Executive Assistant

There are a few traits all great leaders in the c-suite have in common, such as excellent communication skills and the ability to take charge. But not all great leaders inspire people to want to follow them. These four underrated skills will help you become the best leader you can be.

1. Nimbleness

The business world changes rapidly. For this reason, the most effective leaders know how to identify and make sense of complex and dynamic business environments. Great leaders are nimble; they have the ability to respond quickly to change. Essentially, the best leaders can sense opportunities when they present themselves and then take advantage of those opportunities by acting decisively.

2. Receptivity to Feedback

The best leaders continually work on improving themselves. They know there is always room for improvement, so they listen closely when people give them feedback and are not defensive in reaction. As a leader, when you listen to criticism and take it in stride, you also encourage your employees to embrace constructive feedback. Thus, receptivity not only helps you improve your leadership capabilities, it also helps to improve performance of your team members.

3. Diplomacy

Diplomacy is one of the most under appreciated leadership skills. Few things can impede the success of a team as much having a toxic work environment. While there will always be conflict in the workplace, leaders who are diplomatic know how to mitigate conflict without alienating employees. Diplomacy also help leaders get along with all of their team members, even if their personalities clash. Ultimately, great leaders need to be able to stay professional.

4. Accountability

Excellent leaders practice accountability. They follow through on their commitments, keep their promises, and take responsibility for their mistakes. One way to improve accountability is to plan for the unexpected. For example, it’s smart to assume tasks will take longer than you think in case you encounter any roadblocks. When you show accountability, people are more likely to see you as trustworthy and responsible. These are the kind of traits that make people want to follow you.

There are many different skills and characteristics that can make someone an effective leader, but not all great leaders are exceptional. Nimbleness, receptivity, diplomacy, and accountability are four skills can make you an exceptional leader who inspires your employees to be their best.

 

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As the C-suite becomes more and more diverse, companies and their employees need to actively work on raising their cultural awareness. Truly embodying cultural awareness in the workplace means understanding differences in cultures and giving everyone an equal level of respect. It also involves eliminating unconscious biases and normalizing the idea that diversity makes an organization stronger.

Benefits of Cultural Awareness

When your company embodies cultural awareness, everyone benefits. Employees feel more comfortable in their work environment and are encouraged to learn from each other. Cultural awareness is also the first step in creating an inclusive work culture. When everyone on your team feels valued and respected, the team works better together, and employee engagement and productivity increase. Cultural awareness can also improve a company’s ability to solve problems because the team can approach problems from many different perspectives.

It Starts with Research

The first step is to recognize that everyone has preconceived notions about other cultures that may not be true. In developing cultural awareness, you have to set aside assumptions and research with an open mind. Part of this requires you to talk to people with diverse backgrounds and listen. As you work on advancing cultural awareness in the workplace, monitor your own behavior in interacting with people from other cultures. This is the easiest way to identify any unconscious biases you may have. Research cultural practices to better understand how to show respect to employees from different backgrounds than your own.

Learn How to Communicate Flexibly

Communication practices differ from one culture to the next. It’s important to take the time to learn about communication variations related to culture because it helps avoid misunderstandings and workplace conflict. For example, a word in one culture can be a compliment but, in another culture, it could be an insult. With this in mind, when a company embodies cultural awareness, overall communication improves over time. This, in turn, helps employees work harmoniously as a team, allowing for more cooperation.

The C-Suite is becoming more diverse, which means it is more important than ever that companies start thinking more about how they can improve cultural awareness in the workplace. Cultural awareness and inclusivity helps ensure all employees feel respected, improves communication, encourages teamwork, and more. The key is to promote self-reflection and interaction because it is the best way to learn about different cultures and eliminate unconscious biases.

 

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Few things can hinder success of an organization more than a toxic work culture. Negative attitudes, interpersonal conflict, and stress can lower the performance of the whole team. Companies often have a few negative members who weigh down the entire team, which speaks to how damaging toxicity can be. However, with strong leadership, you can transform a toxic work culture back into a healthy one.

Acknowledge Toxic Behavior

One reason toxic behavior has the tendency to pervade the entire work culture is that leaders take too long to address the behavior because they want to avoid conflict, or they don’t realize the impact one person can have on team dynamics before it’s too late. It is imperative that leadership call out toxic behavior immediately, so team members can identify the unproductive behaviors they might be unaware of. It is also important to discipline consistently. Employees need to know that toxic behavior will not be tolerated.

Encourage Positive Actions

On the flip side, it is essential to also identify what behaviors and attitudes you do value as an organization and encourage your team members to embrace those characteristics, such as collaboration, humility, and respect. This is how building a positive work culture starts. If everyone treats others with compassion, acts ethically, works together to solve problems, and maintains an optimistic attitude, you can create a work environment that is both productive and enjoyable.

Be Supportive

It takes time to heal from the effects of working in a toxic culture. Employees may have had to deal with unnecessary anxiety, bullying, feelings of inadequacy, and other challenges. It’s not enough to get rid of toxic behaviors in the workplace. You also have to build your team members back up. If employees know they have the support of management and that work culture is a top priority, they can start to feel comfortable in their jobs again.

Use Training and Team Building Exercises

Training and team building exercises can be used to reinforce positive behaviors in the workplace. You can use training activities to show employees how to communicate respectfully with one another and how to deal with conflict in a healthy manner. Team building activities can help rebuild trust between team members and encourage cooperation.

Having a toxic culture will always keep an organization from performing at its best. If employees dread coming to work every day, they aren’t going to be as productive or engaged as they need to be to maximize their potential. Companies can transform toxic cultures into positive ones by firmly addressing negative behaviors, identifying, demonstrating, and encouraging positive behaviors, and creating a supportive work environment.

 

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When considering new opportunities in C-level support, it’s important to demonstrate to employers that you have leadership qualities. You may be asked to provide examples of times you showed leadership skills. People applying for managerial positions expect these types of questions. However, it has become common for employers to ask about leadership skills in roles such as chief of staff, family office management, or even executive assistant, which can sometimes throw interviewees for a loop. The following tips will guide you through the process of sharing your leadership skills during the job interview.

Reflect on Your Ideas about Leadership

The first step is to think about what leadership means to you. There isn’t one definition that applies to everyone or every situation. Employers don’t want you to have the exact same understanding of leadership as they do, nor do they want you to share examples they can relate to. What they want to know is that you comprehend why leadership is important and are self-aware enough to understand how you exemplify leadership in a professional setting. Start by thinking about a role model you admire who held a position of authority. This will help you reflect on how your ideal leader behaves. What qualities did they have? How did they approach problems?

Pick an Example that Highlights Your Strengths

Employers are always looking for talent who has the potential to be decisive, take action, and inspire others. Once you have a clear understanding of what you value in a leader, you can reflect on past situations in which you demonstrated the leadership skills and qualities you most admire. It’s also a smart idea to take a second look at the job description, as well as the company website. You may find clues about how your role could require you to lead. You don’t necessarily want to share the story that is the most impressive. Share a story that is relevant to the role you are applying for and genuinely reflects how you perceive strong leadership.

Communicate Your Example Clearly

A good story is meaningless without good storytelling. Start by briefly describing what leadership means to you using a definition that complements your example. Then, describe the scenario in which you demonstrated leadership skills. Provide enough context for the interviewer to comprehend why the situation required that you take charge. Next, identify what actions you took that reflect leadership skills. What role did you play and how did you behave during the scenario? Finally, discuss the outcome. What did your actions achieve and how did the experience inform your opinion about the importance of leadership.

Behavioral questions are often the hardest kind to answer during interviews. Questions about leadership can be particularly challenging because it’s such an important skillset. The key to sharing examples of leadership with prospective employers is to have a firm understanding of what leadership means to you, choose a story that is relevant to the role you have applied for, and structure the story in a way that is clear, concise, and detailed.

 

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Having a strategic onboarding process is the best way to ensure the success of new hires. With many jobs in C-level support transitioning to be remote, the onboarding process isn’t as straightforward as it used to be. These tips will help you deliver a personal and welcoming onboarding experience to remote employees.

Deliver Essentials Quickly

Remote work is driven by technology. Make sure your remote workers have all the devices and accessories they need before they start their first day. Check that they have manuals and set up instructions ahead of time. Everything should be ready for them to go so they can jump straight into their work. If new employees have to spend day one setting up equipment or waiting around for tech to arrive, they are likely to lose some confidence in their employer. At many companies, IT departments are swamped right now. It’s a good idea to have video tutorials for tech set up and troubleshooting.

Host a Meeting to Welcome New Employees

New hires need to feel like they are connected to the company from the beginning, which can be challenging when they work alone. Remote workers still want to feel like they are a part of a team, so it is important for them to meet all of their coworkers and managers early on. Schedule a meeting where the team can introduce themselves to the new employee and welcome them into the fold. A welcome meeting is a good opportunity for new hires to learn about their colleagues and find people who share some of their professional and personal interests. Make the onboarding as interactive and socially engaging as possible.

Provide New Hires with Company Swag

A good way to welcome remote workers to the team is to send them a package with company merchandise. You could send them a coffee cup and sweatshirt with the organization’s logo on it, for example. Swag like this will help them feel like a valued member of the team and even seconds as free brand marketing for the company. You can also send more personalized welcome gifts like a mousepad with the name of the employee on it. Even sending a letter or email to them about how excited you are to have them on your team can help hires feel more welcome as they start their new
job.

As more executive support roles switch to work-from-home, organizations have to rethink their approach to onboarding. Remote workers won’t have the face-to-face interactions they would otherwise have. You have to be proactive in finding ways for new hires to connect with their colleagues, and ensure the reliability and usability of technology from the start.

 

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Excellent communication is essential if you want a successful career in C-level support. Communication shapes the relationships you have with colleagues, managers, and clients. Ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings and workplace conflict. The key to excellent communication is being flexible and understanding your audience. Below are some tips to improve your communication for career success.

Communicating with Go-getters

Your coworkers will consist of different personalities. Some have a leadership mindset and are solely focused on work. These types of coworkers expect interaction to be fast, to-the-point, and goal-oriented. Know your talking points before you initiate the conversation and have a specific goal in mind. Generally, limit your interaction to business, as these professionals don’t want unnecessary distractions. Active listening is also important. Make sure you maintain eye contact and keep track of everything the speaker says.

Communicating with Social Butterflies

Your more social colleagues crave more personal interaction. They want to build a friendly relationship with you. With more social coworkers, don’t be all business all the time or act any way that could come across as standoffish. These professionals want to know you are interested in their life beyond work and want people to share their enthusiasm with. That said, keep interactions fairly short because these personality types tend to distract more easily.

Communicating with Introverts and Analysts

Introverted and analytical personality types tend to prefer business-oriented communication over personal conversations. They favor communication that is clear and organized. When interacting with these personality types, avoid being overly loud. Analysts in particular are often focused on facts and data, so they expect reliable, evidence-based information. Generally, when you communicate with introverts, be thorough and on topic. Pay attention and listen. Avoid interrupting your quieter coworkers when they talk and if they seem confused at any point, slow down and try to convey the information in a different way.

Communicating with Nurturers

Communicating with professionals who are highly empathetic and nurturing requires patience and warmth. This personality type can intimidate easily, so communicate in a manner that is friendly and relatively quiet. Avoid being pushy or demanding. Mindful listening is critical in dealing with this type of communicator. Nurturers often have great ideas, but they aren’t hesitant to share them. Take your time to be encouraging and ask them for their opinions.

Good communication requires empathy, adaptability, and active listening. Different coworkers will have different communication preferences. Some will be business-oriented, while others crave more socialization. Once you understand how your colleagues communicate, you can significantly improve your communication and leverage this improvement to facilitate achievement in your career.

 

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A turning point could perhaps be pinpointed to the launch of CNN in June of 1980. Prior to CNN, news programming delivered relatively factual information for an hour or two a day. After CNN, although it was an amazing accomplishment to cover events live as they happened and to have an endless stream of information, it created a demand for opinion. How else could 24 hours of news for 365 days per year be filled? A little over a decade later, the abundance of the accessibility for opinions skyrocketed with the growth of easy-to-use web browsers in the mid 1990’s. We have always had the right to free speech, but never before has the freedom of opinion been accessible to so many. As an employer, what is your culpability for the free speech of your employees?

The Issue

Most hiring managers are quite savvy when it comes to researching potential new hires: they check out pictures on social media, judge extracurricular activities, and may even choose to end the interviewing process based on things discovered online.
What happens when instead of judging, we end up being judged?

Consider the ramifications of an A-Player researching whether or not to interview with your organization and seeing what to them is a controversial article shared from an employee within the firm. Consider one of your key accounts, who has done business with your organization for years, distancing themselves based on a persistent string of what they perceive to be annoying comments online. This is not limited purely to social media: consider the consequences of a potential client reviewing your firm and viewing information on your website that makes them feel like their business may not be welcomed because of differing beliefs.

Rereading the prior paragraph, notice phrases like “seeing what to them is,” “what they perceive to be,” and “makes them feel like.” We are not required to take responsibility for the feelings and reactions of others, but we should take responsibility for being the catalyst for those feelings and actions.

Many people might think this only refers to extreme examples, and we can probably all think of several that have gone viral for their irreverence. However, there is no such thing as a true safe zone when it comes to common opinion.

The Regulation

This does not mean that individuals should not have the ability to express freedom of speech, and of course great things have come from it. The challenge that remains is one of authority. Who is to say what is appropriate and what is not? Is that really the responsibility of senior leadership and human resources to balance the potential damage to a company’s image and reputation against their desire to foster a supportive workforce that doesn’t micromanage the actions of every employee? In some extreme examples, termination over controversial behavior could be easily rationalized. In others, it does not require malice of forethought to make prospective candidates, clients or other employees feel uncomfortable.

If guidelines should be established, ask the following questions:

• Is what I am about to share positive in nature or negative?
• If negative, what is my desired outcome?
• If positive, what audience might still have a differing opinion and am I okay with that audience feeling alienated?
• When entering into an online debate, ask yourself how often has your opinion been changed by a similar form of communication. It is likely it has not.
• Would I be comfortable voicing this opinion to someone in person, or would I adjust my message or tone if I was discussing this face-to-face with an individual?
• Insert the opposite perspective or belief: how would you feel if you read it online from a vendor? Would you question if you would want to continue to work with that client?
• Is it worth it?

The Education

In many organizations, focused training on understanding multiple perspectives is limited. This skill is about authentically learning about others and better understanding their point of view on a specific topic or situation. When we avoid personalizing other people’s opinions, we can have a more objective perspective. Widening our perspective can increase awareness and social sensitivity.

The ultimate goal with free speech is to consciously and genuinely listen to the perspective of others and see it simply as a perspective. Instead, people tend to judge perspectives or opinions as “good” or “bad.” Train individuals not to judge but view opinions exactly for what they are: the point of view of a single person based on their life experiences and values.

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