Assistant’s Path In Russia: A Guide For The Profession. A book for and about Personal Assistants. Christina A. Maslova
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Название: Assistant’s Path In Russia: A Guide For The Profession. A book for and about Personal Assistants

Автор: Christina A. Maslova

Издательство: Издательские решения

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isbn: 9785006257474

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СКАЧАТЬ job interview when I asked about the personality of the CEO in the context of other things, the HR Director told me that the CEO’s current assistant tried to warn colleagues when the manager was about to come into the office: which was reminiscent of the very famous movie «The Devil Wears Prada».

      Respect has nothing to do with servility.

      And the management style, in which the manager’s door is always open to everyone, is much more effective than the one in which, despite the open door, no one enters it.

      Main qualities of the perfect assistant

      ATTENTION

      Attention, attention and again attention. Especially in details. From «what kind of coffee your manager drinks» to «what time is better for board meeting». Of course, you will not find out everything straight away.

      And what is more important, you will not remember everything. So, at first is better to write down everything.

      Many people think that they have great memory. Yes, it might very well be, but this will not help you. Because at one moment the volume of what you should remember will go out of all possible limits and you will start to forget things.

      Your diary and your notebook should become your best friends and partners.

      Better to write down and then clarify if you didn’t understand something. Because there is a huge difference between clarification and repeat.

      If you manager finds out that you tritely forget what he has told you this will cause irritation and concern that you cannot work efficiently.

      Besides, top managers don’t have enough free time. And what they have, will not allow them to fight with your forgetfulness.

      My first mistake – which will stay in my memory forever – was when I had forgotten to order a taxi for my boss. My career just started, I was very reliant and thought that I could remember everything.

      Years have passed and now my table is full of color-coded notes with reminders. This doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with my memory, but, first there are a lot of very small details which you simply don’t need to keep in your head, especially when you can write them down.

      And second, there will be so many more of these small details that it is a simple fact that you’ll never be able to remember everything.

      So, the best thing is to resign yourself that you have a great brain, but not the supercomputer with terabyte of operational memory – and make notes!

      ACCURACY

      Mainly this is related to documents: letters, meeting minutes, presentations, etc.

      There is nothing worse than chaos in documents, so my main advice is to keep your documents in order, both on your desk and on your computer.

      This will help you to find any important information quickly, for example if you need to re-print a document, if the existing one cannot be used.

      Also – make backup files of all your documents.

      In your role you are likely to also deal with some of your manager’s personal documents, such as their passport and insurance documents (as a minimum).

      I have saved images on my iPhone of the most important part of such documents, so that I can have the access to them at any time and any place.

      I’ve also marked in filing folders to list what is where. There have been situations when this ordering system has helped me a lot.

      Take the following as a simple example: imagine you are out in country house. There is no Wi-Fi. So, you didn’t take your laptop with you – why would you, if there was no internet? This is a normal situation: we are all people and we need rest.

      However, business never sleeps. And on a beautiful Saturday evening at 9:30pm you receive an SMS from your boss who needs to urgently return to Moscow on Sunday. He tells you to «do something, create whatever is needed, but get me back».

      Shortly – like always, you feel that everything is burning or has already been lost. You can try to use a travel agency, but their weekend employees cannot always help you in an operative mode. And not every agency actually works on the weekend.

      So, if you have access to copies of all the documents with you on your iPhone, you can do it by yourself and you’re told «well done» because you thought ahead what you might need if there was any such sudden emergency. And yes, the boss has returned, everybody is happy, all things are one.

      PUNCTUALITY

      I think that it makes no sense for me to point out to you that you cannot be late for meetings, or that you must come to the office before your boss. These are all obvious things.

      But we are all sometimes late. With the current busy mega- cities, traffic jams affect everybody – from secretaries to Presidents.

      For an assistant though it’s better to be late when the boss in the office than when he is, for example, away on a business trip. (Of course, it is better in principle not to be late at all.).

      But if you can warn your manager, when you absolutely have to be late, make it seem that your delay is planned – and that it is a sign that you are not like everyone else, – you can afford to come into the office later, as you have everything already set up to run like clockwork.

      Remember: the assistant is like a good watch, so keep tracking the clock run. So, when there are situations beyond your control where real life takes over, you can warn that you will be coming in later to the office.

      But, if there are known traffic issues with the road or some other circumstances before you start at a new job, it’s easier to discuss this during interview, than every morning to dash in late and be considered to be acting rudely.

      In general, though, a good assistant cannot be late at all. Yes, there are some standard deviations, like a plus or minus 10—15 minutes on a standard working day, but that really should be the maximum.

      Just remember that arriving on time is showing respect to colleagues who have the same working day as you do.

      CONFIDENTIALITY

      This relates to documents which the assistant works with which are not for public knowledge. If in paper format, it’s better to store in a closed desk and have passwords on the computer desk-top and email.

      Maybe you think that I write about obvious things. Well, maybe and I’m glad that they are obvious for you.

      I could argue that if everyone understood what confidentiality is and actually adhered to it, we would not be forced to place protection monitors on laptop screens and press Ctrl+Alt+Del to lock the computer when going out for lunch.

      When I worked in a Japanese company there was a strict rule to block the screen on your computer when you went out, СКАЧАТЬ