Goals for Executive Assistants and Administrative Professionals

Speaker 2 · 0:03

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:14

The Leader Assistant Podcast is brought to you by Goody. If you send business gifts to employees, clients, or sales prospects, Goody is a game changer. You can send one gift or hundreds at a time without ever worrying about shipping details. With Goody, your gift recipients provide all their shipping info, and they can even swap out your gift for another option if they prefer. It's free to start gifting, and you can get a $20 credit when you sign up. Oh, and if you mention you heard about Goody from The Leader Assistant Podcast, Goody will add an extra $10 credit to your account. So go to leaderassistant.com/goody, that's G-O-O-D-Y, to start gifting today. Again, that's leaderassistant.com/goody. All right, on today's episode, I'm going to share an excerpt from my audio book, The Leader Assistant, Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant, and for today's audio book snippet, we're going to listen to Chapter 5, which is titled Goals. And this one was co-authored or primarily authored by my friend, Jillian Hufnagel. So I'm really excited to share this. Yeah, it's a great chapter. I know a lot of assistants are talking about performance reviews and OKRs and smart goals and all that fun stuff. So I thought it'd be a good time to share this chapter of the book. So I hope you enjoy it. Check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/152. And we'll talk to you soon. Chapter 15, Goals with Jillian Hufnagel. To be a leader as an assistant, you have to be really great at what you do and always support the goals and objectives of your leader and the organization where you work. Anna C. Executive Assistant in Toronto, Ontario. Goal setting during annual performance reviews can be intimidating. Will you set goals you can't reach? Will you set goals that are too easy and show your executive you're not ambitious enough? What if your stretch goals distract you from getting your job done? During my annual reviews, I used to stare into space and wish for the perfect goals to fall from the sky. They never did, by the way. Thankfully, I no longer hope for miracles during my reviews. Instead, I have tactics to come up with the right goals during my annual review, thanks to my friend, assistant advocate, and goal setting guru, Jillian Hufnagel. Jillian has supported executives in startup and established companies across SaaS, healthcare, education, and security for more than 17 years, so she has a unique and valuable vantage point on the topic of goal setting for assistants. Jillian graciously allowed me to share her tactics in the book, so get ready to take some notes if you want to become a goal setting and goal crushing leader assistant. Goal Setting for Leader Assistants by Jillian Hufnagel True leader assistants own their career development and know how to articulate their value to the organization. Here are three keys to doing this. 1. Set the right goals. 2. Speak about your work using values-based language. 3. Master your physical presence and mindset. 1. Set the right goals. For any employee, the right goals check these four boxes. They align with your organization's mission, vision and values. They map to the top-level strategic goals, objectives and key results or OKRs of your organization. They're a little scary. True growth happens through discomfort. Your goals should challenge you beyond your day-to-day cat herding and fire extinguishing. They pass the SMART test. Specific Is it well defined, clear and unambiguous? Measurable Do you have specific criteria to measure your progress toward accomplishing the goal? Achievable Can you attain this or is it impossible to achieve? Realistic Is it realistic and relevant to your role, scope and responsibilities? Time-based Did you clearly define the timeline to complete it? If your goals check off the four boxes above, you're on a path to success. But don't forget, you need buy-in from your executive. Speak about your work using values-based language It's critical to discuss your drafted goals with your executive to obtain buy-in on timelines, resources and budgets, and to gain their commitment to support you where needed. Live discussion is always best so you can collaborate on adjustments to your goals in a healthy way. Let's practice how to talk about your hugely valuable work as you execute on your goals and prepare for your next one-on-one or review cycle. As you are painfully aware, many of your managers and executives don't understand what you do all day, and they never will. Guess what? That's okay. They're not the assistant. That's your superpower. Let's look at a few ways you can articulate what it means to achieve your goals so you can own your career development. Keep the fine balance of being too vague versus too granular. Saying, I just get things done, or I always figure it out, is vague and devalues the impact you make. Worse, it can lessen people's perception of you. This is not how you own your career development. On the flip side, being too granular will likely get you some head nodding, maybe a few eye rolls, or even glazed over faces. Your leaders don't need to hear the 17 steps it took to book a multi-leg international trip. What they need to hear is the value you bring to the business in terms they will understand. An example of a goal and how to talk to your executive about it. Quarterly Goal Scenario Deepen my understanding of our company-wide initiative to increase overall customer satisfaction in our Asia-Pacific region so I can best deploy my executive's time toward this goal. How you talk to your executive about it. Sarah, your trip to Asia-Pacific is scheduled for March. Your detailed itineraries, visas, customer pre-reads, and trip postmortem are all in your calendar. Folder X also has all the documentation. You and I have time next week to review the itinerary in detail. As you know, better understanding our customer satisfaction program is an important personal growth goal for me this quarter. When you meet with the account managers to discuss each customer account for the trip, I intend to listen in on those. I will generate a list of any questions I have for you after the sessions to aid in my understanding of our program's success. I will also attend the trip postmortem so we can apply lessons learned to your next trip. This scenario details the high value you bring to your executive and company and reminds them you crushed every detail, like you always do. You're owning your goal execution, sharing progress, and driving your executive to support you each step of the way. Avoid the task versus outcome trap. Tasks are what you did. An example of discussing a task sounds like this. I organized the supply closet and secured a new break room vendor. Articulating the value of the task you accomplished sounds like this. I increased efficiency and saved the department money by organizing the supply closet and securing a new vendor for break room service. Hear the difference? Be prepared and specific. When in a one-on-one or review conversation, never ask, how am I doing? This question will likely lead to a generic response that's never specific nor actionable. You'll each walk away feeling as if you just attended a pointless meeting. Instead, be proactive. Arrive prepared with your list of goals and status to completion. You'll lead the conversation on roadblocks, delays and successes. Call out what you're learning, observing and how you're growing. Don't hide, sugarcoat or cover up the facts. Drive the conversation on gaps in execution due to the lack of budget, resources and time. Steer toward a solution by clearly stating what you'll need to get the goal back on track. Ask for specific support to get things unstuck. But all of this can't be achieved if you're unable to show up in a professional and thoughtful way. Let's take a quick peek at what it looks and feels like to be in a highly effective discussion about your goals and development. 3. Master your physical presence and mindset. The way you present yourself physically will help you feel confident and will invite respect from others. Sit tall, chin up, shoulders back, and arms open, even on phone calls. It might be awkward at first, but it works. Control your body language, tone, and pace. Write out what you're going to say and practice how you'll say it in front of a mirror or with a mentor. Say it a few times out loud to observe where you get stuck or tend to go off topic. If helpful, send your executive an email or document in advance outlining your goal progress. Ask them to review it and come ready to ask questions and share feedback. You'll also need to master your emotions. Get your brain away from the epinephrine, aka adrenaline, loop of fight, flight, or freeze. Right before meeting with your leader, practice mindfulness, say a positive mantra, or try a quick meditation. Force yourself to slow down and take a deep breath. Choose a room and seating arrangement that promotes face-to-face dialogue and open collaboration. Have a screen and whiteboard available if needed. Bring in a stress ball, fidget spinner, silly putty, or whatever you need to keep yourself even-keeled. Ensure you have your executives' full attention. Thank them for their support and dive right into your list of accomplishments. Be open to feedback and questions. Context and clarity can only enhance your ability to execute and drive toward the right goals and outcomes. Ultimately, it's your career, and you have to own it. You now have tactics to set the right goals, speak about your work using values-based language, and master your physical presence and mindset. Go forth, crush goals, and lead well. I trust Jillian's tips will be immensely helpful in your career. If you'd like to further explore the topic of goal setting, I've included links to Jillian's website, her LinkedIn account, and her free goal setting template at leaderassistantbook.com forward slash bonus. Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/152. Also, just another thank you to my sponsor, Goodie. You can check out their exclusive gifting platform to help you automate the gifting process at leaderassistant.com/goody.

Speaker 2 · 13:44

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