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Vanessa Vallely will be a familiar name to most of you. As the founder of the highly-successful WeAreTheCity and an in-demand public speaker, she is passionate about helping PAs grow and develop their talents, through networking, making contacts in the industry, and building their own business connections.

Vanessa will be speaking at this year’s Today’s PA Conference in August in London, introducing us to ‘The Power of the Profile’. Today’s PA spoke to her about her upcoming talk, about why PAs should shout louder about their achievements, and about how she works with her own PA.

We started by discussing the PA role. As it’s often seen as a ‘behind the scenes’ role – with the manager centre stage – why does she feel it important for PAs to raise their personal profile?

“I think the PA role is a very fundamental part of ‘behind the scenes’!

I feel it’s vital for PAs to raise their own profile – because it reflects on their boss.  They are part of their boss’s brand.  It’s important for PAs and EAs step up and say, “we are an industry, we do support our bosses, we make companies go round”. They need to own their industry.

It can also help open doors to new opportunities. Why shouldn’t PAs have all the career opportunities that someone else in another supporting role would have, if they want to move into event management or PMO?  PAs need to raise their profile, build their network and connections, and demonstrate their capabilities.”

But it seems that the industry suffers from an image problem.  In the Today’s PA survey last year, we asked our PAs how they thought they were perceived by those outside the industry.  Many felt they still suffered from a sort of ‘tea and typing’ stereotype. 

“I’m quite surprised that there is still this perception, especially when there are so many organisations trying to break down that stereotype.

Perhaps the ‘tea and typing’ view is one held by an older generation, when there was that stereotypical typing pool image.  It’s referencing a different generation of PAs and EAs.  The role has evolved a lot since then.

To my mind, what PAs do is business management.  The role has changed massively over the last 10 years.  But none of my PAs have had a ‘tea and typing’ role.  They’ve always done a lot more than that: analysis of data, procurement, stakeholder management.

The Personal Assistant thing is so broad.  I know corporate PAs who do absolutely everything for their boss, such as book doctor’s appointments, collect dry cleaning, sort out holidays.  I’m exceptionally busy but there are certain things I still do for myself, that I would only ask my PA to do in exceptional circumstances.  I don’t think I’ve ever asked my PA to do anything I wasn’t prepared to do myself.”

What is your relationship with your own PA?  Do you see her as your strategic business partner?

“Yes, absolutely.  She adds value to my role by thinking ahead for me and making sure I’m prepared.  She’s not frightened to chase me down if I’m not getting back to her on things.  She keeps me in check, and reminds me when she thinks I’m doing too much.  Yes, my PA looks after me – but not in the ‘tea and typing’ sense.  I look for other things in her skill set.

For instance, as well as looking after me, there’s all the credit control, all my speaker bookings and our conference bookings, and liaising with clients. She’s a trusted individual – and you need that in a business partner.”

How do you work with your PA?

“We email each other a lot.  We don’t always get a chance to sit down and discuss things, but she’s not frightened to email me or catch me when I’m in the office and say, “we need to go through these bits and pieces”.  She manages my time as to what she needs in order to make herself effective.  My diary is a component part, and possibly the most difficult part of it because things move around all the time.  But she doesn’t manage my emails – I wouldn’t put that on her!”

Do you have any advice for managers on how to work effectively with their PAs?

“Treat them as a partner, trust them, and stretch them.  Give them a range of things to do and add variety to their role.

It’s down to the individual manager to continue to stretch their PA or EA, not just to give them the ‘tea and typing’ tasks.  Managers should look at their diaries and think, “what more could my PA do to make my life easier?

However, it’s also for PAs to step up and ask for that responsibility, to be thinking like their bosses, and saying, “I could take that away from you to make your life easier”.  It’s for them to push their own boundaries – because their bosses might not necessarily have thought about it!

For example, you might read something for your boss, and think, “what is the first thing my boss is going to ask?  And can I do that before she even asks for it?”  So when asked, “can you go and get this for me, please?”, you can say, “I thought you’d ask for that – and I’ve already done it.

I’ve had PAs in the past who’ve started to think like me!  Straight away, they knew what I was going to ask for.  But that comes over time, as you get to know each other and understand how you both work.

The big thing for me is thinking ahead.  That’s a prime part of the PA role.  I’m not always looking at my diary for two or three weeks’ time (although sometimes I do).  It’s that looking ahead, thinking about things before they happen, and starting to ask those questions.  My PA does a lot of that.

For me, the PA role is business management.  They make companies go round.  They are an industry within themselves.  But they need to own what they do – and shout about it.  Their boss may have many deliverables, and PAs contribute to that, they help make that happen, they are a part of their boss’s success.  It’s about owning those achievements.”

Vanessa, thank you for your time – and we look forward to hearing more about ‘The Power of the Profile’ at our conference in a couple of months’ time.

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Vanessa will be speaking at the Today’s PA Conference on 25th August in Central London, and will also be joining our Expert PA Panel, discussing the topic ‘What Business Leaders Look for in their PAs’.

Vanessa Vallely is the founder of leading women’s network, job board and website, WeAreTheCity and WeAreTheCity Jobs which serves an audience of over 200,000 women each month in the UK and India. She also co-founded the UK wide diversity network, The Network of Networks (TNON) which includes the heads of women’s networks from 125 FTSE firms. The TNON also has chapters that serve both the LGBT & BAME community.

Vanessa has had an extensive 25 year career in Banking and Finance. She also sits on the board of CR-UK Women of Influence and has won various recognition awards such as Women’s champion for Women in Banking & Finance, TIAW’s Top 100 global women, Financial News Top 100, Top 30 Inspiring Women, Top 100 most connected women in the UK by GQ magazine & Evening Standards Progress 1000 of influential Londoners.