Executive assistants and leadership attitude
With today's global business environment, workplaces are home to diverse talents from across town and country borders. Managers are dealing with greater complexity than ever before. The stakeholder networks they rely on are even more diverse, and relationship management is equally complex. For executive support, the question becomes, what skills do you need to be an executive assistant in this climate of change and diversity? The assistant skills are broad, so which ones from a job description do you leverage to demonstrate high-level attributes?
The new way of work is heavily dependent on the ability to communicate with exceptional clarity.
The focus of today's agile leadership is to develop and leverage strong stakeholder relationships. All business support employees, from administrative assistants to senior executive support staff, must adopt the same mindset. So, what skill sets do you draw on to successfully provide support in this dynamic?
The executive assistant role is one where interpersonal agility must be optimized to deliver the highest level of support. It's these attributes that form the foundation of your leadership style. There's never been a more appropriate time to start crystallizing what this style looks like for you.
What is good Leadership?
Leadership is an invaluable skill essential to guiding others and achieving success. It's a complex concept embodying the ability to inspire, motivate; direct collective efforts in pursuit of common goals. Leadership requires strong interpersonal skills and an analytical aptitude for effective decision-making under difficult circumstances. A great leader also taps into their intuition to make decisions that move both individuals and groups towards success. Ultimately, good leadership requires connecting people together through a shared vision of what can be achieved collectively.
Leadership Skills for Assistants
Being an effective leader requires mastering the art of navigating diverse stakeholder channels. Cultural competence is a skill that can help you succeed and take your career to new heights. It's about deliberately learning how to empathize with people from different backgrounds and understanding what makes them unique as individuals—their values, beliefs, and attitudes that go beyond national customs or borders without judgment or bias. Cultivating cultural competency brings awareness into our behaviours, so we make clearer choices in any given situation for successful outcomes.
Succeeding in a global environment requires more than just technical skills - effective management strategies, cultural agility, and the ability to build strong connections with colleagues and stakeholders worldwide are also essential leadership skills. These diverse stakeholder networks provide valuable insights to inform your decisions; understanding different stakeholders will help you forge meaningful relationships for lasting success. These important qualities allow Executive Assistants to foster open communication across diverse teams for maximum productivity.
Workplaces are and will continue to be only more diverse in the future. This is why supporting an emerging leader who influences internal stakeholders is equally essential.
As an extension of the executive you support, you can reduce the risks of miscommunication, bias, and resentment in the workplace. You can develop meaningful professional relationships based on respect and trust.
Cultural competence is a powerful global skill that is considered a must-have for professionals in the future of work. As executive support, there's a sense of urgency to make cultural competence part of your attributes. With training courses readily available on-demand, there's no excuse to avoid pursuing professional development in this area.
HOW TO ACQUIRE CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Cultural competence is a life-long skill. As such, it requires a commitment to ongoing education to enhance your awareness of self and others.
You can hone your competency by developing specific habits. Good listening skills and nimble communication skills that allow you to adapt your style accordingly are essential. A genuine interest in other people and a willingness to understand their perspectives underpin these habits. So too is the ability to challenge stereotypes and question your biases.
Developing a culturally open mindset requires 'intent'. The intent is to create meaningful professional relationships, and that starts with active listening.
Active listening enables you to hear the speaker's words and understand the emotions behind them: the content and the context.
With active listening, you will be able to understand different perspectives without bias. This understanding develops empathy and helps you look at a situation from the other person's point of view. It allows you to understand their position, enabling you to avoid misunderstandings and develop an appropriate response.
As with any other skill, mere absorption of facts is not enough to achieve cultural competence. Demonstrate your understanding in action, and align your words with your behaviour. Cultural competence is like a muscle that gets stronger the more you apply.
Defining your leadership style requires you to establish a high standard of soft skills. Begin with cultural competence. It is an accessible attribute that can be acquired with the right leadership training for executive assistants.
As a vital global skill, cultural competence is a leadership attitude that is essential to cultivate.
Take the initiative. There may even already be an in-house training program that your human resources department offers. If so, secure your place in the next available session. Or, skip straight to the best online course that addresses this essential learning need.