Joan Burge's Administrative Blog

Dear Monday Motivators,

I am so excited to write this kick-off Blog for our 2nd Annual Admin Blog-a-thon as I have great news about shifts taking place in the Administrative Profession in terms of executives and managers embracing this role as vital to their organization's and leadership team's success. I could not have better news for Administrative Professionals at this celebratory time -- April -- the month in which Administrative Professionals Week is held. The "stars" are all lining up and we have to take advantage of this.

In case you have not read the past few Blogs, I had interviewed two great people this year. Ken Konseco is the President of Harrison College (previously known as Indiana Business College) and his strategic business partner, Maria Berthiaume CPS. They were an absolute delight to interview and I appreciate all the time they took to share their tips to a successful business partnership.

Catch up with the continued interview of Maria Berthiaume CPS and her executive Ken Konesco and find out what Maria and Ken believe to be the five key actions to building a relationship with your executive.

I was fortunate this year to interview two great people. Maria Berthiaume CPS is the Administrative Assistant to the President of Harrison College (formerly Indiana Business College). Ken Konesco is the President of the College and Maria's strategic business partner.

“In court papers, PepsiCo claims it first received a legal document related to the case from the North Carolina agent on Sept 15 when a copy of the co-defendant’s letter was forwarded to Deputy General Counsel Tom Tamoney in PepsiCo’s law department. Tamoney’s secretary, Kathy Henry, put the letter aside and didn’t tell anyone about it because she was “so busy preparing for a board meeting.”

As we approach the end of summer and look forward to fall it is also a time when many companies start putting their 2010 budgets together. What does this mean to you? It is a time when many performance reviews are given, raises are put into budgets, conferences and seminars are talked about as well as training and travel. It is your time to speak up and educate your boss or department head on your needs and wants. Talk with them about the training you have received in 2009 if any, and what it has meant for you and your performance, education, and attitude. Let them know what is out there for you to participate in. Whether it is a conference, DVD/CD programs, your local college holding a class etc. If you don’t ask - you cannot receive. Don’t be afraid to ask for that additional training as it shows you want to continue to learn, develop and be more of an asset to them and the company. You are most likely taking on more tasks and responsibility in today’s tougher economy and continuing education can help you operate more efficiently. In the long term training more than pays for itself and benefits all those who work with and around you. Also please remember that if you are turned down for that training request go back in a couple of months and try again. Be persistent!

I received an e-mail from Dawn asking for advice on this subject. She said "My boss has become a good friend to our family and I have found it most challenging the past few years to separate business and friendship. It has affected my job performance and must get turned around. Advice?"

I am happy to say that I have had more executives talking to us about how to work better with their assistants over the past 9 months than in the past 3 years!

K Harrison writes again….