You are a calendar ninja, a task destroyer, and an email hero. You have taken a key role as an Executive Assistant to an Executive, and you are ready to roll! Unfortunately, you've found yourself underutilized and looking in from the outside on key tasks, calendar management, or email access. Your Executive hired you to take things off their plate, yet they aren’t letting things go. So here you are on the sidelines doing random tasks and feeling frustrated that your Executive is doing your job. Your Executive is their own Executive Assistant.
This is an all-too-common problem. Many Executives got to where they are by doing everything themselves…and doing it well. It may be scary to them to give up their calendar, emails, or those important strategic tasks. However, they hired you for a reason.
It's now your job to remind them of this and wrestle those items away from your executive. Don't sit there wishing they’d better understand how to use an EA. Tell them what you are capable of. Paint a picture for them of how their life would be better if they gave you these responsibilities. Tell them how’d you’d approach these tasks and the reasons why they’d never miss a critical email, get double booked, or have tasks fall through the cracks. Tell them that you are an absolute vault when it comes to confidential information. Share stories about how you’ve done this in the past, and if this is your first time, tell stories of your EA peers handling similar situations.
Every Executive wants to delegate these things. Some are just too scared, not sure if they should, or maybe don't even know that you want it! Step out there and ask for it. Tell them you’ve got it from here. Encourage your executive to give it a try. This may be the key to making both your jobs better and more fulfilling!
Emmre is executive assistant software created by an executive and assistant for executives and assistants. Emmre's mission is to help supercharge productivity and maximize the strategic partnership between executives and executive assistants.