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With thanks to our Sponsors

From ‘Personal Secretary’ to ‘PA’ then ‘Renaissance EA’ and beyond – a journey towards professionalism and strategic awareness. With thanks to our Sponsors. Jonathan McIlroy, Director, Executive Assistant Network. Overview. Understanding the EA role in an historical context

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With thanks to our Sponsors

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  1. From ‘Personal Secretary’ to ‘PA’ then ‘Renaissance EA’ and beyond – a journey towards professionalism and strategic awareness With thanks to our Sponsors Jonathan McIlroy, Director, Executive Assistant Network

  2. Overview • Understanding the EA role in an historical context • Your knowledge, skills and education – copying what your executives are learning • Understanding or even measuring your Strategic Value • Personality versus rationality • The EA Value Spectrum – tools to understand the EA / Executive relationship • Understanding the tools you have at your disposal – education and ….? • Developing a commitment to lifelong learning

  3. Understanding the EA Role in An Historical Context • The changing business and management theory landscape • The 80s, the 90s and the 2000s • The IT revolution • Theories of organisational structure • Corporate Governance & Environmentalism • Rationality & Accountability • Staff as assets rather than expenses • Individual value • EAN Survey Results, past conference outcomes and interviews with members

  4. Knowledge, skills and education – copying what your executives are studying • What are rational executives looking for in an assistant? • The basics – why it is essential you cover these off first • Keeping up with your executive – if you don’t understand where they are going you can’t assist them to the full

  5. Understanding, portraying and even measuring (?) your strategic value • How is your value understood in a rational business context • The truth – most organisations, and most executives within these, don't know how to measure your true value to the organisation

  6. Personality versus rationality • The notion of rationality – limited and not all pervading • The reality – many executives still ego driven and focussed on personality • Why portraying your value is totally subjective if your relationship is based on personality • Why even a conversation about value will change how you are perceived by your executive – removes objectivity from his or her appraisal

  7. Low Strategic Value High Level Exec Control Low Level EA Knowledge & Skills Medium Strategic Value Medium Level Exec Control Medium Level EA Knowledge & Skills High Strategic Value Low Level Exec Control High Level EA Knowledge & Skills Strategic Value Spectrum(remember – reality is a spectrum defined by a myriad of factors AND – there are no finite positions rather continual evolution)

  8. EA / Executive Development & Value Graph

  9. Understanding the tools you have at your disposal to advance your career • Focus on what you can control not what you can’t – don't waste time investing in a relationship that will never change • Focus on your own technical and business knowledge and skills • Focus on your own self awareness and set goals that you know will make you happy • Glass Ceilings Are Only For Those Who Believe In Them

  10. A commitment to lifelong learning • “I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” – Abraham Lincoln • “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.” – Henry Ford • “The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” – Mortimer Adler

  11. A commitment to lifelong learning “The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn.” – Henry Haskins 

  12. Conclusions • What rational, smart and savvy executive wouldn’t want an EA who can add measurable and understood value to their lives? • Aim to minimise the effect of personality and subjective assessment of your position by discussing value – NEVER be afraid to have a discussion about value irrespective of what you may hear • Embrace your lifelong journey along the value spectrum – remember this will ebb and flow depending on a myriad of factors

  13. Conclusions cont. • Control the things you can control • Develop a lifelong commitment to learning • REAL partnership • Encourage the discontinuation of the term personal assistant – it is unnecessarily subservient and automatically ascribes personal ownership to the executive

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