Teach Your Assistant to Read Your Mind
A great Assistant is invaluable to all business owners and executives. A productive and positive working relationship is built on trust and communication and takes time to develop. Taking adequate time to train your Assistant properly will eliminate mistakes and errors on their part and show them you are committed to their success. With commitment and time, soon, your Assistant will be reading your mind.
Communication is critical to working with an Assistant. Be clear and consistent with your requests and follow up often to avoid misunderstandings or assumptions.
Be clear with their responsibilities and your expectations, and be consistent with your requests and deadlines. If you want all the phone messages returned by the end of the day, check in at the end of each day about the remaining phone messages. If you require all outgoing emails to include a signature with contact information, do not send emails yourself without this information.
Make sure your priorities are understood. If you have a morning review session and discuss several tasks you would like to have completed by the end of the day, be clear to identify which are priorities and need to be done first. I once worked with an executive who prioritized work with this simple saying “If it generates money, do it first.” This meant invoices were processed and mailed out before bills were entered and checks printed, or before phone calls returned.
Don’t make assumptions about when and how tasks will be completed. If you want a list of phone numbers typed up to send to a client, specify if you want the list in a document or on a spreadsheet.
Don’t take things personally when mistakes are made, and they will be made. Your Assistant isn’t out to get you or bring down your business. With continued and clear communication, mistakes will be less frequent.
Following up is a great way to reinforce your requests. Check in regularly to ensure your requests were understood and your priorities and deadlines are met.
In addition to keeping your Assistant informed of what you need done, be sure you keep them in the loop as much as possible. Make sure your calendar is current. If a client requirement changes, be sure to share this information, as it may shift priorities for current and future tasks.
Following up when a task/project is complete is the perfect time to tell your Assistant how they’re doing. Let them know you appreciate the help they are providing and acknowledge when priorities are met and deadlines are met. An ongoing conversation about what your Assistant has done and would like to do will show you areas where you can start to increase their role within your business.
In addition to communication, grant your Assistant authority and accountability. Being given the authority to make decisions about items crossing their desk generates trust, builds confidence, and leads to your Assistant taking the initiative to get things done outside of their stated responsibilities.
Holding your Assistant accountable reinforces your expectations.
A great relationship with anyone takes time and Assistants can’t actually read your mind. However, with time, patience, and clear communication, they can learn to anticipate your requests, understand how to communicate with clients, and know which fires they can put out on their own. This frees up the time you need to increase your sales and revenues.
In my next post, I’ll discuss how empowering your Assistant will make them more productive.
