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Very broad, nonspecific question. My first thought was if you need to ask how to handle difficult situations in general, you may be in the wrong career. Administrative positions can be full of difficult situations, i.e. difficult customers, juggling major deadlines and responsibilities, moody coworkers or bosses, etc.
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Anonymous on
6/22/2009 12:07:01 PM
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That's a very broad questions.
I handle difficult situations dealing with deadlines differenly than difficult situations dealing with personalities.
I have 175 Administrative Assistants and 3 Regional Administrative Assistants that answer to me, but that also means that they ask me as well which leads to a time management issue.
Time Management and Deadline issues - I tell my assistants that they should keep a log of each job they are expected to perform daily, weekly, monthly and sporatically. Any job that has a deadline or is considered critical must be handled before everything else. Each time they are given an assignment/task they are to let the supervisor know what they have in the critical stage that takes presidence over the new assignment. Truly, I'm a firm believer that you can only do 8 hours in 8 hours. I am also not a fool and know there are assistants that can drag a project out much longer than necessary.
Personality issues - These are dealt with on a case by case basis. During our quarterly Admistrative Assistant meetings I spend at least 1/2 hour on personality types, issues and how best to handle certain situations.
I hope you find a solution to your specific difficult situation.
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Diane Salava on
6/18/2009 1:21:26 PM
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I keep a steno pad and write down the outline of the situation as it comes to me. This gives you both a base and time to research more detail before you have to respond. You might be surprised how a situation can change just by rewording the problem in your own mind, and this also lets you contact the right people for more information before you make any decisions on how to handle it.
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Anonymous on
6/18/2009 9:18:35 AM
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Yeah..it depends on the situation. But the best thing to do is find out all the facts before reacting. You have to be very careful how you handle any situation when you are representing a VIP in the company, as well. And it's always good to get the advice of HR if it's a personnel issue. Let us know specifically what you are dealing with.
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Jennifer from VA on
6/18/2009 8:43:54 AM
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I agree more information is needed as to the exact situation.
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Anonymous on
6/18/2009 7:50:16 AM
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Patrick,
Well, I guess it would dependon the difficult situation. Can you give us some more detail so we will know how to respond? That seems a bit broad and I don't want to give you the wrong information.
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Marti Smith on
6/18/2009 7:49:17 AM
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