Special Topics from The Leader Assistant Podcast

Podcast #58: Ebony Belhumeur on Remote Work and Respect in the Workplace

In this episode of the Leader Assistant Podcast host Jeremy Burrows is joined by Ebony Belhumeur in discussing remote work, respect in the workplace, managing an executive’s email inbox, and anticipating the needs of your executive. Ebony has been an executive assistant for over 10 years and is currently working remotely as an executive assistant with the Founder and CEO of Protocol Labs (Burrows, 2020, About Ebony section, para.1-3). Ebony discusses her love of being an executive assistant because of the opportunity for constant growth, problem-solving, project management, and endless chances to learn and develop (Burrows, 2020, 12:00).

Remote Work

After leaving San Francisco, Ebony made the decision to pursue only remote work options and investigated organizations which were progressive in how work could be done remotely (Burrows, 2020, 3:30). She now currently resides in France with her partner and three children while working for a California based crypto-technology company (Burrows, 2020, 3:53). Ebony offers a tip for those interested in remote work that getting a remote job means having remote experience, however, if you don’t have the experience, organizations which are fully remote are your best option for gaining remote experience (Burrows, 2020, 5:07).

Respect in the Workplace

Ebony describes two scenarios which can create an environment where executive assistants may not be respected. The first scenario is that of an “ideological disposition” where organizations or executives make holistic judgements about assistants based on the title and either cannot be changed or is not worth the emotional cost in trying to change their minds (Burrows, 2020, 14:02). The second scenario is that of respect being earned whereby the assistant can explicitly demonstrate how they add value to the organization or executive by taking on projects or assignments that others don’t want to do and by going above and beyond (Burrows, 2020, 15:38).

Managing your executives email inbox

Ebony gives insight into how to manage your executives email inbox by following the three-folder rule: a follow-up folder which includes actionable items, a today folder which includes all items needed to be completed for that particular day, and a reference folder which includes supplementary information for your executive (Burrows, 2020, 28:25).

Anticipating your executives needs

Ebony describes how to anticipate your executives needs by strategically finding relevant stakeholders to reach out to and find information that matters. Ebony refers to this as going on safari (Burrows, 2020, 17:51). Ebony also states that executive assistants should consider themselves to be logistical leaders when working with strategic leaders and executives by providing the logistical support to get to the goals that leaders set (Burrows, 2020, 20:58). Moreover, logistical leaders are just as if not more important than strategic leaders and that executive assistants should remember their executive presence in that they are executives assisting people (Burrows, 2020, 23:30).

Like my previous blog where I interviewed two virtual assistants and entrepreneurs Marianne and Sarah, Ebony stresses that the flexibility of working from home and setting her own hours as the primary reason for becoming a virtual assistant. Ebony also emphasizes learning as a key component to be a virtual assistant as Marianne and Sarah did.

Podcast #152: Goals for Executive Assistants and Administrative Professionals

In this episode of the Leader Assistant Podcast host Jeremy Burrows shares from his book, The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant the topic of goal setting co-written with Jillian Hufnagel (Burrows, 2022, Ep 152: Goals for Executive Assistants and Administrative Professionals section, para.2).

Jeremy begins by stating “true Leader Assistants own their career development and know how to articulate their value to the organization” (Burrows, 2022, 3:46), and elaborates on three keys to doing this which include setting the right goals, using value-based language to speak to your work, and mastering your physical presence and mindset (Burrows, 2022, 4:03).

Setting the right goals

Your goals should align with your organizations mission, vision, and values as well as map to the top-level strategic goals and objectives of the organization (Burrows, 2022, 4:29). Your goals should come with discomfort as Jeremy states “true growth happens through discomfort. Your goals should challenge you beyond your day-to-day cat herding and fire extinguishing” (Burrows, 2022, 4:29). Finally, your goals should pass the SMART test, in that they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-related (Burrows, 2022, 5:15).

Speak to your work using value-based language

There is a fine balance between being too vague and being too specific about the work that you do. Being too vague can devalue the impact you make and lesson people’s perception of you (Burrows, 2022, 6:33). Adversely, being too specific can result in people not taking interest in the work that you do and can cause “had-nodding, eye rolling, and glazed looks”, as Jeremy puts it (Burrows, 2022, 6:39). What people need most is to see or hear the value that you bring to the organization in terms that they will understand (Burrows, 2022, 7:02). Jeremy gives a great example of how to speak to value. Rather than saying something like “I organized the supply closet and secured a new breakroom vendor”, you should say “I increased efficiency and saved the department money by organizing the supply closet and securing a new vendor for breakroom service” (Burrows, 2022, 9:09).

Mastering your physical presence and mindset

Presenting yourself in a positive way can help you feel more confident and will invite respect from others. This can be done by sitting tall, chin up, shoulders back, and arms open (Burrows, 2022, 10:46). It’s also important to be mindful of your overall body language, tone, and pace. Its also important to master your emotions and not allow the fight or flight response to take over (Burrows, 2022, 11:33). To achieve this, practice mindfulness before meetings and force yourself to slow down, and take a deep breath (Burrows, 2022, 11:46).

For more on these topics, or others, check out The Leader Assistant Podcast at https://goburrows.com/podcast/