As an administrative assistant, you are an extension of your executive. How you act, what you say and your attitude all has bearing on how people view and think about your executive. As such, maintaining professionalism is probably the most important part of being an administrative professional.
You must rise above office gossip, office politics and negativity to always maintain a high degree of professionalism in the office. This can include:
How you address other managers
Your tone in conversations
Your tone in emails
Your body language
Your eye contact
Listening politely and
Maintaining confidentiality at all times
You want to create a professional demeanor for yourself. Even during troubling times you want to be seen as capable and reliable, not stressed or short tempered.
When things change at the last minute it can be easy to become irritable and stressed. Instead, work on taking things in stride and going with the flow. Make the changes that need to be made and then move on to the next task. It’s important that you come across as calm and competent.
If you have an extremely busy executive this can be challenging. To maintain high professionalism in this situation it’s key to stay on top of things. Here are a few things to help you:
Make sure you know your executive’s agenda inside and out
Make sure that you are aware of the details of all related events
Be proactive, try to stay 10 steps ahead of your executive
Anticipate what may change, and what your executive may need or ask for
Watch and listen to everything around you, you never know when a little detail could come in handy
The ball is always in your court to maintain the highest level of professionalism. You have the tools, and the ability to always be professional and for others to see you as the calm, cool and go with the flow assistant that you are.
Comments