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.

'C' is for the Crazy of the Calendar

Admin Gal started her job, not referring to herself in the third person.  She started as a nice, normal woman who had dreams and aspirations of world domination.

No where in her mind did she ever think she would get to know that the 'C' in Calendar really stood for ding-a-doodle Crazy.

Admin Gal can only do so much in the tersely worded instructional emails left in the dead of night, to engineer some miraculous meeting, over multiple continents, languages and, sometimes she thinks, species.

If the email says 'As soon as schedules permit...', she can only assume that is the intent of the message and plan accordingly. Any hidden subtext is just that...HIDDEN.

Calling Admin Gal, after the invitation has been sent to the appropriate parties, in a kerfuffle, saying that the meeting must take place as soon as humanly possible (in direct contradiction to your email), expect a polite freeze from your ever efficient Admin.

For Admin Gal does Crazy, but she doesn't do brain farts.

Pearls Before...

In the world of an Adminstrative Professional, there are a multitude of levels that can be achieved. From the receptionist, whose demeanor sets the tone for employees and visitors as they enter the facility. To an actual executive level, where the Adminstrative Professional sets policy and procedures for the admins through out the organization. An entire spectrum lays between.

I only point out this breadth of range because of common comments I hear amongst my peers. "I have no way to advance." or "Nobody takes me seriously because I'm an admin" or, my personal favorite, "I just can't do what they are asking me to do because they haven't trained me."

Pardon me as I call bullshit on these whiners! I'm sorry to be blunt and rude, but enough! We who are admin are not brainless space holders who do nothing. If that is all you do? Get out now. You are doing your peers no service.

If you feel stifled, plenty of opportunities abound.  You just have to take them.

Today's economic climate does not leave pearls strewn across the road for the lucky to find. Instead you have to be savvy. Take advantage of work assisted education. Look for grants and programs that might suit your circumstances.

Opportunities abound, no one will hand them to you on a silver platter.

Am I Risk Adverse?

I’m currently blessed to be employed.  Due to the circumstances of my employment I am surrounded by people who are in the process of losing their jobs due to a decision to off-shore their jobs.  Needless to say the environment is a little hostile.

This is proving to be a fascinating study in human nature.  Some people sit and moan about the tragedy about to befall them.  They wander the halls weeping and wailing, mourning their loss. 

Some are confused with the situation.  They know that opportunities are out there, but have no idea how to take advantage of them.

Then there are those who are taking the opportunity to reinvent themselves.  Stepping outside of their comfort zone.  Looking at jobs that the little voice in their head would normally be saying no to.  Taking that risk. 

I’ve learned that without risk, there is no reward. 

So, to answer my own question am I risk adverse? No.

Melting the Myth

Admin Gal is irritated. Why do you ask, oh fabulous reader? I’ll tell you!

Admin Gal is irritated with the double standard of perfection. Yes, that nasty, unobtainable expectation that is set forth before us in our performance evaluations. Yet frankly, never achievable.

Perfection on the job is a high subjective thing. One person’s perception of perfection will be completely counter another person.

The dilemma Admin Gal faces is she can’t read minds. This automatically sets her up for failure in the eyes of the person expecting perfection.

Maybe Admin Gal is becoming Zen or numb. But she has come to the realization that perfection is as elusive as the frost on a window. Pretty to look at, but under scrutiny it melts into nothing.

So, Admin Gal ignores the unobtainable expectations of others dreams of perfections. She simply lives a life that is guided by integrity, diligence and the desire to always do ones best.

At the end of the day, those same people can seldom live up to their own expectations of perfection.

Why should Admin Gal?

Resource Management

When offices consolidate, space becomes premium. Old habits of squatting wherever you want are hard to break.

Admin Gal has been forced into the role of Space Police. If a conference room has not been booked by the inhabitants, Admin Gal has to play Bad Cop. This is not fun when the person out ranks you. Evicting a Director, Vice President, or President is a dicey situation. But when it is a consultant, Admin Gal has no issue.

Granted their assigned space is limited, but so is the actual working space of the working environment of the company. Courtesy says you do not just plop yourself down and claim squatter rights. Where most of the time possession is 9 tenths of the law, when it comes to resource management, not so much.

Admin Gal is happy to try and find space for people. But don’t act like a toddler if you don’t want to be treated like one.