Assigning Responsibilities

Admin Gal has a co-worker who recently was assaulted with responsibilities not assigned by her manager.

Assigned by whom you ask?

Assigned and announced to the company by another admin who, frankly, couldn't be bothered to go through the proper channels to discuss additional job responsibilities.

You see, these responsibilities being added to her plate surmounted to the work of an additional employee.  Let me repeat.  An Additional Employee.

Her managers had not been apprised of these changes.  An assumption had been made that she would be 'happy' to take on these additional responsibilities.

The admin with the added responsibilities was savvy.  She made the issue be known to her manager. Who, in turn, ran it up the channels to the unfortunate admin's boss who started the mess.

A review is currently underway of policy and procedure.  The admin who started making assignments is backpedaling.  Trying to create documentation for her faux pas - too little too late.

Her boss has egg on his face.

The morale of this story?  Always know your responsibilities, and always make sure your supervisor is aware of changes not approved by him or her.

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.

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.

Rules at Work

Rules are a guideline by which behavior is governed in any given situation.  In a work environment it can be a boon and a curse all rolled into one.
You see, rules form a framework by which we can set our expectations of how we can conduct our selves in the workplace, do our jobs, expect compensation, etc.  Rules can also stymie the work environment.  Keep people from growing into their potential.

People who step beyond the boundaries set by the rules will be either lauded or vilified.
I frequently step outside the boundaries of my rules.  You could say, I run with scissors.

If something isn't working, I find a way to make it work.  I go over, under or around that which impedes me to get the job done. That often means rules get broken.

I don't advocate landing in jail.  Those rules shouldn't be broken.  But when an organization has become so hide bound by its own rules, sometimes a rule-breaker is just what the organization needs to find its path again.  Organizations that have no flexibility in them are the ones that fail.  Especially in today's climate.

Not all rule breakers survive in a rigid organization.  Organizations exist that appreciate the unique talents of these individuals.

Flexibility!

I’m so flexible, I’m a pretzel! 

So, I spend a week and a half setting up 90 minute high-level executive meetings over a three week period. Juggling schedules, begging for meetings to move to accommodate said meetings, bribing where I can, to get all the meetings scheduled. 

One phone call destroys my hours and days of hard work.  The admin who made the call gets my frustration, but the executive who made the decision has no clue how hard it was to arrange all the meetings.  He just said ‘Make it so’. 

Instead he wants one mega meeting, which was the original idea.  Two weeks ago this meeting would have been easy to arrange.  Now, putting this meeting together for tomorrow is a logistical nightmare.  But, since the company officers attending the meeting are high enough up in the company, everyone can clear their schedules and make due.

Hierarchy is a double-edge sword.