Rebecca Afful - Program Assistant at the European Union in Ghana

Rebecca · 0:00

Hi, I'm Rebecca Afful, and today's leadership quote is from John Quincy Adams. If your actions inspire others to dream more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. You are a leader.

Speaker 3 · 0:19

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

Jeremy · 0:36

Are you a strategic senior executive assistant thinking about what's next? Whether you're ready for a promotion or loving the job you're in, NOVA Chief of Staff's certification course may be just the resource you're hungry for. With over 400 students across 20 countries and rave reviews, students graduate from NOVA's hands-on, self-paced online course with the confidence, knowledge and power to make the move to Chief of Staff for their executive. But don't take my word for it. Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to find countless testimonials, the course syllabus and lots of free resources to support you in your career journey. Hey friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It's your host Jeremy Burrows and this is episode 279. You can check out the show notes for this episode at leaderassistant.com/279. leaderassistant.com/279. Today, I'm speaking with Rebecca Afful. Rebecca is an Administrative Professional with over a decade of experience, and we're really excited to be talking to you, Rebecca, today. First of all though, tell us what part of the world you are in.

Rebecca · 1:54

Okay, so I'm joining you from Accra, Ghana. West Africa, yes.

Jeremy · 2:04

So, what time, I got to ask what time of, is it in the middle of the night? Is it early morning? What is it? It's in, I'm in Kansas City, and it's six o'clock in the evening here.

Rebecca · 2:14

Okay. So, here is 11 p.m. Okay.

Jeremy · 2:18

So, a little late, but not too crazy, I guess, if you're a late night person.

Rebecca · 2:23

Exactly. Awesome.

Jeremy · 2:26

Well, yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself personally. What do you like to do when you're not working?

Rebecca · 2:32

When I'm not working, I enjoy reading. I also enjoy watching movies and listening to podcasts.

Jeremy · 2:44

Nice, nice. What's a good podcast that you like listening to?

Rebecca · 2:51

Obviously, I enjoy listening to The Leader Assistant Podcast and other podcasts on business, on career, on finance, yes.

Jeremy · 3:03

And then how long have you been an assistant?

Rebecca · 3:08

I would say close to 15 years now, yes, close to 15 years now. But I will say I have not always had that title. As an assistant, I had played different roles, but they are all similar in nature, and I'll put them under the assistant role. Okay.

Jeremy · 3:33

Yeah, like what other titles did you have?

Rebecca · 3:35

So I've had a title like retail support agent when I was working at the bank, and executive officer, program officer, program assistant, team leader, team assistant, sorry, and then current team program assistant. Cool.

Jeremy · 3:56

What got you into the administrative profession originally? So what was it that got you into that career? Did you want to get into it? Did you fall into it?

Rebecca · 4:13

I'll say I fell into it. It was not something planned. Originally, I had the desire to work in the banking industry, but I started off my career as a customer support agent with an airline handling company. So I was working at the airports, checking in passengers, printing boarding pass, tagging bags, and then from that role I moved to the banking system, sector as the retail support staff. I was basically supporting the sales manager in managing a team of sales personnel. So I believe that's how it started. And then from there, I also joined a nonprofit organization as a programmer assistant. So I'll say basically, it wasn't something that I planned, but I guess I'm happy to find myself in a role.

Jeremy · 5:15

Yeah. What's your favorite part about the role of an assistant?

Rebecca · 5:22

There are a lot of favorite parts to the role, but what I enjoy most is being able to support my executive achievements goals and the fact that I get to work closely with my executive and then the team.

Jeremy · 5:40

Yeah. And what's maybe one of your least favorite parts?

Rebecca · 5:48

Well, it's not all the aspects of my role that I enjoy. There are some that I enjoy, some that I don't enjoy very much. One of them would be sitting at a meeting and being expected to put a minute together when I want to participate in the meeting, enjoy the meeting. But I have to be focused on getting the minute done. So and then you sometimes you are in the meeting, you take the minutes and you are hoping that after the meeting is over, you are done. But then you have to now come and sit in the office and try to put your minute together and then share it with the rest of the team. So yeah, yeah, that's I just I just want to enjoy the meeting and be focused on putting the minute together.

Jeremy · 6:37

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm the same way. I'm like, I like to just go and engage in conversation and listening and whatever and not have to be like, oh, did I write that down? Oh, did I write that down?

Rebecca · 6:50

Certainly. Awesome.

Jeremy · 6:52

Well, how have you created opportunities for yourself throughout your career?

Rebecca · 7:00

Throughout my career, I have gotten the opportunity, if I should put it that way, to create opportunities for myself, because for most of us, especially assistants, we we tend to wait for opportunities to come our way, we tend to wait for somebody to recognize us, to somebody to say, to tell us we are doing a good job. And when we don't tend to get those kind of feedback, we feel like we are not being appreciated, and our work is not being recognized. But I have learned to create opportunity for myself in situations where I feel I need to be recognized for the effort that I'm making. I make my executive and my team aware. I remember there was one, there was a time where I saw this, if I should say advert, you know, trying to get a nomination for, to reward assistants. It was even outside my country, somewhere in Australia. But I told myself, if my organization is not going to reward me or acknowledge the work that I'm doing, why not put myself out there, nominate myself to see if I can win this award? And I did exactly that. I didn't even win the award, but I was part of the, I believe, the final six. And for me, that was an opportunity I created for myself. Yes. And then there are times when we are advocating, you know, for us to be trained, and the training doesn't seem to come our way, either because the organization doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that we need to be trained, or because of budget constraints and situations like that. I don't mind putting or saving money to actually jump on the training that I want to take. And I remember there was a time when I decided to put my money together, save, to be able to join a training program that was outside Ghana. And I fully sponsored myself. I had to buy my own plane ticket to pay for the training. And for me, that is what I can do to make myself better, to be able to perform well on my job. So if that opportunity is not coming my way, nothing stops me from creating that opportunity for myself.

Jeremy · 9:48

Wow, that's great. Yeah, I mean, it's like the professional development side, you know, not unfortunately, not all organizations and companies will pay for you to go to a conference in a different place. So that's great of you for owning your own development and making those sacrifices to invest in yourself. So that's awesome. What about the, you know, that's creating opportunities, but it's also kind of stepping out of your comfort zone to go to an event at a different, you know, country or whatever. And how do you give yourself the confidence and the push to step out of your comfort zone?

Rebecca · 10:41

So it's all is the same as, you know, creating the opportunities for yourself. If you are in your comfort zone, opportunities are not going to come your way. You need to step out of your comfort zone. And if you want to create an opportunity for yourself, definitely you may have to do things that you may ordinarily not do. And that means stepping out of, you know, your comfort zone. So when I desire to achieve something, I know that if I stay in my comfort zone or do the things that I'm used to, there is no way I'll be able to achieve whatever I desire to achieve. So I have to make that effort to step out of my comfort zone, even when it's not comfortable. Of course, stepping out of your comfort zone means that you are going to be uncomfortable. So that is what drives me. That's what pushes me. That whatever I want is actually outside my comfort zone. So I need to step. Out.

Jeremy · 11:48

What about LinkedIn? I'm looking at your LinkedIn profile. We connected on LinkedIn. Yes. You've done a great job there. You've even grown your LinkedIn connections, I think, to over 10,000 or so. Yes. What are your tips for those listening who, as far as networking and engaging with the community of assistants all around the world?

Rebecca · 12:18

I joined LinkedIn, I would say, four years ago. But when I joined, I actually didn't know the use of the platform until sometime in my career where I realized I wasn't growing. And when I started stepping out of my comfort zone, I realized one of the things that I needed to do to better myself was also to grow my personal brand. And by researching and also listening to other people, I realized that LinkedIn is a great platform to promote your personal brand. So I decided to be deliberate about it and also try to see if there's a way I can connect with my peers in the industry. So that was one of the main reasons why I decided to make myself visible on the platform by connecting with my peers and then following thought leaders in my industry so that I can learn from them. And just to get the opportunity to learn from my peers basically so that I can become a better version of myself. So, if you are on LinkedIn and you are not taking advantage of it, I will encourage you to do so if I wasn't visible, if I wasn't connecting with people, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to have this interview with Jeremy. I think it's a great platform and we all should take advantage of it.

Jeremy · 13:51

Yeah, what maybe you're like, what do you do day in and day out for LinkedIn? So like, do you have a schedule? Do you have a plan? Do you just kind of log on and share your thoughts randomly? You know, like, what's your system for how have you grown your networks so much? Is it just staying consistent? Like, I'd just love to hear some tips.

Rebecca · 14:13

Okay, so I just make a deliberative effort to at least post once a week. Yes, so at least once a week, sometimes I go, I do three posts a week and then I try to also engage with the content of others, especially in my industry and then those people I look up to as mentors and then also try to connect with my peers, no matter where they are all over the world globally. So I have connected with people who are not even in my country, outside my country, all over the world. In fact, I can't begin to name the countries. So it's something that I do deliberately. I don't spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, but I make an effort that at least each week I share my thoughts on the platform. I try to engage with other content on the platform and also see if I can connect with people who are in my industry or who are thought leaders I want to learn from.

Jeremy · 15:19

That's amazing. Yeah, it's such a powerful tool and it really, you know, like how you said, you don't really spend a ton of time on it. You know, you don't really have to spend a ton of time on it if you're intentional and consistent.

Rebecca · 15:32

Yes, exactly.

Jeremy · 15:35

That's great. What about challenges that you've faced in your career? And, you know, how you've overcome them.

Speaker 2 · 15:53

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Rebecca · 16:31

Okay, so as assistants, you know, day in, day out, where challenges come our way. And one of the things that I do when I face challenges is just to recognize that life is not always smooth. You know, there are ups and downs, and then when the downs come, you just have to find a way of navigating, you know, that situation, so that you can learn the lessons that you need to learn from that situation, and then see how you can prevent those challenges from happening in the future, and how you can even mitigate those situations from happening again. And I've also learned that challenges help us to grow, you know. If you don't face challenges, you'll never grow, because there are lessons in those challenges that you need to learn from. An example will be if I have an error, I make a mistake on the job, and I have to go now for it, I do. And then I learned the lessons that I need to learn from, and then find ways of preventing that from happening, and then just move on.

Jeremy · 18:00

You said, own it? Is that how you said it?

Rebecca · 18:05

Yeah.

Jeremy · 18:05

Own the mistake.

Rebecca · 18:06

Yes. Yeah.

Jeremy · 18:07

That's a big step one, right?

Rebecca · 18:09

Yes, it is. It's always not easy, but I mean, you own it, and once you own it, you then find ways of making the situation better. I think that also builds trust, especially with your executive and then your team, if you own that mistake.

Jeremy · 18:32

Yeah. Awesome. Well, is there anything else that you'd like to talk about? Maybe tips for fostering a strategic partnership with your executives, or your colleagues, or anything you'd like to talk about?

Rebecca · 18:55

So I think I'll want to talk about trying to foster a relationship with your peers in the industry. As an assistant, sometimes you find yourself isolated, you find yourself, you know... I remember there was a time in my career where I was the only assistant in my organization. And when it's like that, it's a bit challenging, because when you have issues, you don't even know who can understand you for you to go for help or ask for help. And if you are an assistant and you find yourself in a situation like that, my advice to you is to try to reach out to your peers in the industry. If there's an association, there's a network that you can join, do that, because there's so much that you will learn, there's so much support that you get from a community or a group like that. If not, when you find yourself in a situation where you don't know where to ask for help, you find yourself wanting. So it's always good to be open and try to connect with your peers and not necessarily connecting, finding how you can be of support to the community that you find yourself in. It's very, very important for you to join some sort of group, some sort of network, just to get the support that you need in your role, because our role can be very challenging.

Jeremy · 20:39

Yeah, and I like how you said, not just connecting, but figuring out how to help others, not just asking for things or draining your network, but actually filling and serving your network.

Rebecca · 20:54

Exactly. And then where you are not able to find any association or network like that, you can reach out to other assistants that you know, and then try to form something on your own. And that is one thing that I do that is really helping me in my career. At a point in my career, I yearn for that kind of community, be in a network, in an association. And when I couldn't find something like that locally in my country, I just brought together a few assistants. And then we started the Network of Administrative Professionals of Ghana. And now we are growing. We have more people joining. It's not only serving me, it's also serving the members or the people who are part of this community.

Jeremy · 21:43

That's great. So you founded the Administrative Professionals Network of Ghana?

Rebecca · 21:48

Yes, I did.

Jeremy · 21:50

So what's, yeah, what's the, maybe what's your favorite part of doing that and running that and founding that?

Rebecca · 22:02

So it's the community has actually given me the opportunity to get to know people I will not ordinarily have known. You know, and then the fact that we are able to meet and network and learn from each other, you know, that having that kind of support when somebody needs help is something that I find very rewarding, very rewarding, because there are times where you actually need to call on somebody for support, for help. Maybe there's something on your table that you are trying to figure out, but you are not getting the answers that you need. And you just reach out to somebody in the network. And I mean, the person is ready to help you with whatever information or ideas you are looking for.

Jeremy · 22:57

That's great. Thank you so much for sharing. What's maybe if you could share one message or, you know, talk about the billboard on the side of the road that, you know, like an advertisement on the side of the road that says one thing for the assistance of the world, what would your message be to the assistance of the world?

Rebecca · 23:20

I would say assistants are great. The job that we do is remarkable and we need to believe in ourselves and believe that we are doing a great job. We shouldn't look down on ourselves and think that we are not contributing much. We are actually doing so much and so if it's not being recognized, if it's not being seen, we need to make ourselves visible. We need to recognize and appreciate what we do and the contributions that we make in our respective organizations. So yeah, I would say assistants are great.

Jeremy · 24:05

Well said. Thank you for sharing and again, thanks for being on the show. I know it's late in Ghana right now and appreciate you being flexible and taking time out of your day and thank you for the passion and the support that you provide assistance in Ghana and through your network and just super thrilled to connect with you on this side of the world and love connecting with other people that not only are assistants but help other assistants. So thanks again for being on the show. Is it okay if I share your LinkedIn URL in the show notes?

Rebecca · 24:42

Yes, it's okay. Thank you so much, Jeremy, for having me. I'm so honored and so grateful to me. Thank you so much.

Jeremy · 24:52

You're very welcome. And for those listening, you can check out the show notes again at leaderassistant.com. Be sure to connect with Rebecca and say hi and thank her for being on the show.

Speaker 3 · 25:14

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