The administrative assistants in my department have decided to have monthly admin meetings to discuss challenges, best practices, coverage, etc. There are six assistants in the department, and we provide coverage for each other (absences, lunch, etc.), as well as support the management team consisting of VPs, AVPs and Managers. Each assistant supports two VPs and two AVPs for their respective areas and their managers. It is perceived by management that we are not collaborating with each other, and that some of the admins have more on their plate than others. Also, the management team wants the admins to provide feedback on the monthly meetings to them. I need guidance on what to include in a memo to the management team. Has anyone done this before? If so what type of feedback was given to management? Any suggestions would be helpful.
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I agree with the others, taking Minutes and distributing them to management to review. I would also work to keep track of specific initiatives you have implemented that have made a positive impact to the efficiency of the entire office. This will document the results of the time you spent, thus giving in a quantifiable reason for its continuation.
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Anonymous on
3/13/2008 4:12:26 PM
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Develop a meeting agenga, stay focused and on point - identify side issues, address common issues, challenges, problems, look for resolutioins that benefits your organization. However you conduct your meetings and time together, remember it is very important to over-communicate rather than not communicate at all. Demonstrate to senior personnel the importance of your being in their midst, and the extremely important support that administrative professionals provide in and out of the office. The more management knows aboout how you support them the more they will realize just how important administrators are to your organization.
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Wrenae on
3/11/2008 1:29:45 PM
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Minutes - it's the only sure way for your VPs and AVPs to know what's going on with your monthly meeting.
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Faye Lattimore on
3/11/2008 12:27:27 PM
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Those middle managers are afraid you are killing time and gossiping about them. If you haven't done so yet, get the President to bless the weekly meetings. You may want to include in your justification that the whole point of having the meeting is to collaborate! Many directors and above think in terms of turf when it comes to subordinate staff and therefore the chain of command is vertical. However, in the evolving business world, those stovepipe staff directories are slowly disappearing. Companies are starting to manage by projects and objectives and this requires a collaborative or horizontal management style. If you can convince your bosses that you are doing them a favor by setting the groundwork and developing these lateral channels for them, your value to the organization has just increased. We all know who really runs the show!
As for the minutes, include who was present, status of old business, committee reports if any, new business, and issues on hold. You should distribute the agenda by email in advance so the meeting stays short (less than an hour). Having long meetings is the prerogative of managers, not support staff.
Good luck!
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AEAP on
3/11/2008 12:24:22 PM
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I am the Chairperson of the Administrative Support Committee at my company. We hold monthly meetings to discuss the same type of issues you are talking about. We send out meeting minutes after each of our meetings. They included a list of items we talked about and the solutions we came up with or information needing disseminated regarding the administrative policies/procedures, etc. Hope this helps.
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AEAP on
3/11/2008 12:23:42 PM
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I'd prepare an agenda for each meeting, and forward a copy of it to the managers. I'd then send out (basic) minutes from the meetings. I'd also try to have more team-building activities with your group. Perhaps a half-day retreat with a facilitator, or bring in lunch for your meeting occasionally. Get support for these activities from mgmt - you will find the assistants working better together as a team if you foster that stewardship. Good luck!
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Kathy Morgan on
3/11/2008 10:07:59 AM
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In the City of New Bern, NC we have a Users Group that meets monthly. I run this group and it consists of nine administrative assistants from nine different departments. It started out as a computer user group. Each month a different department will host the meeting. We cover such topics as Word, Excel, Macros, Power Point, etc. Sometimes we use a member who has expertise or outside sources. We have expanded our scope recently to include a tour given by the Department Head so we can learn what each department does. That gives management a chance to get involved also. They all seem to like to "show off" their department and tell what they do. We do not provide a formal report to management, but I always tell the City Manager the topic of the meeting and what was discussed. I assume most of the administrative assistants take back the information they learned also. I love it when I have learned a "tip" or "shortcut" and can share it with my boss. Good luck on this project.
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Dawn Heller on
3/11/2008 9:59:23 AM
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I am the administrative manager and have have two other assistants that report to me. We meet on a monthly basis for three primary reasons: 1)calendar review, 2) update on current events/tides, and 3) sounding board issues. This is a very important meeting and an excellent opporutnity for me to put rumors to rest, offer assurance and provide support/training. Work load has been and continues to be a huge issue since three of us support the entire administrative and management team (some 50 people). We've had meetings spefically on job duties. Here is how I've done it. Have each person take two days to keep a log of everything they do each day, then have them add to the log items they do weekly, monthly and quarterly that might not have been captured on the 2-day log. This is a critical part of the project and you will get resistance, but its necessary. This list becomes your working document and an excellent tool to share with your bosses educating them to exactly what you do. It's very surprising to them, believe me! The assistants and I discuss amongst ourselves the best way to share the wealth with job responsibilites. Some are easier than others. Often times you'll find that several people are doing the same thing! So now you've gained effeciency as well. As manager, it becomes my job to assign tasks if people are not taking their fair share or are reluctant to change. We do not take minutes at our meetings. Its time consuming and doesn't fulfill a purpose for us. Instead, I follow-up with a task list in Outlook. I report directly to the executive team about projects we are working on.
A meeting audit is another huge project we've done several times that has gained efficiency for our executives, but your executives have to give you latitidue to "own" their calendars. I can talk more about that with you if you are intersted. Hope this is helpful.
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Lisa Porria on
3/11/2008 9:49:49 AM
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We use to hold monthly AA's meetings. I would type up minutes from the meeting (whatever was discussed) and send to our managers. We also included one guest employee (manager) each month to talk about their department for about 15-20 minutes and how we (as AA's) could better assist. them. At the end of the year during Christmas we would get together and do an ornament exchange as our December meeting.
We also started a How To Book on stuff that each AA did for her department. It was never finished.
All the AA's enjoyed having the meetings and thought they were real informative.
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Terwa on
3/11/2008 9:32:10 AM
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Thanks for your reply. That is exactly what I did.
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Anonymous on
3/11/2008 9:25:59 AM
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I would simply send them the copies of the meeting minutes.
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Phyl Brown on
3/11/2008 9:20:00 AM
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