Management Skills That Matter

The lines between administrative staff and managers are blurry today. Experts and “managing admins” weigh in on the skills needed to maximize new opportunities.  

By Anya Martin  

OFFICEPRO magazine, April 2002  

The Administrative Leadership Team (ALT) at Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) was established in 1979, but in the last decade, the company has empowered its admins to use ALT and its sub-teams to harness and hone their own processes, says ALT Leader Diane McDurmon CPS, an engineering data specialist at TI’s Sherman, Texas, satellite plant.  

“We feel like we have a leadership role in the areas where we work because there is very little we don’t help with outside of the engineering part,” she says.  “As [the engineers] have become more computer-literate, we’ve moved away from the typing, shorthand, and Dicta-phone skills.”  

Admins aren’t CEOs, but today’s admins are acting more like managers, managing everything from the processes by which their own tasks are performed to complex projects that previously would have been tackled by executives.  

The biggest reason companies are moving their admins into more managerial roles is simple economics, says Julie Hixson, a director at Kforce Professional Staffing. Hixson places executive assistants in Fortune 1000 companies, as well as nonprofits and associations in the Washington , D.C. , area. “Would you rather have someone who answers phones and drafts correspondence or someone who does that plus helps you drive your business and acts as a business partner?” she now asks executives.  

Hixson offers the following eight key management skills that admins need in today’s fast-paced business environment:  

Leadership. As more admins are leading workplace teams and committees, as well as organizing meetings and conferences, employers are now requesting admins with previous supervisory experience.  “We’ve taken several job orders lately that request admins who want to partner, who have strong project management skills, and who want to guide and shape the business,” Hixson says. If not offered on the job, admins can pick up leadership skills through community organizations or the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), she adds.  Another way to learn leadership skills and show initiative is getting involved within the firm with an internal volunteer project, says Judy Hermann, executive assistant/office manager for the Emerald Heights Retirement Community in Redmond , Washington .  “Examples of volunteerism for the common good might involve being a member of an employee safety committee, planning a special event, or participating in a fund-raiser for a community benefit program sponsored by the company,” she says.  

A problem-solving, solutions-driven approach. Employers want admins who not only can define specific problems but also can offer viable solutions, which they’ve researched before coming to the table. Creativity is key, says Natacha Bryanton, a research coordinator with the Toronto office of Sobeys National Market Research, Canada ’s second-largest food distributor. “You need the ability to perceive the needs and opportunities within the position and develop alternative courses of action,” she explains. “In many situations, I’ve had to be resourceful for the simple fact that my boss is extremely busy with his own functions.”  

Project management. Admins should be able to manage a project from start to finish. Strong organizational skills have always been an asset for admins, but in project management, they become essential, says Linda Smith CAP, administration coordinator for Noble Drilling ( Canada ) Ltd. in St. John’s , Newfoundland . “Organize your staff, your projects, and your daily duties, and keep a running ‘to do’ list,” she adds. “Keep an individual file folder for each outstanding project, put all relevant information in that folder, communicate progress or delays to assigned employees, and ask for updates. Set time frames and stick to them. Whenever possible, select a task and follow it to conclusion. [Then] close the file.”  

Team building. This skill goes “hand-in-hand with leadership,” Hixson says. The core quality here is building consensus. At TI, the Communications Sub-Team plans an annual meeting for all administrative staff from the ground up, arranging facility space, planning the agenda and hiring speakers, and getting the word out, McDurmon says.  One major accomplishment by the Supplies and Forms Sub-Team saved TI $350,000 in office supplies and equipment by substituting generic supplies for brand names, and enlisted the firm’s full administrative staff in testing, she adds. Other sub-teams focus on training, systems, supplies and forms, and CPS/CAP certification, encouraging and helping admins achieve certification.  

Multi-tasking. Today’s admin needs to be able to switch gears at the drop of a hat and be prepared for change. While not a management skill per se, multi-tasking and flexibility are key to keeping up in today’s fast-paced work environment where execs are not looking for an old-fashioned admin who is comfortable with patterns.  “They also need a high tolerance for ambiguity. Just because we did something one way last week doesn’t mean that this is the way we’ll do it this week,” Hixson says.  

Communication/public speaking. Executives increasingly want their admins to be not only a right hand but an extension of their voice.  Executive assistants need to be able to engage in public speaking to both small and large audiences. Hand in hand with strong communication skills come good listening skills and public relations skills, says Linda Smith.  “Attending seminars, meetings, and networking functions, you must be cognizant of the fact that you are acting as an   ambassador of your company and act accordingly,” she adds. “Be knowledgeable about your company; be proud and supportive of it. Answer all questions with tact and diplomacy, always accentuating the positive.”  

Board interaction. Many executives are having their administrative assistants also work as staff assistants to boards of directors. Admins do much more than just plan the logistics of the meeting and invite board members; they may even develop the content and agenda for the meeting.  

Developing the Skills

Larger firms may offer training and professional development that goes beyond technical skills into the managerial arena, and admins should take advantage of these programs when available, Hixson says.  

At Ryan Companies US Inc. in Minneapolis , admins can get a taste of managerial tasks by volunteering for a year-long post as one of three administrative coordinators for Administrative Manager Cindy Gross. In addition to their regular duties, the coordinators work directly with Gross supervising a core group of staff as team leader, training admins, sitting in on job interviews, and helping her make key decisions.  “Once they’ve finished with their terms as administrative coordinators, not only can they see if they like that type of work, they also can take back what they’ve learned to their position,” she adds. “I’ve already seen some benefits. They understand the larger issues involved with company decisions and management.  It also helps them with people skills and exposes them to different people in the organization.”  Administrative staff at Ryan Companies also run their own internal committee on training and mentoring, selecting speakers and training programs that will help them pick up the skills they need, Gross adds.  

However, admins can develop managerial skills on their own, and most admins pick up these skills on the job, says Annette Dubrouillet, president and owner of Continuum and a consultant, speaker, and personal coach who works regularly with admins.  Her most important advice to today’s admin is to develop self-empowerment skills.  “They have to be responsible for their own professional development, their own mental health within the position, their own skills, and not rely on their organization or their boss to do that for them,” she says.  

According to Dubrouillet, today’s admins regularly use many of the management skills ascribed to middle- and upper-level management, but they often don’t recognize that they are using these skills or give themselves adequate credit.  “One of the strengths of the admin is wanting to be helpful and caring, and doing for other people, but that’s also an area of vulnerability because they begin to focus too much on what they do for other people,” she says. “It’s a Catch-22.  What makes them good at their job is also limiting their potential.”  

Indeed, Hermann suggests that admins should take the initiative of informing their boss—diplomatically, of course—of managerial achievements.  “No administrative assistant should assume that the boss knows or even understands the multitude of steps it takes to accomplish a given task or the difficulties overcome to create a success,” she says. “Come performance time, the boss of an office assistant should have a great deal of notes for reference in gauging performance over the course of a year.”  Admins can also benefit from experience gained by others through creating an educational pool among colleagues, exchanging e-mails, sticky notes, training manuals, and conversation, Herrmann adds. Another way to pick up managerial skills on one’s own is subscribing to business and professional magazines.  

Dubrouillet advises admins to write a eulogy for themselves—not to be morbid but to focus on what they would like to be remembered for accomplishing. Then they can step back and develop concrete action steps on how to get to that goal, whether through networking, via educational seminars or training, or finding a coach or mentor.  

“With the change toward the more management type of tasks for administrative professionals is a tremendous opportunity for increased job satisfaction, increased accomplishments, and, if they want, career progression,” Dubrouillet says.  

Resumes and Interviewing

Showing that one has mastered management skills is key to scoring higher-level administrative jobs in today’s competitive market, says Laura Smith, senior vice president of human resources and administration for Edelman Public Relations in Washington , D.C.   “Ten years ago, what we looked for was people who had very strong technical computer skills, who were fast typists, and who had knowledge of whatever particular software the company had,” she says. “Now I don’t care how fast a person can type.”  While the biggest part of her decision-making process when hiring admins focuses on the interview, the resume that gets an applicant in the door lists actual accomplishments as opposed to simply job duties or skills, Smith adds. “For an executive assistant, I would love to see on the resume that they developed a policy manual on office supplies or that they saved the company money.”  

Admins also should be prepared for the same type of behaviorally based interviews that once might have been reserved for management or executives. They should come armed with specific examples and figures, such as dollar amounts they saved for the company.  “One thing I might ask is how did you convince your boss to do something that you had researched?” she adds. “Can you describe the process? From that, I would learn how detail-oriented they are, how analytical they are, basically how they think.”  

What Smith does look for is admins who can show past examples of management skills and initiative rather than simply following orders. Other key elements are flexibility in the face of change and the ability to be a true multi-tasker who “doesn’t mind doing everything from soup to nuts,” she says.  “There are people now who don’t want to go to the copy machine and make copies or who don’t want to go into the conference room and clean up after a meeting,” she adds. “The ideal person will do all those things but doesn’t shy away from the challenge of writing a letter to a client or saying to the boss: ‘You know, we’re spending X amount of money for supplies. I’ve called and gotten several bids that will save the company money.’”  

Such an attitude, however, goes beyond the job interview to how one keeps and grows within an administrative position today, Smith says.  “The key is having that ability to view your job as ‘nothing is below me, nothing is above me; no task is too small, no challenge too large,’” she adds. “That sounds very simplistic, but if a person has that attitude, they will be successful. It really is much easier said than done.”  

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OfficePRO magazine is published eight times a year by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP).  For membership and/or subscription information, visit the IAAP Web site, www.iaap-hq.org or call 816.891.6600.

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