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At this year’s Today’s PA Conference in August, we were delighted to be joined by a range of inspiring guest speakers and industry experts willing to take part in our PAnel. The panel discussions are always a great feature of the Conference and bring together a huge amount of talent and experience.
On our first panel of the day, we welcomed a recruitment expert and director of Tate Recruitment; the founder and director of the PA Club; Chaplain to the Bishop of Blackburn; a former policeman – now a mindset specialist; head of HR for an international reinsurance organisation; and the Assistant Manager at Lloyds Banking Group Legal Department (a PA in a former role).
We kicked off an exciting session by asking the panellists what they considered to be the top qualities for a Personal Assistant.
Reverend John Chitham, Chaplain to the Bishop of Blackburn, said that his top priorities were adaptability and a ‘can do’ attitude to the role. He said that in his own office with its small team of PAs, these qualities were vital to achieving a good team dynamic and a harmonious working environment.
Charmian Norman-Taylor, director and founder of the hugely successful PA Club, said that integrity and trustworthiness were important characteristics for all PAs, given the highly-sensitive and confidential information that they dealt with every day.
Alicia Morton, now Assistant Manager of Group Legal at Lloyds Banking Group, had worked as a PA for several years, so well understood what bosses needed from their PAs – and what PAs needed from their bosses! As a manager, she looked for an assistant who was proactive and a self-starter, someone who could spot what needed to be done and do it.
Sabrina Kruse (Head of HR for SCOR, one of the largest reinsurance groups in the world) said that was one of the skills of a great PA – spotting a problem (maybe one their manager wasn’t even aware of) and finding a solution. Within her organisation, managers are recruited on their technical or academic expertise, so they had a certain specific skillset. The role of their PAs is to ensure that the managers have the time and space to achieve their objectives and do what they are employed to do.
Charmian agreed, saying that a good PA should be able to create space for their boss, that is, creating space for their boss to do their work. This could mean dealing with interruptions and making sure your boss can work without distractions. It also means taking away some of their admin, giving them time to focus on what they need to do.
I also emphasised that the role of the PA is to help your manager do their job to the best of their ability. On a practical level, this could mean popping out to buy lunch or making endless cups of tea or coffee. It isn’t about being a “gofer”, but about doing what is necessary so your boss can work uninterrupted.
Charmian suggested that as well as understanding their manager’s role, PAs needed to understand the work of the organisation, and its place in the market. This doesn’t mean becoming an expert, but just being aware of company’s USP, the target market, and the main competitors. Learning more about the company and the industry can help PAs become more involved, putting forward ideas and helping to shape strategy.
Andy Workman talked about the role of PAs in the police force, and how they provided the continuity between the departments. In an organisation where senior staff can be relocated to different divisions with very little notice, Andy said that PAs were the vital link in the chain, ensuring new managers where quickly up to speed, and had all the information at their fingers tips from day one.
Picking up on the theme of the morning’s sessions, the panel also discussed how PAs can easily start to feel isolated at work, and the best to ways to combat this. Due to the nature of the role, PAs work with highly confidential information, and so therefore tend to stay out of many office conversations (not to mention office gossip and the ‘rumour mill’!) This can lead to stress and loneliness, both of which can escalate quickly, perhaps leading to illness and a lengthy spell off work. Everyone felt it important that PAs were able to network and speak to other PAs outside of their own organisation. Sabrina felt that the PA role was essentially a ‘people’ role, just as much as any front-line hospitality job. Each day there can be many difficult and stressful situations, and all the panel believed it essential for PAs to build up their own resilience, learn how to manage their stress levels, and to look after themselves first and foremost.
A question was asked about the image of the PA – both inside their own organisation and beyond. Around the room, several delegates said that they were labelled as “junior” or “admin”, and asked the panel how they should handle this.
Alicia said that it was important for all organisations to refer to people by their names – not just as “admin”. She thought that a good way to combat these unhelpful labels is to start contributing to office meetings whenever possible. For example, when taking minutes, try to contribute to a discussion. In that way, PAs can raise their profile and help senior management realise that office professionals have a voice and a worthwhile contribution to make.
My advice was not to try to control what others think. PAs need to do what they need to do, and others’ opinions are less important. The most important thing is how you, as a professional PA, feel about yourself.
There were questions about moving on in your career, and the types of roles that PAs and EAs could move into. Sabrina said there many roles out there which were suited to PAs and their skillset. Moving into HR was one option, being, again, a people-orientated role. But if you were passionate about a particular role, go ahead and look for the opportunity to explore it further.
Alicia agreed, saying that the key was to understand your skills, see what you’re good at, and what interests you. Don’t just go for an easy option, thinking there’s a better chance of securing that role. A sideways step may be the best way to go.
Asked about qualifications and training, David Clubb said that although further training may be needed to move on, it was important not to dismiss a role because you don’t have all the necessary qualifications. He suggested finding out about training programmes in the organisation, and if possible, try to spend time in different departments where there may be opportunities to add value on other projects in the company. You may need to change employer to move into that ideal role. If so, David’s advice was to try to find those organisations who understand the range of transferrable skills that PAs possess.
Sabrina recommended looking at the competencies which complement existing roles. There may be skills gaps in certain departments, and you may have the necessary skillset to complement and add value to that team. This in turn means that they can offer more to their clients.
Finally, the panel were asked for one last piece of advice. David said it was important for PAs to embrace change, as there will always be opportunities – but these may not be apparent at first! Alicia agreed, saying all organisations go through a major change at some point, and PAs should not immediately think of it as a negative thing but look for the opportunities that will arise. John said PAs have so much to contribute and can make enormous difference – both to their own role and to the work of their team – when they start becoming involved in the strategy of the organisation. Andy reiterated that PAs needed to look after themselves, not be last in line, and to set aside time for their own personal development – at work and outside of it. Charmian said that PAs and EAs should celebrate their own and their bosses’ successes, and to keep in mind that PAs can be the most amazing ambassadors for their employer. Sabrina reminded us that behind every great manager, there’s a fantastic assistant!
The range of industry sectors represented on the panel had given the discussion a more rounded feel. Delegates agreed that the topics covered had certainly provided food for thought, and had given them a glimpse of the qualities that business leaders looked for in today’s PAs.
PAul Pennant
Managing Director & Principal Trainer
Today’s PA
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7622 2400
Email: info@todayspa.co.uk
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