From an Administrative Professional’s perspective, it is hard to visualize culture change, especially in a position with limited authority – yet every voice matters. Cultural diversity in the workplace is when companies are open to hiring employees from all sorts of different backgrounds regardless of race, religion, culture and educational institutions. When companies recruit and retain a diverse pool of people, it brings about various benefits to the company as well as its employees.

Though there are numerous benefits, diversity in the workplace doesn’t come without its challenges. As the Administrative Professional, you have a unique vantage point to communicate and unite the team members and foster collaboration in the workplace. 

Read more7 Amazing Benefits of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

Any organization’s ability to thrive depends greatly on people being willing and able to work well together. How well your team members share ideas, engage in robust debates and make decisions influences the extent to which full potential is realized. How people learn and move forward together is fundamental to your organization’s ability to survive and thrive. 

Read moreShow Intolerance the Way Out

With all the conversations arising about embracing diversity and working towards a welcoming and inclusive environment in the workplace, the discussion about people with disabilities on the workforce has yet to receive as much attention as its counterparts. 

Despite this information proving that those with disabilities create the largest minority group in the country, many companies are still ignorant about learning who these people are and how to create a work environment that fosters inclusion and productivity. In an effort to help Executives and fellow Administrative Professionals to guide their workplace into a better position of hiring and retaining people with disabilities, here are 9 Points of Wisdom (POWs) that you can take:

Read moreTaking Special Notice

As Administrative Professionals, we are required to be leaders in communication and interpersonal savvy throughout the workplace. Interacting with a multitude of different personalities, communication styles, backgrounds and cultures is to be expected, so naturally we must set an example to help others communicate and work well with those around them. First, we must make certain that we have sharpened our skills to best connect and communicate with our team. Cultural Competence is arguably one of the most valuable skills for efficient workplace performance. But what does it mean to have cultural diversity in the workplace? Culture refers to the 7 Essentials of Workplace Cultural Competence: the values, norms, and traditions that affect the way a member of a group typically perceives, thinks, interacts, behaves, and makes judgments. It even affects perceptions of time, which can impact day-to-day scheduling and deadlines.

Read moreWeaving a Workplace Tapestry

6 Strategies to Nurture Peer Learning Practices

Peer learning has become extremely popular in academic settings, but how does it work among the office? Well, pretty much the same way. Creating an environment where Administrative Assistant team members are comfortable to ask each other for help and in turn, help each other, is going to completely evolve your workplace in terms of morale and productivity. How can you do this? This works best when you have teams collaborating on the same project, or have a common goal in mind, but once it is part of your office culture, you will see it manifest in even daily tasks. Here are 6 Points of Wisdom (POW) that are essential to incorporate into your peer learning:

Read moreAdmin Learning From Each Other

No matter how big your company is, you can start a peer learning program without much investment. One of the strengths of this type of learning is that it can be done rather informally. Here are three things you can do to kickstart peer learning at your company:

Learning Lunches

Many companies have instituted a learn-at-lunch program, and you can organize one in just a few minutes. A learning lunch is simple: everyone in a group, department, or company gets together on a certain day to have lunch together (you can have the lunch catered or just ask everyone to bring something). During the lunch, one person presents on a topic of interest.

Read more3 Ideas to Start Peer Learning Within Your Admin Community

Problems with aligning

Some relationships just start out rocky. Maybe they misread a facial expression, or perhaps they just had a huge argument before they left the house that morning, and the residue is still on their attitude towards, well… everything. It seems that at certain points in life, we have all had that unfortunate experience of working with or for someone who just doesn’t seem to have any bit of desire to accept us, much less like us. However, in the business world, and especially in the workplace as an Administrative Professional, when these situations arise, it is a test of our patience as well as our skill set.

Read moreMy Boss Doesn’t Like Me

Just like having your spine aligned to allow for proper circulation and energy flow, aligning with your team creates a work environment that is not only efficient, but incredibly productive. To some it may mean that everyone is getting on the same page with the details, where others may see it as taking a look at the bigger picture. Regardless of why they feel alignment is important, proper team alignment is essential to helping your teammates to stay focused and maximize profits for your company.

Read more6 Ways to Fix the Kinks in Your Team Alignment

In our last blog, we covered the first 5 Rockstar Traits that define a Rockstar Admin. Today we continue our list to round out your skill set checklist. Take a moment to review the first set skills – if you had to give yourself a rating from 1-5 on each one, where would you rank? Which are your strongest traits, and what are the skills that need a little more polishing? It’s extremely beneficial to your growth, to be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses – Especially when you are trying to reach your goals.

Read moreAre You a Rockstar Admin? – Part 2

Admins, it’s that time of year when reviews are coming around. One of the best ways to knock it out of the park, is to be prepared for your evaluation by doing a little self-evaluation of your own! How honest can you be with yourself? One of the greatest ways to grow as a professional is through being able to see yourself in the third person – from the outside. The other is being able to take criticism, whether it is from yourself, your peers, or your boss. Take a look at this list of skills that define a “Rockstar Admin”, and then try to evaluate your own performance in your role against these skills. If you notice skills that you haven’t mastered, this is great news! Being able to recognize these opportunities will allow you the chance to add these new skills into your “Admin Toolbox” and bring additional value to your role.

Read moreAre You a Rockstar Admin? 10 Traits to use as Self Evaluation – Part 1