Adaptive, intuitive, and driven. Administrative Professionals can take stock of what they’re given and come up with strategies to get the job done. Developing this skill is key to being successful in an office setting. Some things slip through the cracks and others are forgotten about, but even in the face of adversity, Administrative Professionals are asked to finish the task at hand… all with smiles on their faces! On the surface, this seems nearly impossible. Luckily, there are methods to breaking down difficult situations, compartmentalizing what needs to be done, and then executing!

Read moreBe the Glue – Modern office survival ideas for Admins.

Art of Listening for Admins
Professional and Personal Communications Skill 101

Listening effectively as an Administrative Professional is part art and science. Whether in business or personal life, to be a good listener requires foresight, an open mind, and an understanding you can’t talk and listen at the same time.  AdminUniverse™ offers training to give you unique advantages to really hear and comprehend what your executive and peers are saying. These listening skills will enable better insight into the working parts of a successful office team and how to capitalize on them.

What do we mean by the ‘Art of Listening?’ It means that, when people speak, there is more to listening than just hearing. There is more within a message than just the words. Sometimes, what people do not say is just as informative as what they do say. When people speak, listen. They often share more about themselves than they realize. The science of listening requires you to be an observer and read body language cues.

Read moreArt of Listening for Admins

…3 Concepts to Turn Your Executive

Assistant into a Mind Reader”

If you are like most highly successful leaders, you have the need for your Executive Assistant to be a high-potential employee that helps you drive process and keeps up with your daily demands of running the organization. Whether it’s simple scheduling activities or taking a commanding role in keeping you organized and enabling you stay at peak performance.

Certainly if she or he could only read your mind, wouldn’t that be a benefit? Unfortunately, mind reading for Executive Assistants is only learned after many years of working with their executive. On the other hand, becoming a high-potential employee becomes your responsibility by showing unwavering support in guiding them to their ultimate career goals and potential.

Read more“Open letter to your Executive…

Plan the Goal. Work the Goal. Ideas to make your Goals successful.
Last week I sent you a few ideas for “breaking the code in being a creature of habit.” Well I had no idea my tips would generate so much interest, and numerous requests for an example of my decision making “A/B” list. As I sat down to format the list to share, I was inspired to write an overview for goal setting, and a number of templates you could put use immediately.

Read moreAdministrative Professionals Complementary Goals Guide & Templates

I thought you might like this…

…Every year the majority of us reflect in December, telling ourselves next year we really need to lose weight, exercise more, look for a new job, do more of this or that. As you reviewed your resolutions/goals for 2014 and mentally prepared to take this list on like a steam train rolling down the tracks at 80 miles per hour – it’s full steam ahead on January 1st.

At this point you are focused on good intentions and a positive outlook for the year to come. Unfortunately like the many of us, by January 8th, you’ve lost all your steam and moved on from your ambitious goals to settling back into your normal pattern of life. Here are 3 tips for breaking the code of being a “Creature of Habit”, and getting back on track:

Read moreStop Being a Creature of Habit – 3 Ideas

It’s Administrative Professionals week 2015, and with over 6,000 views since I first posted my rendition of “So God Made a farmer,” I thought it worth re-posting for your enjoyment. This idea started after I watched the Superbowl 2013, and if you are like myself and family, we enjoy watching the commercials almost as much as the game.

One of the few commercials that shined that year was the one from Dodge, featuring Paul Harvey’s famous 1978 speech “So God made a farmer.” I was quite moved by Mr. Harvey’s words and thought to myself, “I wonder how it might sound if I springboard off of his concept and craft a version just for us executive assistants?” In honor of Administrative Professionals Week, here is my take on the soon to be infamous “So God made an executive assistant.”

Read moreSo God Made an Executive Assistant

It’s Administrative Professionals Week and I can’t help but reflect on how fortunate I was to find a career that I truly love and I am so very passionate about.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a professional administrator? Or possibly circumstances made the choice for you. I’ve asked this question of many administrators over the years and the answers are all over the board. Some knew that was their career of choice from the get go and trained accordingly. Others were in between jobs and needed work and decided to accept a receptionist or assistant position temporarily. But a funny thing happened, after being in this “temporary” position, they realized that they loved being an administrator and were actually pretty good at it.

Read moreHonoring Mom for Administrative Professionals Week