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Personal assistants are now trained in everything from IT to marketing, and the best play a key role in closing big deals with the boss.
Two things change little when it comes to secretaries: they are almost invariably women and they are very discreet. Oh, yes, and the most ambitious of them still put their boss ahead of the company. But the 21st century office has changed almost everything else about the way executive secretaries – now known as executive assistants and personal assistants – operate.
Technology has been a big driver, with computers and email cutting down the need for traditional typing skills. And a more complex and crowded business environment has forced many executives to delegate higher level work to PAs.
“The CEO and his executive or personal assistant have the closest and strongest working relationship of any two people in a company,” says Robyn Cartwright, the founder and CEO of Robyn Cartwright Personnel. Cartwright says that an EA, working to her potential, is entrusted by the CEO with a lot of confidential information. “When this level of trust and communication is established, her role will naturally expand and that will test her skills all ’round.”
The rate of change in this role is so great that Kathy Thomas, a lecturer at the Swinburne University of Technology School of Business and eCommerce, has convened Australia ’s first university diploma for EAs, the graduate certificate in business (executive administration).
Thomas recognised the lack of a formal qualification for personal assistants who possess executive skills. Two years ago she invited CEOs, administrators, recruitment agencies and members of the Institute of Professional Secretaries and Administrators to a steering committee. Last year Business Skills Victoria accredited the course.
Swinburne now teaches a range of elite skills to EAs: administration, management processes, information technology, communications, electronic culture, employee relations, project and asset management and marketing. There is no mention of how to make a perfect Earl Grey.
A Melbourne group, Janus Consulting, will host the first Executive Assistants International Round Table from November 14 to 17. The conference will feature international psychologists, communicators and project managers, and EAs from both the public and private sectors. Geraldine Wilson, the director of Janus, says what sets the best EAs apart is a desire to increase their effectiveness. “We’ve designed the conference to provide EAs with innovative practices in a changing global society,” she says.
Recognising this fact, lecturers at Swinburne have first-hand experience and are drawn from the workplace. Joanne Jenson, who is EA to Lindsay Fox, lectures on business administration, ethics, technology management, presentation skills and public speaking. “The EA is first and foremost part of the management team,” she says.
“You need to analyse the different personalities who balance that team. You become a quasi-psychologist. After the CEO, you deal with the chairman, chief financial officer, all board members and top-level managers from each business unit. There are diverse personalities in each role. You must read them and appreciate their differences. Your diplomacy skills must work in overdrive.”
Phyllis Macdonald, who is in her sixth year as EA to Coles Myer and AMP chairman Stan Wallis, says beyond the technical and administrative skills, there is a basic starting point: “mutual respect”.
CEOs are driving the changes to the role of EA. Most realise it’s wasteful for her to spend time standing at the photocopier or washing teacups. “Filing, typing, making tea, she should be empowered to delegate these jobs,” says Cartwright, “but willing to do them when necessary.”
Jenson says much more is expected of the EA. “Typically, she might be asked to look at cost savings on the travel account. She’ll investigate and analyse costs and present her finding to an executive team. She’s got to deal with nerves, the inevitable adrenaline rush.” The new emphasis on business ethics requires a deal of maturity and personal judgment. “What is certain is confidentiality at all times. You will come across information at the highest level and a slip could make you responsible for blowing a deal apart.”
Kate Whitney, at the recruitment firm Freeman Adams, says motivated EAs constantly refine their skills. She recruits to the fast-paced finance sector, where her clients include Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Bank. “Smart girls working in the finance sector will do a course at the Securities Institute to increase their understanding of the business they are working in,” she says.
“That heightens their ability to grasp the problems, turn troubleshooter and draw together the necessary response team. They might prepare a press release, which she will get out. She is a major decision-maker and the pressure calls for great organisational skills.”
Features, 2002
