While transparency is considered a critical part of an organisation, career pathways to career growth through promotions and compensation remain complex and challenging for women in business in general. For executive support professionals - executive, personal and administrative assistants - it can be doubly so. #BREAKTHEBIAS #IWD2022

We understand that there is no blueprint for charting a career in executive support. The tasks and responsibilities of executive and personal assistants vary from organisation to organisation, manager to manager. It may be why many professionals in administrative support roles feel that they may not be doing enough or wonder if what they're doing is what is expected. This uncertainty undermines self-belief when it is self-belief that we need the most to succeed.

Employers are more attuned to the challenges the new workplace present their workers. However, as competition continues to be a key driver for productivity and success, there is a solid case to be made. This case speaks to adopting a new perspective that sees healthy competition as an invaluable opportunity to bring out the best in executive support professionals.

The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime. That's a third of our life in the professional sphere! Doesn't it make sense then to ensure you are in love with your career so that your job doesn't feel like hard work, day in, day out?

As executive and personal assistants, kudos is not something that comes readily or regularly. In all fairness, the work of executive support professionals is often unseen because they're experts at working 'under the radar' and getting on with it. Although welcomed, recognition is not explicitly expected. This is the status quo for many in the field. How can we change it?

The problem with this status quo is that if others are not in the habit of acknowledging your achievements and neither are you, the results are even more damaging than you not achieving your goals.

If you're a bilingual executive or personal assistant, or executive support professional who speaks another language but rarely gets to use it, take note! You have an additional superpower that needs to be acknowledged and leveraged! Those language skills can bring certain advantages that help put a new slant to being "agile".

Every person in the workplace must have strong communication skills to engage in professional environments with effectiveness and efficiency. The better your command of language structure and nuanced communication strategies within your skill set, the more confidence you will have and the more persuasive and effective you can be.

C-suite executive support professionals can develop management skills, but what makes one a great leader?

Stakeholder management is a critical skill, but so is knowing what to draw from your diverse toolkit to improve your effectiveness in this area.

Fear has a way of convincing us that our options or choices are limited. Fear of rejection also prevents us from negotiating a better offer.

To be a successful business partner, optimising interpersonal agility to deliver the highest level of executive support is essential for executive assistants. It's your interpersonal attributes that form the foundation of your leadership style. There's never been a more appropriate time to start crystallising what this style looks like for you. Knowing where to start is key.

Chances are, your career development is not on your Manager's priority list. And while you know that your professional development can be very beneficial for your organisation, articulating the benefits is challenging. Communicating such benefits is where most professionals struggle and are met with rejection.

Here are 5 steps to get you on the right track.

What other jobs can executive assistants do? A defined career pathway for executive support professionals isn’t obvious and for ambitious administrative professionals, this awareness can be a little disconcerting. However, opportunities for career growth do exist.

As the needs of organisations change, so has the way executive and personal assistants work with their managers and teams to drive outcomes. What is the best type of executive support for today’s agile leadership?

For decades, executive and personal assistants have been fighting the good fight. They are slowly but surely taking steps to dislodge the profession from sticky stereotypes that have long overshadowed its true worth and value.

For admin professionals in executive support, having presence is essential to building credibility and engaging with authority.

With remote work now the norm, the flexible work dynamic that executive and personal assistants were dreaming of was unexpectedly made possible due to the pandemic. Suddenly, the idea that we could finally ‘balance’ work and life was loaded with promise because we were closer to our ‘life’ by working from home. But, the reality has been less than ideal.

Challenges are temporary—but developing a sense of purpose and gratitude is forever.

Why Coaching? Why Now? Why Ever?

The change needed to make the executive support role more visible, more accepted as a strategic advisor or business partner in name and scope seems daunting. But is it?