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Nicola Salter knows all about the importance of teamwork. As HR Director with Williams Formula 1, she is responsible for recruitment in one of the most competitive industries (and sports) in the world – one where working together as a team is vital to success.
But this strong working culture doesn’t start and end at the racetrack – it’s a core value of the organisation. From the wide range of engineering disciplines, right through to the office professionals supporting the senior executives, collaboration and teamwork are among the top priorities at Williams.
We’re delighted that Nicola will be joining us at this year’s Today’s PA Conference on the 25th of August. As part of our expert PA Panel, she will be sharing her experience and insights into ‘What Business Leaders look for in their PAs’.
When we spoke to her recently, we discussed managers and PAs working together, the people dynamic, and why the PA role is the perfect springboard into business.
“The role of the PA is as crucial to someone in the police force – that is, someone supporting police officers and civilian staff – as it is in a private sector organisation. You’re looking for people who are extremely organised, with high levels of discretion and integrity, and someone who can enable busy executives to get the job done.”
“I don’t necessarily think a degree is a pre-requisite of being a super Personal or Executive Assistant. For me, it would depend on the individual’s previous experience. I’d look at where they’d worked, see if it was in a similar-sized organisation. But, ultimately, we are looking for people who have experience in supporting very busy executives. Most of our PAs at Williams work for more than one director – usually two – and in many cases, they are also supporting other managers within the director’s team. There is an element of being able to multi-task and juggle priorities so I would certainly look for somebody with that type of experience.
Essentially, it goes back to what I said about the police force. You still look for someone who is efficient, organised, discreet, able to multi-task, and, particularly in an organisation like this, someone who understands travel. Someone who can best assist the executives, and make them effective in their role.
The interviews are more telling. We’ve been recruiting for an EA just recently, and the stand-out candidates were those with experience of supporting more than one boss, and able to manage competing priorities.”
“I certainly don’t look for someone who’s good at making tea! But having said that, I look for somebody who would be a team player, and be happy to make tea for the team.
I offer to make tea for my team – they very rarely take me up on it, but I won’t take that personally!
Being a team player is so important in an organisation like this. We need genuine team players who are there to support the business.”
“Yes – and absolutely essential to the team.
The Operations Director and I share a PA. (Personally, I didn’t think I needed a Personal Assistant, although my PA would disagree!) Neither of us had had one before, but now we don’t quite know what we did without one. But it took us both a while to get used to it.
We’ve recently been looking for a PA for someone very senior at Williams, and we needed someone who would be comfortable with whatever level of support was required. We didn’t want someone coming in and dictating how things were going to be done.
When recruiting a PA for a manager, I look at the people dynamic. You know that typing skills and computer skills are a given. However, you need to take into account the manager’s experience and expectations. Some managers like their Assistants to look after their diary and keep close tabs on their emails. Others would rather deal with their own Inbox.
So it really does boil down to personal fit; how the person is going to fit with the manager or team they’ll be working with.”
“My PA, Amanda, works within the HR team, and is very involved in HR activities and operations. Both myself and the Operations Director are quite self-sufficient with email but where we really need help is diary management. When your day is just back-to-back, you need someone who considers the logistics, juggling or re-scheduling meetings if necessary. And making sure both of us have the correct files, and look like we know what we’re doing!
I guess it’s the collaborative approach. In a company like this, collaboration is key.”
I think being a PA is a really good career choice. To me, it’s a profession, and a highly-pivotal role for businesses and industries.
My PA isn’t just involved in HR and operations. She gets to deal with marketing, with communication, with the conference team, with Williams Advanced Engineering. She also has a working relationship with everyone. Being a PA is one of the best roles in the business in terms of getting to know lots of people.
I know that with digital transformation, there may be some concerns about career prospects, but I can’t foresee a time when a PA is replaced by any form of digital technology. You’re dealing with human beings, and human beings need support to be really effective in what they do.
Working as a PA a good way to get into business, and to understand every aspect of an organisation. For instance, many PAs go onto other careers, such as HR, marketing, travel or communication. If you want to be involved in a specific area, or even if you can’t decide on your perfect career, then a PA role can launch you in various directions. Then again, some people just love being brilliant PAs.
And we’re very fortunate at Williams – we have some exceptional PAs.”
Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us. We’re very much looking forward to seeing you at the Conference on our expert PA Panel.
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Nicola will be joining us at the Today’s PA Conference on 25th August, as a guest on our expert PA Panel, discussing ‘What Business Leaders look for in their PAs’.
