Administrative Assistant's Update

UPDATE PM #40065782 P r o f e s s io n a l D e v e l o P M e n t f o r C a n a Da' s o f f iC e s u P P o r t s ta f f Administrative Assistant's JANUARY 2015 UPDATE Meeting success Business expert Evan Thompson has these tips to help you lead a successful meeting. Start right Don't start the meeting with an opener that downplays its impor- tance ("I know you'd rather not be here, but…"). Take the meeting seriously. Start by stating what the meeting's three key objectives are and by giving the meeting a time-limit. Welcome people and let them know that you're excited about the topics that will be covered. Your enthusiasm and confidence will be contagious. Interesting tactic If you want to make sure the participants are at their best, you can tell them that their comments will be published electronically and distributed. That way, people are more likely to be focussed and respectful when they speak. INsIDE Erasing tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Believe it or not, there's a right way and a wrong way to use an eraser. Set boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Don't let people dump their work onto you. Comma quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Take our comma quiz and find out how well you use this important piece of punctuation. Shake on it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 How's your handshake? Continued on page 7 Credit: Warren Goldswain/Shutterstock.com Overwhelmed? slow it down You have more choices at work than you may realize By Helen Latimer Administrative assis- tants are often highly skilled at managing projects, accustomed to working to inflex- ible deadlines, incred- ibly resilient and adept at juggling changing requirements. This means admins are often the go-to group in companies when things get busy. This can include right after the holidays, when many people have taken time off and the work has piled up. When I work with clients, I often see their bright minds working at top speed, trying to anticipate any and all potential problems and pre- vent them from happening. Emails and texts are flying. Hands are moving. Brains are whirring. What's often missing is actual progress. Picture a car, rear wheel stuck in the snow and the driver's just gunning it. The wheel's spinning but the car's not moving. Here's a common situation: An overlong to-do list and inflexible deadlines. We may not like it but often that's the reality we face. The list is fixed and we don't have much negotiating power. However, we still have options. It doesn't matter how dire the situation is we still have options. So, in the case of our incredibly busy day, here's the situation: I have a ton of stuff to finish by the end of the day and it's all high priority. Here are some samples of what some of your options might look like: • I can take a 10-minute break before I begin my next task. • I can start work on my next task without a break. • I can change the order of my to-do list. • I can choose to do my best to get all the tasks done. • I can choose to complete only a few of the tasks. • I can choose to give up and go home. Whichever option you choose, knowing it's a choice reduces stress. Really. I had a colleague who was really fed up—things at work were making her very unhappy. She asked me for some advice and I told her to quit. She was taken aback. "I can't quit!" And she told me all the rea-

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