3 Essential Tasks an Executive Assistant Can Do for You

0:28And I'm not good at. that is more essential for a successful business owner or an executive than a great executive assistant. Well, today we're going to talk about three essential tasks a world-class executive assistant can do for you. I love talking about executive assistants. You know, when we think about our coaching clients, this topic is probably one of the most popular because I think people, particularly business owners and executives, have this sense that they need help. They need somebody to kind of run point on all the supportive activities that are mission critical. And yet it kind of feels like a black box.

1:13You know, it's not like you learn in business school or, or, you know, college or whatever, how to, to hire a great executive assistant or even more challenging how to manage a great executive assistant. And so I think People sense that there's a lot of potential here, but they don't quite know how to access it. And so that's what we're going to dig into today. And I'm pumped.

1:43Okay, I want to start with a story. So back when I was in the big corporate world, I had two full-time executive assistants. So one of them, their full-time responsibility was managing my calendar, booking my travel, anything that was calendar related. The other one managed my inbox, took meeting notes, did all the things that were related to being a CEO of a bigger company. And so when I left that, I thought, I am so done with the bureaucracy of a big company. I don't need no stinking executive assistant. I can do this myself. And I kind of had this attitude early in my career. I thought, well, executive assistants are for the people that just can't manage stuff.

2:31You know, it's kind of a luxury that nobody that's hardcore and really committed needs. So I kind of, you know, went back to that period of my life. And I thought with this new role, as I'm starting this new company, which now is full focus, I'm just going to do without an executive assistant because I can do it all myself. I mean, how hard could it be? Well, that lasted about three months because I found myself totally engulfed in all these administrative tasks for which I had zero passion and even less skill. So in the Freedom Compass, we call that your drudgery zone, right? So I'm trying to book travel, make a total mess of it.

3:08I'm trying to manage my inbox and feeling totally overwhelmed, always behind. And I'd always prided myself in inbox zero. Well, I got there because I had an executive assistant, but on my own, I had too much email to manage. So that lasted about three months. But here's the worst part. As a business owner, I'm now focused on things that don't generate revenue, that don't grow the business, that don't enable it to scale. So I was recently speaking to a group of business owners and I said, hey, I'm just curious, by a show of hands, how many of you have an executive assistant? Only, only 50 % of them raised their hand.

3:49And I'm thinking, what? And they were exactly where I was. I couldn't really shame them because I've been in that exact shape before. And so I said, well, why don't you have an executive assistant? They gave me a variety of answers. But here's the thing. Once I got an executive assistant and I hired somebody who was a part-time virtual executive assistant, actually from Belay Solutions, which is a company that we usually recommend when we're talking about this, it made such an enormous difference almost immediately. I hired her for 10 hours a week and she turned my world upside down. And better yet, not only was I taken off the things that I didn't do well, but I was suddenly on the things that built the business.

4:31And so, I said to these business owners yesterday, I said, speaking from my own experience, here's the thing. You cannot scale your business unless you can scale yourself. That's the first and most important foundation of scaling a business. You've got to be able to scale your time. And you're going to quickly run out of 168 hours a week. You're going to run out of energy and focus and attention and creativity unless you can figure out how to scale yourself. And an executive assistant is the first step toward that. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And this is one of those things that business owners often have a blind spot around because they see the other needs in their business.

5:14Maybe somebody else on their team is asking for a new hire. It's like there's always something to spend money on. There's no shortage of places to invest as a business owner. And sometimes the last place we prioritize investing is ourself. But as we talked about in our previous episode of delegation, you are your most valuable resource as the business owner. Your time, the sense of stewardship over your time and how you think about investing that is one of the most important things you need to be concerned with. And you know, what I love about having an excellent world class, as we call it executive assistant, is that not only does that person keep you from doing things that for you are lower leverage, you know, the ROI on your investment of time on maybe some of those more administratively oriented tasks is not great relative to where you really get the biggest ROI for your time.

6:08But a lot of what they do, it's not just the ability to delegate things that you don't want to do because they're in your drudgery zone. It's also partnering with them to do the part of your work that really is a thing that makes it able to be effective. For example, maybe you're leading a meeting or you have an important vision that you need to articulate. Well, after you've written that vision, that's your work as the business owner or the CEO, you know, that's got to get disseminated to the rest of your team. That has to be, there's probably some kind of a follow up that has to happen for it to ultimately be as high leverage as it needs to be.

6:47And if it's left up to somebody like me or somebody like you, dad, we're not that good at that stuff, you know, and we can very quickly end up kind of squandering the opportunity of some of our most important high leverage work because nobody is coming behind us and making sure that whatever happens next goes where it needs to go. Yes, exactly. Well, we have a brand new course on this for executive assistants and for executives. We're going to tell you more about that later. But what we want to talk about now is three essential tasks that an executive assistant can perform for you as the business owner or as the executive in your company.

7:26and try to expand your thinking about what's possible because we think this makes an enormous difference. So Meg, what's the first one? So the first one is that a great executive assistant clears and protects time for high leverage work. And think of this as your partner in goal achievement. A really great executive assistant is gonna make it possible for you to achieve your most important goals in a way that you on your own really can't because those things are gonna pop up in your business and your life that are gonna threaten your goals, the things that you're committed to, your most important priorities, your highest leverage work.

8:04And what your executive assistant can do is say, okay, I know that you told me for this quarter, you're focused on these three goals. Let's make sure that in your calendar, there's enough time in your calendar for your highest leverage work because everybody's screaming at you, internal requests, external requests, etc, etc, fires that pop up for your time. And if you don't have someone proactively advocating for your goals and your most important priorities, they're just not going to happen. And so what I love is instead of me kind of having to advocate for myself, although, you know, some of that is necessary.

8:42I've got Elizabeth who was constantly saying, okay, like we did it in our one on one meeting this morning, okay, what are your big three for the week? You know, what are the goals that you're focused on this quarter. Okay, let's make sure that what I've allocated for you, she's saying this to me, there's enough time on your calendar for you to accomplish that because if nothing else happens by the end of this week, it's her job to make sure that I have enough time to get my weekly big three done because that is the domino that ultimately pushes my quarterly goals over. So I think this is one of those areas that's that's easy to discount, you know, you might just think about tasks that an EA does, scheduling, travel management, inbox management, whatever, but there's really outcomes that they're enabling for you, like clearing and protecting time for high leverage work that are invaluable.

9:29That's so good. And I think, you know, our assistant is not just somebody that does the stuff we don't want to do, but it's a collaborative partner and particularly our partner in goal achievement. But to just switch the lens slightly, this person is also the person who keeps us focused in what we call our desire zone. Now, last week, we talked a little bit about the Freedom Compass, which is a tool that we use in our business coaching program where we talk about where passion and proficiency meet, those things that we're the most passionate about, that we love doing, and the things that we're the best at in terms of generating revenue for our firm, meeting clients' needs, and really doing the thing that we're getting paid to do.

10:14If we can marry those two things together, that's the desire zone. Now, here's reality. You're not good at everything. And I don't mean you, Megan. I mean everybody listening to this, including me. I'm glad you clarified that because I thought we were about to have an intervention. That'll come later. Yeah, no, none of us are good at everything. And when it's all said and done, there's only a few things that any of us ought to be focused on because there's only a few things that we really excel at. There's a lot of things that we do that others could or would do if we would just ask them, and that would free us up to do the things that others can't or won't do.

10:58So, by the way, that's a loose translation of a famous quote by Dawson Trotman, but it applies here. We need to focus on the things that only we can do. Now, for me, that's about three things. And I tell our clients that it's probably three to five things that are in your sweet spot. That's your lane. That's where you should be focused. And an executive assistant can help you hold yourself accountable to not getting out of your lane and getting involved in those things that you don't do so well. And for me, it's all those administrative things like managing my email inbox, managing my calendar, booking my own travel.

11:38Those things are all in my drudgery zone, which is the exact opposite of the desire zone. These are things I don't like to do and I'm not good at. In fact, it's worse than not being good at. When I do them, I just kind of screw up and make work for everybody else. Yeah, that's been my experience too. Every now and then I'll try to book my own dentist appointment or haircut or whatever. And inevitably, my assistant has to come behind me and fix it because I've double booked or I've gotten the times wrong or I thought it was free and I really wasn't. I get the date wrong. It's a disaster every time.

12:09So I now have a commitment to just be hands off. But one little kind of side note that I want to just make that I think if you don't have an executive assistant now, and maybe you had some resistance to it, it can be easy to think of this as like, just the, you know, just like the little administrative stuff, like almost belittle the work, you know, like this is just the administrative stuff. And kind of like dad, your experience coming out of the corporate world, having two executive assistance, then being on your own, trying to do it all. If you've ever tried to do this on your own, what you realize is it is not insignificant at all.

12:45It's actually very, very important. Just because it's not high leverage for you, because it's not your greatest contribution, doesn't mean it's not very, very important. Because here's the reality, if your time is your most valuable resource in your business, then how you spend it, and conversely, how you unintentionally waste it because of bad scheduling, or if you get too exhausted because your travel is not thought through, if you travel a lot and, you know, you get in a situation where, you know, you took a flight late at night and you got to bed late and you got an important presentation the next morning with an important client.

13:19And that's not as good as it could have been because you were too tired because you didn't think through all that. That's not insignificant. That is incredibly important. And a good executive assistant is a master of pulling together all the details that you can do the things that you do best. It really is a partnership. And I think the best partnerships that we see as coaches in our business, between executive assistants and business owners are when people see it that way. If you have kind of like an old school, like, secretary mentality, you know, if you like rewind, you know, and you're like back in the 60s or the 70s.

13:52That's not what we're talking about. We are talking about really smart, really capable people who are your partners who have different strengths than you do, that make it possible, as we said here, in this first point, To clear the path and protect the time for your highest leverage work. Yeah. And a really good executive assistant is going to anticipate your needs. So they're not going behind you cleaning up. They're going in front of you, making the way clear so that you can stay focused on your highest leverage work. And I think that's an important distinction because I used to think it was the former, not the latter.

14:26But it really is that being in front of me, making the way clear so that I can stay focused on those things that really drive the business forward and create a life that I love.

14:49Okay, so the first one, the first task that a world-class EA can do is they clear and protect time for high leverage work. What's the second one? The second one is that a great executive assistant handles coordination and communication. Now, this is one of those things that is deceptively simple. And yet, I don't know about you, dad, but man, this is where I can get sucked into just a whole slew of tasks and things that distract me from making my highest leverage contribution. because there's so many people that I have to communicate with. You know, when I'm rolling out some change, which we've done some of lately, like, for example, with our switch, our rebrand to become full focus from Michael Hyatt and company, from a communication standpoint, that was very complex.

15:37There was so much coordination that was necessary. You know, we had a whole cascading communication plan internally, externally, documents that were needed. If I had been in charge of that myself, The likelihood that we would have had dropped balls, that we would have had miscommunication, that we would have had inconsistent messaging would have been very high because there's a lot of sequencing that is necessary. And a great executive assistant can help keep you out of that. So you can do the thing that the business owner you're really charged with, which is probably actually doing the communication itself.

16:10But they can think through how does it get sequenced? Who needs to know first? Let's make sure that you're keeping up with your inbox. another kind of communication, all the different things, setting up meetings. There's just so much of that kind of stuff. And you could spend 30 % or 40 % of your time as the business owner managing all that, or you could spend 30 % to 40 % of your time generating revenue for the company by being the visionary, by being out front, whatever it is that you do in your desire zone. I think it's really easy to underestimate what capable executive assistants are capable of.

16:45So, for example, one of the things that Jim has done increasingly, Jim is my executive assistant and he's been with me now for a little over five years, I think. And one of the things about Jim is that he will take, because he manages my inbox, he will compose drafts of replies to requests that are for me. And those have gotten increasingly complex, but it's to the point now where Jim will draft the draft. And I will say to him, I wouldn't change a word. I mean, that's perfect. That sounds like it's from me. It's in my voice. It's exactly what I would say. But here's a cool thing. Jim doesn't, he's not as connected to it emotionally.

17:27And this is a good thing. Because for example, when somebody makes a request of me, you know, they may catch me at a weak point when I'm just trying to be my people pleaser self, which is not my best self. And I might say yes. But Jim has that perspective of the whole calendar. He knows my commitment to my family. He knows my commitment to my highest priorities. And he's going to make sure that that doesn't happen. So Jim is able to go out in front of me and deal with these issues and be proactive so that I don't have the anxiety of having to make the decision myself. Jim knows what my highest values are.

18:01He doesn't get confused like I sometimes do. And he's able to respond to my behalf and in a way that's gracious and kind, but still protects my calendar. And that's enormously helpful. Yeah, I think this is huge. And you actually said something that was sort of like a little Russian doll, you know, nesting doll in there, where not only is he going out in front, but Jim is really making recommendations to you, whether that's about communication and coordination or opportunities that come through communication, you know, often for you that comes through email requests that people send to you. And he's the first line of defense there, which is so helpful.

18:40There's like, this buffer between the two of you. And I think that not only does that protect you from making bad decisions where you might be inclined, like you said, out of a desire to people please to say yes, when you really want to say no, but it also reduces your decision fatigue, because instead of of him coming to you and saying, you know, what do you want to do about this email or this request? He's saying, I think you should say no to this because of X, Y, Z. In fact, I've already written this draft for you. Will you just approve it? And it's like, he's leading the horse to water. You know, he's leading the witness in a great way.

19:15And I think that is such a huge thing, because then you can stay focused on the decisions only you can make. Yes, that's exactly right. And part of this anticipation that he does is anticipating things on my calendar that could really chip away at a lot of time that I have available and only have available to do the high leverage things. And so, for example, you know, as we're recording this, we're just, it's just before Mother's Day. And so one of the things Jim did last week is he sent me a little notice in Slack and he said, oh, by the way, I've ordered flowers for your mother and I've ordered flowers for your wife for Mother's Day.

19:55Here's the messages I sent with them. And I just want you to know that they're going to be arriving on Saturday before Mother's Day so they can enjoy them for the whole weekend. I was amazing. And by the way, I make no distinction. I know. I make no distinction between my private life and my personal life. Now, in the corporate world, big corporate world, I couldn't do that. But as a business owner, I can do that. And I told him at the beginning, there was going to be no distinction. So what Jim does in that situation is he makes me the hero. Because I always have the intention. You know, I want to follow through.

20:27I want to, you know, show up for the people that I love, you know, in a way that's significant and communicates all the right things. But sometimes I don't follow through on the intention. But Jim makes good on my intentions. And he does that for all kinds of gifts, all kinds of things. You know, I've told you, Megan, this is old news to you, but I have a weekly date with one of my five daughters and it's on a rotating basis. And so, that was an intention that sometimes it was hit or miss till I got Jim involved. And then I said, Jim, I need you to coordinate this so that it never, ever falls off the map so that I've always got this date sometime with one of my daughters because they're very important to me.

21:11So, Jim has made that happen beautifully. And again, it makes me the hero because he's coordinating the things that for whatever reason, I don't have the time or the energy or the focus or the follow through to do. Well, another thing like that is lunch. Okay. So another thing that seems like it's kind of an ordinary thing that like, why would it rise to the level of being on anyone's job description? Well, have you ever gone to try to do a presentation with low blood sugar or crashing blood sugar because all you could grab was a Snickers bar and a Coke, right? But instead, if your executive assistant is thinking about, okay, how do I prepare my person to go deliver that presentation?

21:56Then part of that preparation is making sure that you're hydrated, that you have blood sugar, you know, taken care of, and you're not spending a lot of time worried about that. and he or she may be able to come to you. And instead of saying, what do you want for lunch? Or did you bring lunch today? It's, I think, you know, you should get this for lunch. You know, let me recommend this. And then if you're like, nah, I don't really feel like that. I actually ate that yesterday. You know, it was over the weekend or whatever. Then they can go to option number two. But if you have a pre-populated list and they know everything you like from all the local places, then when it's a busy day and, you know, you couldn't bring something from home or whatever, they can be intentional.

22:30And all that stuff goes together to help you perform at your best, which matters because stewarding your own time and energy for the benefit of the people that you're serving is one of your most important roles in your organization. So, you know, all this comes together to really be a performance strategy with your partner, who's your executive assistant.

22:52Okay. So the first task that they can do is to clear and protect time for high leverage work. The second one is handle coordination and communication. What's the third one? The third is that a great executive assistant can manage meetings and necessary follow-up. Operative word, follow-up. I mean, that's like a bad word to me. You know, I just don't kind of have the natural wiring to be good at follow-up. And beyond that, like most business owners and CEOs, I spend almost all of my time in meetings, except for our meeting-free day, which is Wednesdays, which means unless I'm gonna work before work and after work, I don't even have time to do the follow-up because I'm in the meetings.

23:37However, if I have Elizabeth with me in many of those meetings taking notes, which usually I do if it's a significant meeting, she is amazing at collating the action items, distributing them to the people that need to take action on them, following up to make sure they were done, getting any relevant documentation. You know, oftentimes there'll be something that, hey, we need to do some research on that or whatever. She makes all that stuff happen so that, you know, we don't just sit in meetings and come up with great ideas. We actually take the action that we intend to so that we can move the business forward.

24:11And again, these are critical contributions that our executive assistants are making. And if it just depended only on us as business owners or CEOs, you know, there would be so many balls dropped that would really compromise our ability to deliver operating results? Well, it really compromises our integrity with our own team. Yeah. When we don't follow through, when we give our word to something and tell them we're going to do something and then we don't do it, that sets a bad example. It compromises our integrity and it just doesn't move the business forward. So one of the things that Jim does for me, I have, like everybody else, recurring meetings.

24:46And so Megan, you and I had a meeting before we got on today. And one of the things Jim always does for me is the night before my meeting. so this would have been on Friday before Monday we're recording this, Jim would give me a list, not only in my meetings, but all the commitments that I made to get done before the meetings today. So I knew what I needed to get done in order to meet with you. He also reminds me what other people committed to so that I can ask them about that. So what that does is it creates not only, it makes me look great because I'm always following through because I always get the reminder and if I haven't done it, I can scramble and still get it done, but it also sets the pace for the entire organization that we make commitments, we keep commitments, and that's kind of the cadence of the meetings that we're involved in.

25:31Okay, I have to tell you a funny thing that is my favorite thing about Elizabeth joining me in meetings. Okay, it's not going to be what you think. She keeps up with the time. Now, thankfully, a lot of the meetings that I'm in are creative, kind of visionary type meetings. You know, a lot of times there's a whiteboard involved and man, I can just lose track of time. You know, I love it. We make a lot of progress. It's so fun, but I have kids to pick up. And if you've been listening to us for any length of time, you know, I got to leave to go pick up the kids from school. That is my commitment every day.