Communication for Executive Assistants

Your ability to communicate with your executive has a huge impact on how well you work together. I discuss your direct relationship with your executive in chapter 21, but first I want to share a few general communication tactics. Some of these might seem basic to you, and that's OK. I'm sharing them here because I'm shocked at how often I come across poor communication in the workplace.

WRITTEN

Avoid typos and poor formatting in your written communication. If you have to send a long email with a bunch of items, please spare us all from the extremely long paragraph with a bunch of hidden action items throughout. Use bullets, headers, bold formatting, and even color text if necessary.

Also, don't hit "Send" on an email until you've reread it at least once or twice. I've been in situations where employees didn't respect certain coworkers because of poor written communication skills. In this day and age of emails, don't let someone's first impression of you, your executive, or your company be tainted by a misspelled word or an email addressed to the wrong person.

VERBAL

As an introvert, I'm not a fan of phone calls. Most of the time, I prefer to email or text. However, over the years, I've had to get over my personal preference and become a professional phone-call maker and taker. When on the phone, be sure to enunciate, be kind to whomever you're on the line with, and remember to get the information you need so you don't have to call back.

Another note about verbal communication in the workplace: Project your voice in a clear and confident way so people can hear you—especially if you're on a conference call. There's nothing worse than sharing a profound insight, only to have someone respond, "I couldn't hear any of that. Could you repeat it, please?"

NONVERBAL

This section is a good reminder for me, as I forget about nonverbal communication far too often. When you're in meetings, don't sit slouched, with your eyes on the table and your hands crossed. When you're talking to coworkers in the break room, smile and look them in the eyes. When you're watching someone give a presentation, stay alert and show them you're interested.

KNOW YOUR STYLE

Bestselling author and leadership coach Mark Murphy says we fall into one of the following communication styles: Analytical, Intuitive, Functional, and Personal. You can take a free assessment on his website to help you determine which of the four communication styles you most frequently use. You can find a link to the assessment at leaderassistantbook.com/bonus.

Here's a quick summary of the four styles of communication:

• Analytical communicators like hard data, real numbers, and are suspicious of people who make decisions without data to back them up.
• Intuitive communicators like the big picture, avoid the details, and cut right to the chase.
• Functional communicators like processes, timelines, and step-by-step plans.
• Personal communicators value and use emotional language and connection to discover what people are really thinking.

My communication style is Analytical, but my executive's style is Intuitive. He appreciates data, but he doesn't want to get bogged down in the details. So when I communicate with him, I do my best to keep things at a high level, and I cut right to the chase.

The downside to my Analytical style is that I'm often accused of being emotionally dead inside. I'll share more about my emotional life in the next chapter, but it's helpful to acknowledge that my lack of emotion can hinder my ability to connect with people who have a Personal communication style.

Explore what your communication style is, and figure out your executive's style. This will allow you to better understand where they're coming from, which will help you be more empathetic and adapt your communication to them.

PRIORITY-RANK YOUR METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

Another communication tactic for you and your executive to employ is to priority-rank your methods of communication so you don't treat everything as urgent. Clarify your executive's expectations for communicating via text, email, instant messaging, or phone. For example, you can use emails for nonurgent matters and save phone calls for very urgent matters.

I've been doing this for a few years now, and it has been extremely helpful. If my executive calls me, I know to drop everything and answer the phone right away. We're on the same page about this. He knows not to call me unless it's time-sensitive, and I know if he's calling me, it must be time-sensitive.

Here is how we rank our methods of communication:

• Phone call: Drop everything and answer it. Phone calls are an option on the weekends in case of emergency.
• Text: Review it ASAP and reply within a couple of minutes. Text is an option on the weekends in case of emergency.
• Instant message (via Slack): Review it ASAP and reply within fifteen minutes. I'm offline on the weekends, so instant message is not a good option for my executive if he wants to get a hold of me.
• Email: Review it the same day, and make an informed decision on the timing of my reply. I'm not in my email on the weekends, so email is not a weekend communication option.

Feel free to tweak this system to whatever works best for you, of course, but whatever you do, get on the same page with your executive. This tactic of communication is a great segue to Pillar 3, which deals with relationships. After all, most relationship issues stem from a failure to communicate.