrong people to begin with and the most common being the manager/boss… they haven’t developed the skills on being a masterful manager.
What the Boss Wants:
- Someone who can use their initiative, make decisions in their absence and carry out tasks without supervision.
- A person they can trust and take many of the basic administrative duties from them so the boss can spend his/her time on more important tasks.
- A person who can organise them (and in some cases be a mind-reader).
- An assistant who is their right-hand person and can keep everything running smoothly.
What the PA Wants:
- A boss who they can communicate with.
- 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 with all the interruptions they have from others.
- A boss who realises that the P.A. is a person who has to do many tasks as well as answering all the phone calls and often has many interruptions in their day which can cause them to get very behind with their work.
- A 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.
- To be recognised on a regular basis that they are important. They also need to be renumerated for their valuable contribution and should have regular performance appraisals and be offered incentives.
The Final Word
When employing a personal assistant make sure they are the right fit. If you're looking for someone who can be extremely flexible in their hours and can come in early and stay late, then make sure that person is in the right personal situation to do that. Using our invaluable tool How to Hire the Right People can save you time, money and stress before you go through the process.
Employing people is a skill in itself. Keeping them happy so that they will be an important part of your business is another story. See Look After Your People And They Will Look After You
Have a great week
Lorraine Pirihi
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Readers' Comments...
Your Questions Answered
“What is the most effective way to delegate work to my staff?"
- Make a list of tasks that you require doing.
- Decide who is/are the best person/people to handle these tasks.
(Do they have the capabilities of doing the work required?)
- Check if that person can handle the additional workload (Often tasks/projects are delegated to someone who is already overloaded… then again you’ll find your team will say they are ‘busy’ anyway. Remember, most people will tell you that and it doesn’t mean they are productive. You’ll have to decide on that one.)
- Ask them to do the work and set a realistic timeframe for completion.
- Make a note in your diary to follow up a couple of days prior to the deadline to ensure the work is completed on time.
As a boss, don’t be afraid to ask. After all you are the leader and if you don’t lead, no-one will follow.
If you have a question around getting organised in your business and your life, just email lorraine@office-organiser.com.au and insert into the subject line “Ask Lorraine”. Or, why not post something to our Blog?
Our Clients Say…
“Learning the skills of planning, organising and prioritising my working day has been extremely beneficial in running our business. I’ve also found motivation to look after my health.
By investing in myself, I have found the rewards to be far greater than I ever imagined. If you are considering getting coached, then I strongly recommend you do.” Keram Malkasiam, Lifetime Distributors (03) 9764 4714 |
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How to Have Less Mess, Less Stress
and More Success
Special Earlybird offer finishes 7th August
Is work consuming your life?
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Feel like you're in a pressure cooker and ready to explode?
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This session that I attended today was extremely thought provoking and inspiring not only about my professional lifestyle but also enforced the important of personal lifestyle and finding the right balance between both to achieve an improved ‘you’.
Fiona Beard, Team Leader City of Maribyrnong, Tel: (03) 9688 0387
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"This program is ideal for small business owners who need to take control of their life. Without doubt, each one of our franchisees ‘must’ make this a priority to take them to the next level in their business."
Andrew Cooper, Impress Promotions, Tel: (03) 9702 4566 |
Workshop 25th August 2005 9-1pm. Don't miss out - book now! Special early bird finishes 7th August.
The Buckingham International, Highett, Melbourne.
*This program can be run on-site for your organisation/association. For more details contact Lorraine directly on (03) 9532 5497 or
lorraine@office-organiser.com.au
Book Lorraine
Book Lorraine Pirihi, Australia's Top Productivity Coach to ensure your next event is an outstanding success. Call today on (03) 9532 5497 or email your enquiry to lorraine@office-organiser.com.au
Topics include:
- How to Achieve Your Goals and Stay on Track
- How to Have Less Mess, Less Stress and More Success
- How to Successfully Grow Your Business…And Have A Life Too!
- How to Survive and Thrive At Work
- How to Increase Your Productivity and Your Profits
Free Articles For Your Publications
Lorraine has many articles available for reprint in your publication, company newsletter or ezine, etc. These articles may be reproduced providing they are published in their entirety, including the author's bio and all links.
See : http://www.office-organiser.com.au/freearticles.html
- Do you want to work less and have more time for you?
- Do you want your people to be more effective and more productive?
- Do you seriously want to achieve your goals this year?
We show businesspeople how to have less mess, less stress and more success in their personal and business lives!
Lorraine Pirihi, principal of The Office Organiser is Australia's Personal Productivity Coach. She specialises in working with businesspeople showing them how to dramatically boost their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess in their lives and have more time for enjoying their life.
We specialise in:
Take action today! Contact Lorraine to discuss your specific needs on (03) 9532 5497 or email lorraine@office-organiser.com.au
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