In Demand

It's tough to be a coveted commodity.  A luxury item, if you will. An item fought over by executives who want you for status, for skills you possess, and/or a stunning personality.

Really?

Admin Gal has a colleague who is a pawn in a power play.  Her salary comes out of one budget, but she is utilized by the other executive she reports to.  Budgets are being determined for the next year.  The behind the scenes wrangling is getting to be bloody. Admin Gal has a feeling her friends salary will be shifting cost centers in the new year.

Until then, she is caught in the vortex of a power struggle of which she will only lose if she chooses sides.

It's tough to be popular.

Morale

Sometimes morale is a tough sell in the workplace. With budget cuts, lay offs, increased productivity in the form of more to do with less people.  Everyone is under the gun at work.  It gets really tiring, and frankly demoralizing.

At the end of the day we should be able to walk out the door each day and leave the job behind, satisfied we've done our best.  And that should be enough.

But it's not.

How do we take control of our work environment, making it healthy?  The answers are simple, the implementation, not so much:

1. Say 'NO'.  If people have a habit of dumping part of their job on you, enforce your boundaries and push back.  
2. Prioritize what comes across your desk. - When there are conflicting priorities, communicate with the parties involved and find a solution that won't send you over the edge.
3. Don't take work home.  
4. Just Breathe.  Take a moment and breathe.  Don't let the stress build.  A little stress is normal, it comes and goes.  Stress that doesn't go away is deadly.  Take the time to breathe, work through stress.

When you are happier and in a healthier place, your morale is good.  Morale is a virus that is contagious, good morale will spread as easily as bad.

When Under the Weather

Dear Team,

When Admin Gal is under the weather, certain protocols should be observed.

1. Inquiries of her health and well being is always appreciated.
2. Flowers are always looked upon fondly.
3. Good wishes for return to health are also considered appropriate.

Admin Gal is aware that her presence and skills are missed when she is not at her post.  She can not control the vagrancies of the current viruses or bacteria that are floating around the world.

What is not appreciated are phone calls or emails demanding she carry her germ ridden self into the office to take care of projects that are only important in the mind of the person assigning priority.  Or who do not want the task themselves (which is often the case).

The projects were present the previous day and will survive until Admin Gal is back in the office healthy and whole.  OR she can spread her contagion about the impolite person's office.

Your choice.

Admin Gal

Chain of Command

Admin Gal has noticed that as people climb the corporate ladder, the rarefied air can sometimes go to people's head.  As the titles of Managers, District Managers, Director etc. start getting attached to names,  individuals can forget that they still must report to someone.

Frankly?  When your boss says a meeting must take place, you shouldn't push back.  You should say - Yes, sir/ma'am!  Just because you sit in a management position, doesn't mean you don't have a chain of command you fall into.

When you say 'NO' to your boss enough times.  Your boss will say 'No, we don't need you working here anymore.'

I Get It!

Managers make changes to calendars because they think, we the Admins, are bored!  Why else would they change a 20 person meeting with less than 2 hours notice that involves 3 executives and other busy people.   We need the adrenaline rush that comes with the reschedule.

NOT!

Really? Aside from death, dismemberment and illness, there are very few excuses that justify the reschedule of a meeting with such short notice.

Being the professional I am, I slap a smile on my face and perform miracles.