4 tips for breaking in a new boss
Strike the right chord with a new boss by trying these tactics from other experienced administrative pros:
Year: 2011
Think like your CEO
That means looking for ways to save the company time and money, thinking of ways to boost office morale and finding opportunities to sincerely praise co-workers for jobs well done.
Grammar school rules
Which unforgettable writing lesson did you learn in school? Are there any you still use today? See if any of these ring a bell:
Speak up without losing your job
Stupidity isn’t what stops good teams from being successful. More often, what happens is that people see a problem but choose not to speak up about it because raising the issue could be taboo. How to speak the truth without losing your job:
Scheduling a meeting with multiple VIPs
When the meeting participants are mostly VIPs, scheduling can be a hairy process, says executive assistant Trisha Heil. Currently, she offers attendees a basic date-filled chart, so they can narrow down the choices to a mutually convenient time and date. But what do other admins do?
Not invited to the party
Question: “A woman in my department is retiring after 30 years. The department head is hosting a party for her at an outside facility. The guest list includes important clients, executives from other companies, department managers, and a few select colleagues. Our group has about 50 employees, and a lot of us were not invited. I find this to be rude and unprofessional. Am I being overly sensitive?” —Excluded
5 things co-workers don’t want to hear
Socializing at work is good for you, according to a jillion studies. What’s not so good: getting stuck in a conversation that seems to never end, about a colleague’s trip to the pet groomer or the adorable 10 things the co-worker’s child said yesterday. Avoid these topics:
Watch out for these 6 computer no-no’s
Have you ever caused a problem for your computer because you simply didn’t know better? “You’d be surprised how many people unknowingly damage their computers,” says Derek Meister, a Best Buy technician. Here are six no-no’s to avoid to keep your computer out of the repair shop:
Ban the phrase, ‘I don’t have time’
While that may be the truth, no one wants to hear about your backlog. Instead, rather than appearing to have no control over your time, it is better to pull out your appointment book and say, “Let me reserve a time to take care of that for you.” Or, “Let me look at my Outlook […]
Execs and admins: Bond that saves lives
The bond between a boss and assistant is far from ordinary. And feelings of devotion often run both ways. Consider these true life-saving stories of assistants and their executives: