Assistant’s Path In Russia: A Guide For The Profession. A book for and about Personal Assistants

However, business never sleeps. And on a beautiful Saturday evening at 9:30pm you receive an SMS from your boss who needs to urgently return to Moscow on Sunday. He tells you to «do something, create whatever is needed, but get me back».

Shortly – like always, you feel that everything is burning or has already been lost. You can try to use a travel agency, but their weekend employees cannot always help you in an operative mode. And not every agency actually works on the weekend.

So, if you have access to copies of all the documents with you on your iPhone, you can do it by yourself and you’re told «well done» because you thought ahead what you might need if there was any such sudden emergency. And yes, the boss has returned, everybody is happy, all things are one.

PUNCTUALITY

I think that it makes no sense for me to point out to you that you cannot be late for meetings, or that you must come to the office before your boss. These are all obvious things.

But we are all sometimes late. With the current busy mega- cities, traffic jams affect everybody – from secretaries to Presidents.

For an assistant though it’s better to be late when the boss in the office than when he is, for example, away on a business trip. (Of course, it is better in principle not to be late at all.).

But if you can warn your manager, when you absolutely have to be late, make it seem that your delay is planned – and that it is a sign that you are not like everyone else, – you can afford to come into the office later, as you have everything already set up to run like clockwork.

Remember: the assistant is like a good watch, so keep tracking the clock run. So, when there are situations beyond your control where real life takes over, you can warn that you will be coming in later to the office.

But, if there are known traffic issues with the road or some other circumstances before you start at a new job, it’s easier to discuss this during interview, than every morning to dash in late and be considered to be acting rudely.

In general, though, a good assistant cannot be late at all. Yes, there are some standard deviations, like a plus or minus 10—15 minutes on a standard working day, but that really should be the maximum.

Just remember that arriving on time is showing respect to colleagues who have the same working day as you do.

CONFIDENTIALITY

This relates to documents which the assistant works with which are not for public knowledge. If in paper format, it’s better to store in a closed desk and have passwords on the computer desk-top and email.

Maybe you think that I write about obvious things. Well, maybe and I’m glad that they are obvious for you.

I could argue that if everyone understood what confidentiality is and actually adhered to it, we would not be forced to place protection monitors on laptop screens and press Ctrl+Alt+Del to lock the computer when going out for lunch.

When I worked in a Japanese company there was a strict rule to block the screen on your computer when you went out, and the managers checked this strictly.

There might be no situations in your life when someone can read what he or she should not. But if a single case should happen and you didn’t protect the information when you could have, then there would be trouble.

It’s just one small question «What if?» – ask yourself and

then block the screen. It’s simple.

ACUMEN

If you know that your manager is going to have a meeting in the office, think ahead – what might be needed for it? Will they need lunch and you should order food? Think for 2—3 steps.

Make plans in advance, so that you will not have to urgently order pizza, print out 10 copies of documents, and be sure at the same time that the office will not run out of tea or sugar, or the printer will be broken.

Use every opportunity to make your life easier.

In most cases your boss will forget to ask you to book table in the restaurant or set up the projector in conference room.

There is nothing worse than having to call your IT guys when partners or clients are already in the meeting room. At this late stage, your boss may think that they cannot rely on you.

Plus, you yourself will get annoyed to running around «in a lather» just because you didn’t think in advance.

Learn to do everything perfectly straight away and show your business acumen – it will save you from many problems.

STRESS RESISTANCE

Don’t panic! You cannot be protected from all problems and stressful situations will always be part of your daily work.

It’s important to react properly. My first advice would be: even though everybody is in a panic and don’t know what to do, keep a cool head.

If you cannot do this – my second advice is to breathe. Give yourself one minute to think about the problem. This will not add or take anything, but you will have chance to think about the sudden question or problem.

Also, always remember that you’re the face and voice of your manager: and it’s not the right thing to do, to run across the office shouting «Boss, everything is lost!».

You cannot afford to do this. Everybody around may be at the point of killing them-selves, but you must keep calm, even if every step you have taken has failed. It’s not the end of the world, is it?

In case it is, you will still not be able to change anything.

Seriously, if you are able to stop for a moment and think even in a stressful situation and stay calm, it will save your nerves and composure.

COMMUNICATION

A good assistant is a good communicator. The person with perfect communicational skills and ability to talk to people properly in any circumstances, regardless who stands before them – whether colleague, client, partner or guest.

Many assistants when their boss is out taking the role of deputy to answer some questions, or to write mail on their behalf. Also, some assistants are the bridge between their manager and colleagues, and proper communication is vital here.

On one occasion before a business trip, my boss needed to review the files which were to be presented. The preparation of these was the responsibility of our partners. They were late in delivering the work and promised to send the final version straight to us before the meeting, and told us that changes were small.

That wasn’t good enough, and I was forced to write an email to one of the partners with a request to send everything before the meeting. From one side I couldn’t push them, but on the other I needed the result.

The way an assistant walks during communication with people can be on a tightrope stretched on the height of several meters, and the only way to find balance is the ability to communicate properly.

Always think before you talk or write.

Take an example from politicians. They ALWAYS think about what they say.

In this case the article of Sharon Salzberg «Why is every important mail better to send to yourself first?» is very useful, to prevent a situation where you can regret having sent it. Sharon advises to wait several minutes and re-read the written text.

Of course, it’s not so easy. The research shows that self-control is not the skill which everyone of us has. If you want to be sure that you really need to send the message and it’s important one, send it to yourself first.

And then think – is it really what you want to send? It’s like answering the phone call, not straight away, but on the third ring.

Sharon wrote: «Even Gmail can send your message in seconds, in real life you have very less unsent buttons».

RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE

The only person worse than the assistant who doesn’t want to learn, is the doctor who doesn’t increase their qualifications.