Are You Secretly Intelligent?
Your weekly round up of what's going on in the Admin world
Hello and welcome once again to The Admin Wrap.
đ˘ Thereâs still time to take the EA Salary Survey! We have already had hundreds and hundreds of responses, but we are still below the number we had last year. More data = a broader view of our industry. So no matter your role within the administrative field, we want to hear from you!
This week Iâve been reading about the impact of all the upcoming sports tournaments are likely to have on our businesses - mostly in the form of sick leave (no, not from one too many drinkies).
This week has also been about the next AI tool to be creeping onto our desks in the not too distant future - not for the feint-hearted, so you might want to skip that one.
Finally, an exciting webinar happening towards the end of June - youâre not going to want to miss that one, so check out the details in the Event Wrap (spoiler: Iâm in it)
I wish you a wonderful weekend ahead!
Yvette đ¸
NewsWrap
When do you think you will reach the mid point in your career? Have you already passed it? How does it compare to the mid point of your parentsâ or grandparentsâ careers? A new study on workers over the age of 40 shows that with our careers getting longer, we need more support as we reach the mid point - as the current planning and structures that are in place are outdated and supported people who had much shorter working lives (and probably shorter lives in general if we look back 50+ years). Some of the issues that are coming up for people in their 50s are aligned with those people reaching the end of their careers, when in reality, modern life doesnât support careers ending that young. Unfortunately.
With a global sports tournament comesâŚsick leave, apparently! With the football/soccer World Cup just a couple of weeks away, around 25% of workers have said they would âmiss part of a workdayâ, and a similar number have said they would push the limits of what their managers expect of them. In the UK, the timing of this tournament comes shortly after the law changed to force every company to pay people sick pay from day 1 of their leave - potentially opening the door to those who want to take advantage.
How can your company deal with this? It will depend on each company, of course, but my personal advice is to try not to fight it. Be a little bit flexible - especially when that staff memberâs home team is playing. If you are flexible, they are more likely to be flexible back.Whatâs the next thing to get the AI upgrade? Our humble desks, apparently, and our security passes! Microsoft are developing what looks like an Alexa-style device for our desks, plus a wearable access badge. Now, the cynical brain in me went straight for Big Brother style monitoring of where we are and what we are doing. Although Iâm not entirely sure how AI-y a security badge could even be! Surely it wonât be for our benefit, right? Itâs got to be for companies to keep additional tabs on us. Iâd be interested to read about any developments about how this might work over and above the security badges we already have. And as for the desktop device - I donât fancy having my bossâs face appear on my desk whenever they want to see if Iâm there đą
Your âlazyâ habits are actually a sign of intelligence! (Youâre welcome). Intelligence might not look like the way we are programmed to think it looks, and so the traits that we might not associate with intelligence might actually be the results of advanced cognitive function. People with high intelligence donât show a lot of brain activity when they are performing cognitive tasks, and they sleep in a particular way. Want to see if you are secretly intelligent? Youâre going to want to give this article a read!
Does your company hold Monthly Business Reviews (MBRs)? Perhaps you sit in on them to take notes, or you arrange them but donât attend? I like to understand the meetings Iâm booking, and in my day job I tend to host these now. Each company will run them a little differently, but they all should have some foundational elements to them. If you are looking for a small step to increase your business knowledge, this article explains MBRs really well. You might recognise some of the inputs, or some of the suggested outputs already.
By referring your friends and colleagues to The Admin Wrap, you can earn yourself free access to The Extra Wrap - our in depth thought leadership pieces which are sent out every Monday. Can you make it to the top of the leader board?
đ RealityWrap: You Donât Know What You Donât Know
Most EAs are excellent at knowing what they know. You know your execâs preferences, your companyâs processes, the fastest route through the inbox. Youâve built real expertise, and you deploy it confidently every day.
But hereâs the unwritten truth: the thing holding most EAs back isnât a skills gap. Itâs a visibility gap.
You canât Google a skill you donât know exists. You canât ask for training in an area youâve never heard of. And you canât feel the absence of something that was never in the room to begin with.
This shows up in career conversations all the time. An EA will say âI want to move into operationsâ and when asked what ops people actually do all day, the answer trails off. Not because theyâre not capable - but because no one has ever shown them the full map.
The first step isnât learning. Itâs scouting.
Get curious about the roles one step adjacent to yours. Read job descriptions - not to apply, but to audit. What words keep appearing that you donât fully understand? What tools are mentioned that youâve never used? What deliverables are listed that you couldnât produce tomorrow?
That list is your development plan đ
The second step is self-assessment, which is harder than it sounds. Most people rate themselves higher than they are in areas they know a little about, and accurately in areas they know a lot about. The danger zone is the middle - where you know just enough to feel competent but not enough to know what good actually looks like.
Find someone who does the thing you want to do. Ask them what separates average from excellent in their world. Then sit with the discomfort of that answer.
The EAs who make the biggest leaps arenât always the most skilled. Theyâre the ones who mapped the territory before they started walking.
EventWrap
Iâm SO excited to be joining EA How To on 23rd June (6pm UK time) as Aliciaâs guest for Cocktails and Conversations. Listen to me be quizzed on all things Operations, Chief of Staff, and anything else Alicia decides to ask me. This is for EA How To Plus members - if youâre not a member, you can join here. If you are, you can sign up in the memberâs portal.
ES Global is happening Next Week! - and thereâs still time to sign up if you havenât already. The line up is fantastic, as always, and the sessions are recorded. Itâs happening on 11-12th June and thereâs a whole 24 hours of awesome stuff (so youâll need that recording!!). Get all the details here
The EA Campus is running a couple of webinars on Google Gemini - the next one being on 17th June. This three-hour session will give you the foundations on which to build your knowledge, practical tips on how to embed it into the tools you are already using, and then walk you through how to integrate it into your daily life. This session is sure to sell out, so sign up now - itâs ÂŁ450 and there is a slightly cheaper option if you are unable to make the live session and want just the recording.
For a list of Conferences, head over to the Conferences section in our Ultimate Assistantâs Toolbox.
If you are running an event aimed at administrative professionals, please send me an email and let me know all about it - hello@theadminwrap.com
The Ultimate Assistantâs Toolbox
Your complete guide to the tools that every assistant needs! And itâs FREE!
