Executive Assistant Skills are Beyond Impressive
The executive assistant has a lot to contend with. They are an extension of the executive they support. Because of this, a lot depends on them. Some terms for a top tier executive assistant are ‘tenacious,’ ‘discreet,’ ‘calm under pressure,’ a ‘subtle leader.’ Being the best is not merely a matter of temperament. An EA must constantly stay on their toes and sharpen their executive assistant skills. Below are five templates to help even the most organized EA do more.
1. Executive Assistant Email Template
Executive assistants are guard the inbox. They translate emails into action items for their boss. In addition, they remind the executive to respond on time. But they need to manage their own emails as well. The Critical Email Template helps executive assistants manage both inboxes at once. The template distinguishes between “hidden task email” and emails that need a timely response. Instead of using flags, that don’t always work or keeping a running mental tally of the two inboxes, the executive assistant can document emails in a concrete way. Priority Matrix’s email integration creates items straight from the inbox. This way, populating critical email project is easy.
2. Central Project Template
The Central Project Template is inspired by the Eisenhower methodology and revamped for the EA. Quadrants one and two hold action items that the executive needs to do right away or plan. Quadrant three is for action items that someone else besides the executive or their assistant needs to take point on. Quadrant four is where the executive assistant can sort requests. The executive assistant can share the secret email address for this quadrant so that people in the organization bypass either email inbox for requests. Instead requests will pop up in this quadrant.
Executive Schedule Template
The Executive Schedule Template helps the EA track of all time commitments that their boss has. The four quadrants cover time blocked out, calls scheduled, meetings and events. The Priority Matrix Calendar Integration keeps the EA from doing double work. When they create an item in this project an event is created in the executive’s work calendar.
The Gantt chart view presents the time commitments in time line format.
And, with one click, items show up in the Calendar View.
Supporting Tasks Template
Of course, the secret to proving a professional’s executive assistant skills is all the little things that they do behind the scenes. The Supporting Tasks Template is a private project where the executive assistant tracks all the things that they need to do to help their executive accomplish their tasks and shine in their work. This project supports the executive assistant as they make the magic happen!
Executive Profile Template
Finally, it is well known that the incredible executive assistants seem to have perfect memories and mind reading abilities. The Executive Profile Template is their secret treasure trove of notes and resources. Notes like these make an executive assistant seem omniscient. Quadrant one holds random things to remember. In quadrant two, the executive assistant outlines preferences and requirements. Resources are in Quadrant three. Link and file integration makes getting to the right resource a snap. Finally, google alerts can create an item in Quadrant four every time the executive is mentioned. Once again, the secret email address feature comes in handy!
Conclusion
This role is not easy. However, innate executive assistant skills paired with these five templates go a long way towards EA perfection.