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“Oh wow, I have so much work time that I wish I spent more time in meetings!" ... Said no person, ever! Okay, well, maybe someone has, but they were clearly having a momentary lapse of sanity! If meeting management is the bane of your existence, then just keep reading. We can all agree that we spend way too much time in meetings. Meeting management is complicated these days, and mismanaged meetings waste your executive’s time, focus, and energy. Successful meeting management doesn't "just happen." It is a skill that is developed and practiced. Start using these tips, and you will be your company's Meeting Management Guru in no time! You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know … So Just Ask! Benchmarking is vital so you can understand best practices and the tools that make managing meetings easy, efficient, and productive. This is a perfect opportunity to benchmark with other assistants or team members on best practices, tools, and technology. Find out who does meetings really well in your company and then ask them to share best practices with you. Also, take time to share your own "pain points" concerning meeting management and get a clear understanding of what kind of structure and tools they use to ensure successful meetings. "Manage the process NOT the content!" Use Centralized Collaboration Tools Managing meeting agendas, invites, content, decks, meeting minutes, and tracking actionable items can overwhelm the most seasoned professional. When you are required to juggle a lot of moving pieces, it is essential to avoid gathering agenda topics, content, deck versions, and minutes via email. This causes unnecessary email traffic that can cause mistakes to happen and is inefficient. The best practice is to manage thru centralized collaboration tools like OneNote, SharePoint, Google Drive, or other cloud-based applications. This is a crucial component to managing the process and not the content. Manage Decks in Minutes & Not Hours We have all received those last-minute slides or decks that were a hot mess. And of course, you received it 1 hour before the meeting begins. Someone didn't use the company format, there are 12 different fonts, someone else tried to type 15 paragraphs on one page, and someone used Smart Art really, really wrong! Your immediate reaction is to cry, close your computer, suddenly get sick for the day, and start your morning all over tomorrow. Meeting Management Gurus know how to format slides quickly using themes, styles, layout tools, and master slides and can confidently transform decks seamlessly within minutes... and look like a rock star doing it! Stay On Task & On Time Have a plan to keep the meeting on task and on time. Practice how to regain control of the meeting if a presenter is going too long and no amount of visual cues or flailing of arms is getting their attention. Or the team falls down a rabbit hole ... a very Alice-in-Wonderland kind of rabbit hole into another world of topics and conversation that does not align with the meeting purpose or goal. Taking charge of a meeting is no easy task ... You have to find the perfect balance between professionalism and graciously prompting the team to get back on track. I suggest for you to practice how you will handle these kinds of situations. You can say something things like: "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to give a time check. We are 5 minutes over our scheduled time. Would you like to give a 1-minute takeaway before we move on? "This is a great topic, but we have a few more items on our agenda that are critical. I will schedule a follow-up meeting this week to pick up where we left off." Set Expectations & Eliminate Confusion Confusion eats away at productivity, so they make a habit of eliminating it altogether. Kick-off every meeting with a quick review of the meeting's purpose, housekeeping statements, and agenda review. Don't forget to close out the meeting with a quick summary of the next steps. Share the meeting structure and expectations with presenters ahead of time. (Example: I will give you a visual cue when you have 2 minutes left. If you miss the visual prompt, then I will provide a verbal time check.) Clearly identify the meeting format (in-person, remote, call only, virtual meeting only, video, etc.). Also, make sure to provide specific directions if you plan on using technology that is outside of the norm. Use 1-click formatting for conference bridge numbers and addresses. This allows attendees to utilize mobile devices to assist with directions and dialing into meetings without having to manually enter a conference bridge passcode while they are on the go.

Join me for this brief excerpt from my podcast series on Empowering Conversations for Executive Assistants. In this podcast, I share a personal story about a 1:1 meeting that revolutionized my career as an Executive Assistant. In this excerpt you will learn how to make yourself a priority, work on developing a dynamic strategic partnership with your executive business partner and how to value your role. #11 #Podcast #BuildingDynamicPartnerships

So what do you do when you are out on vacation or unexpectedly out of the office, and you come back to 500 unread emails? Yikes! We have all been there, the momentary panic you feel, the overwhelming concern of never getting caught up, and wondering how in the world you will get all this work done. Then comes this thought "I am never going on vacation again! I am drowning in emails; it is going to take me forever to get caught up!". As Administrative Professionals, we have a unique challenge to our profession. Not only are we digging through emails and invitations requesting our own time, but we are digging through hundreds of emails and meeting invitations and requests for our executive's time. So, how do you get through the emails and invitations without getting further behind? Here is how I disconnect and come back, hitting the ground running. View by Type Batching together like tasks is a well-known productivity tip. Utilizing this tip in my inbox allows me to quickly delete or handle the ones that need the least amount of attention so I can focus on the critical requests. Message Meeting Request Meeting Cancellations Meeting Acceptance Meeting Decline Etc. Clean Up Folder Next, I view my messages and use the Clean Up Folder function. This is one of my favorite tools to use in the command ribbon. We all know how quickly your inbox can grow when there are several replies to an email. Using this command removes redundant messages from the folder and keeps the latest one with all of the responses in the thread. Getting rid of an extra 50 to 100 emails that you do not have to triage is a gift when you are working through your inbox after a holiday! Now, that I have quickly taken care of the meeting invitations and redundant messages, I am finally ready to tackle all of my actual emails. View by Category Triaging email by action might not be your norm, but I promise you that it will make a significant impact on how quickly you get through your emails and get to your actions. When I am triaging my email, I follow the "One Touch - 2 Minute Rule". If an email can be handled quickly and I can get it done in 2 minutes, then I complete the action right then. If not, then I categorize the email by action to complete after I have finished triaging all of my email messages. For example, if someone is requesting time and it is not just a quick ask, then I categorize it as a "Schedule Meeting." If it is an urgent email that requires a thoughtful reply or my immediate attention, then I categorize it as "Urgent." Once I am finished triaging my emails, then I schedule my day based on what I need to accomplish. Viewing my inbox by category allows me to see all of the emails that I have not triaged and allows me to either take care of them quickly or categorize them for action. Once I classify a message, it moves it out of the "None" view and moves it to the category that I have selected. This process allows me only to see the messages that I need to triage. I use this same process to triage my email each morning, but this process makes all the difference when I need to get through a lot of emails quickly. You might have noticed a theme here - batching like actions together to get through them quickly and efficiently. These tools help me get through my post-vacation overload in record time. I would love to hear how you get through your inbox overload! #Outlook #Inbox #Training #Productivity #5minuteread

I recently found myself looking for a show to binge-watch while editing videos. I don't watch TV much, but for some reason, I was just in the mood for some background noise. I came across a reality show, SoCosmo; it looked interesting, so why not? I was planning to focus on my work and not the show. That plan lasted all of three minutes. I certainly did not expect to watch the entire season, much less to be inspired to write this blog. But I was completely pulled in, and probably not for the reason you may think. While others may be intrigued by the overall storyline, I was captivated by the leadership style of the Editor-in-Chief, Joanna Coles, and the intricacies of the office politics. I found myself literally taking notes! In the first 15 minutes, they covered major topics that Administrative Professionals deal with every single day. It was like watching an inside view of our daily lives, and I couldn't look away. Leadership styles, managing reorganizations and restructuring, asking for a raise, receiving criticism, dealing with conflict resolution, having confidence in your role, team members having severe misconceptions of what assistants do and their role in organizations, anticipating the needs of your executive, and yes, even getting coffee. I still can't believe that a reality show inspired this blog, but when you are open, you can find teachable moments in the most unexpected places. So, let's get into my top 3 teachable moments from the show. Understanding Leadership Styles Joanna Coles has a unique leadership style; honestly, I love it! She is bold, driven, to the point, very confident, has high expectations, is not afraid to lead, and does not look back to see who is following. Without question, she is also purposeful in her leadership role and clearly puts a high value on her staff and developing their careers. She is passionate about empowering women and doesn't shy away from hard discussions. She takes a keen interest in her team's professional development and is approachable when they need her. How can you not admire that kind of leadership? If you have been in this industry for very long, you will learn that executives have diverse leadership styles, and finding the right way to mesh their leadership style with your working style can be a challenge... but not impossible. Learning to mold your support style with your executive's leadership style requires intentional observation. So often, we can get caught up in the busyness of our work that we miss the opportunities to pay close attention to the signals our executives give us every day. They may not be shouting it from the rooftops, but if you observe carefully, you will learn their leadership style and figure out how to change your working style to accommodate them. Take notice when they are frustrated with processes or results; when they are anxiously standing at your desk asking for something; when they need you to be proactive and take charge; when they are overwhelmed; and even when they need you to grab them a cup of coffee. Paying attention to these cues can be the key to learning their leadership style and successfully building that dynamic business partnership. Match Their Energy When you're working with an executive, it can be tempting to assume that you know how to manage their energy level. But the truth is that no two executives are alike. Some are high-energy and fast-moving, while others are calmer and more thoughtful. That doesn't mean you have to be a high-energy person, but it does mean that you need to be aware of how your executive's energy level affects the way they work and how they interact with others. Don't be afraid to actively engage with your executive and match their energy level. If your support style is more relaxed than your executive's, get ready for a bit of a learning curve. In the first two minutes, you can see that Joanna is high energy and moves at lightning speed. Figuring out how to match that level of intensity can be difficult when you are knee-deep in your work, but being ready, engaged, and mentally present is a lesson worth learning. Be Ready and Willing to BE the I love his definition of pivot: Anything or person on which something or someone functions or depends vitally. In short, you are the pivot of your executive's work life. In most cases, you are the pivot of your entire organization. So yes, you are vital to your business partner, company, and team. Anticipating your executive business partner's needs before they ask takes time and is generally in Admin-101. However, learning to be the pivot, well, that is another thing entirely. Successfully owning this role requires you to develop your business acumen and business partnership skills. I have mentored many Administrative Professionals who struggle with this merely because they do not understand the value and importance they bring to their executive and organizations. It can be surprising where you find teachable moments. I encourage you to be on the lookout for them, be open to when and where they come, and be willing to make adjustments when you find them. So take a deep breath, look yourself in the mirror, give yourself permission to be that important, and own your space. Taking our seats together, Melissa

In our lives as Administrative Professionals, we are excellent at making time for everyone else. We constantly juggle crazy schedules, calendars that look like an unwinnable game of Tetris, continually re-prioritizing top priorities and tasks, and somehow manage to carve out time (where literally none existed 5 minutes before) for all of the people that we support. However, we never seem to have the same clarity and objectivity when we look at our own careers, calendars, and workload. We appear to get beaten by that Tetris game whenever we think about carving out time for ourselves. I have often wondered why that is. I could go into a very long dissertation about why that is a common practice in our industry and why it is a ridiculous, unproductive, and archaic practice that you should drop-kick out the window right now, but I will try to restrain myself! Instead, of focusing on the "why we don't" right now, I am going to hone in on the "why we should." By the time that you finish reading this, I hope that my personal experience will inspire you to make the decision to make yourself a priority, choose to purposefully carve out time for your career development, push past the barriers, and get in the game. A little over a year ago, I had just decided to take the leap of faith, do what I love and am passionate about and pivot my career. I went from being the C-suite level Executive Assistant to training, mentoring, and coaching other Executive Assistants and Administrative Professional's, and I could not have been more excited! That is until I experienced two back to back unexpected deaths in my family and my own personal health crisis. It was quite a lot to work through, and so I decided to take a hiatus from my new career and focus on me. Recently, I decided that I was ready to jump back into my passion of teaching, educating, and mentoring Executive Assistants and Administrative Professionals. I was excited and thrilled to get busy and dive in head first. However, I knew that stepping away was going to bring its own challenges and would require more than a little work. What I was not expecting was how much the industry had changed in just one year! When I left, Melissa Nourigat, owner of Office MVP's and the AAOP LinkedIn group was under 130,000, and now she had well over 200,000 members. Tae Lee and Susan Schofield from Travo were just ramping up and look at the incredible explosion they have experienced since then with their amazing travel tool. Phoenix Norman started shaking up the industry up and taking no prisoners. Stacy Leitner and Lisa Olsen with Admin to Admin had completely stepped up their game and were successfully introducing a whole new concept to administrative training. I quickly realized that while I was on the sidelines, the industry had made a shift. A pretty exciting, incredible, and long overdue shift, but a change to be sure. I was in new territory, where did I fit, what did I want to say, and how did I want to say it? It was clear that my game plan was going to change quite a bit. So now what? What was I going to do about it? There are two courses of action that I could take... I could choose to either allow myself to be intimidated and silo myself in OR I could decide to confront the challenge head on and go all in. Honestly, this applies to almost every experience I have had in my 20-year career as an Administrative Professional. The choice is almost always the same... Go all in or stay silo'd in. There is rarely room for the middle road. Personally, I do not like barriers and believe me I have had my fair share of challenges and hurdles to get past in my career. My career started as an entry level receptionist when I was just 18. I was a single teenage mom, struggling to make ends meet, had zero experience, and not many prospects. Trust me; there were no cheerleaders shaking pom-poms in my corner encouraging me to "take the hill" of life and telling me that this would be the beginning of a career that I would excel at and learn to love. Years later, when my son was diagnosed with the big "A" word (Autism), I had to figure out how to simultaneously get him the help he needed and successfully support a C-suite level executive and make it all work seamlessly. I share all of that to say, that I get it. I have been there; I know what it feels like to be silo'd in... Wishing for more information, more knowledge, more time in the day, and more resources all while desperately needing a break at the same time. I did not always know what boundaries to push, what questions to ask, when to step outside of the norm and suggest something entirely new, and when to make connecting with others in our industry a priority. So what did I do after this long hiatus? I went back to the one thing that has always worked out for me. I reached out. I reconnected with people who had a passion for the same thing that I did to get a new perspective. I wanted to hear what was happening in their world, what were they working on, and listen to what they were excited about. Why? Well, because I am an agent of change. Getting a fresh perspective from others ignites a fire in me to make a difference and make the mental adjustments that I need to so that I can break down whatever barriers are in my way. So that is exactly what I did. Recently, I was able to win at that elusive game of Tetris for EA's and grabbed breakfast with someone who inspires me every single time that we chat... My dear friend, Danielle Zamora. She is a networking goddess and a heck of an advocate and mentor to Administrative Professionals. Now that I have pivoted my career as an EA coach, trainer, mentor, and speaker... She is a valuable sounding board for me, and hopefully, I am for her as well. I always walk away from our conversations empowered, invigorated, and excited about this industry and the strides that we are collectively making. As incredible as it sounds... None of our careers reside in a fairy-tale land of unicorns, cupcakes sprinkles, with floating rivers of melted chocolate where our professional lives are a breeze, obstacles are non-existent, our business partners are always perfect, and we go skipping into the office every morning. My point is this. Our industry has changed. It is changing. Moreover, if I have anything to say about it... It will continue to change. We have to change along with it or be left behind. Making the time to connect with others in this industry is not a waste of time! In fact, more often than not you will walk away with ideas, suggestions, and a game plan to improve your work processes and your ability to hone in on areas of development. If this is your career and not just a job to you, then you are desperately missing out if you are not making the time to connect with other Administrative Professionals and actively benchmarking. We are a community; we need each other. Ask the questions, learn the best practices, share you expertise, make the time to hone your craft, carve out the time, BE the change. GO ALL IN! We are waiting!