During our Admin Blog-a-thon, one of viewers commented and asked about more information on multiple managers. She asked if this was a trend or unique to their organization. I’m finally getting around to responding as this is something 90% of the administrative assistants face today. Actually this has been happening for more than 10 years. It’s not something new but may just be affecting your or more admins in your organization.
I like to think of this as an act of juggling. That means that you have tasks and items to handle for each manager and like multiple balls up in the air, you keep them all afloat while you focus on the immediate task. A few tips to help are:
- Encourage managers to use uniform procedures. It really helps keep things simpler when everyone uses similar procedures.
- Limit personal jobs for managers. Learn to say no.
- Treat each manager fairly and with respect, despite your personal preference. You may not like everyone you support, but you do need to treat each person equally.
- Understand each manager’s unique work style. While you may encourage uniform procedures, do pay attention to the work style that best suits each manager.
- Establish a priority list for all to see and update it frequently. Either post this in a common area for all to see or distribute weekly. This allows all the managers to be aware of what and how many projects you are involved in, and it helps them understand why their work isn’t turned around in a day.
- Communicate regularly with all your managers. Be sure to inform them of any delays.