In recent months, I have had recurring conversations with people in business, education, and government about how important quality Administrative and Executive Professionals are to an organization. The conversations were mostly due to scenarios where a solid Administrative Professional would benefit the organization.
Business owners, school principals, directors and department heads are, understandably, considered the leaders of the organization. Don’t get me wrong, they are super important. They cast vision, set policy, provide direction and more. But their role is only half of the equation.
You must also have someone who is good at
executing the vision, the policies, the decisions.
That must be where the phrase Executive Assistant came from, right? They execute the plan. I feel like we’ve done a disservice over the last few decades by taking that role out of so many organizations and expecting one person to both cast and execute the vision. I know very few people who possess the skills to do both and the ones who are able to, don’t have the time and thus the organization suffers.
Full disclosure, I might be a bit biased to those who serve as an Administrative Professional. My mom was our church’s secretary for 30 years. I frequently heard people in the congregation make a comment like, “So-and-so is the pastor, but we know it’s your mom who runs the church.”
I encourage all of us to rethink how valuable those roles are, making sure that we have the position, that we have the right person in the position, that we’re compensating them for the value they provide, that we’re honoring them, recognizing them, and treating them with the respect that they deserve.
