Annie Croner:
Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast where assistants come to embrace their badassery and discover how to show up more strategically for their careers, their executives, and most importantly, themselves. I'm your coach, Annie Croner. Join us as we dive into the skills, strategies and mindset that will help you unleash your full potential. Let's go. Welcome back to the Whole Assistant Podcast. Today I'm going to be talking about the power of community when it comes to our career growth and especially for us as administrative professionals and executive assistants, how building a strong community of executive assistants can support your career. But before I do that, I want to share about an upcoming free masterclass. Embrace your Executive Assistant Badassery.
Annie Croner:
Three steps to level up your strategic partnership with your executive this is the last time I'm going to be offering this masterclass this year. There are dates available on September 3rd and September 5th. You can pick the time slot that works best for you. I'm going to link to it in the show notes below. You can go to wholeassistant.com/partnership to register. wholeassistant.com/partnership to register okay guys, let's get down to it. So today we are talking about the power of building and developing a community. And I have to admit that when I first started out as an admin, this was not forefront for me.
Annie Croner:
This was not something I really thought about. But looking back, all of my best friends in the entire world I met online the job. So I met my best friend Val back in college. We were both working in the theater office at our university. I met my best friend Rebecca at our terrible temp job here in Denver. When I first moved to Denver, I worked a temp job and she was working a similar temp job and it was a terrible job and we kind of trauma bonded over that. We've been best friends ever since. So the closest people to me I met working administrative roles.
Annie Croner:
And so community has been powerful for me too. And as I have built up my own community and as I have now a following and that sort of thing, there is just so much power in it. I'm getting ready to launch another round of the Level Up Assistant. This is going to be my eighth cycle. Eight guys. I have led seven rounds of leveled up assistant and one of the things that everyone walks away with is this sense of solidarity. I think that these roles can be really isolating and so I just thought I'd highlight this for us today. What are you doing to really foster and facilitate community for yourself so that you have someone you can lean and rely on.
Annie Croner:
There are so many benefits of surrounding yourself with a community of people who understand what you do and understand the role of executive assistant. There really is no other position like it. So that's just something to bring your awareness to. I'm going to start out by sharing the pitfalls of trying to do this role alone. The first one is that we tend to feel siloed in our roles. We tend to feel like nobody understands what it is we spend our time doing every day. We tend to feel like we are isolated because especially if you're supporting a top tier C suite executive or an SVP or something like that, it can just be really isolating. You're carrying around a lot of sensitive information and you don't feel like you can talk about it really with.
Annie Croner:
Maybe the only person you can talk about it with is your executive, but your executive is really busy. So a lot of us feel like we cannot rely on our executive for support because it's our job to be supportive to them. Right? So that is the first kind of pitfall of trying to go it alone is that we tend to feel really isolated and siloed. The second is that we constantly wonder if there's a better way to do something. We're just trucking along, we're doing the best we can. We know that we are an effective assistant. We know that we're getting the job done. But we have this nagging sense that there may be a better way to approach the situation.
Annie Croner:
There may be a better way to approach whatever it is you're dealing with. And that nagging feeling can weigh on us after a while. The third pitfall of trying to go it alone is that it can lead to overwhelm and burnout and it can stall your growth as well. The great thing about being surrounded by a great group of executive assistants is that you can bounce ideas off of one another. And typically the person you're speaking with has dealt with something similar. This is why I'm really big fan of community or creating community for yourself. And there are so many tangible benefits to to community. Community serves as a mirror for us.
Annie Croner:
It highlights our limiting beliefs. I see this all the time in Running Leveled Up. Someone will come to the table and they will have this limiting a belief about their job. They'll think that the role must be done a certain way. They'll present their issue that they're dealing with to the group and the group will be like, no, girl, that's not how you want to think about it. This is a better this is a better way to think about it. So I love that mirroring effect. Right? And it also turbocharges your growth because you aren't going it alone.
Annie Croner:
You now have this group of people you can rely on and that will support you. I love the shared wisdom. You will be presented with solutions that you've never thought of before that you probably wouldn't think of on your own. There again, like I mentioned before, generally someone has been in your shoes and dealt with what you're currently dealing with. There's also a level of accountability and especially in my group program, I see this a lot where someone will be gone for a while and then they'll come back and everyone will ask about what's going on for them. Or maybe they were dealing with an issue and we get together again on a group call and they'll ask like, how's it going with such and such? People are invested in your success. It's not just you, it's not just your executive. People are invested in you and your success.
Annie Croner:
And also people will let you know when something is not okay. So if there's any unhealthy dynamics in your work environment or with your executive or. One of the things I love about community is that they can point out and reflect back to you how much the situation is not normal, how much is not okay, how they have dealt with a similar situation. I've seen it time and again inside of Leveled Up. So there's just so much power in Community and there's also great emotional support. What I love about us as a group of people, by and large is that most of us have high levels of emotional intelligence, which means that most of us generally want to see people succeeded. We honestly want people to do well. We understand the interpersonal dynamics of any work situation or work relationship.
Annie Croner:
So those are some great benefits of the power of community. And that feeling of feeling siloed just kind of dissipates, especially when you're relying on someone who is not in your work environment. You're relying on someone, you're relying on a group of people who have worked these roles before and can reflect back to you all the amazing things that you're capable of and all your amazing strengths and how to approach any situation. So I love Community so much and I love seeing my people when they connect with one another and I love starting out with a group and walking them through the 16 week process of leveled up and just seeing how they level up everything. They level up their mindset, they level up their hard skills, they level up their soft skills and they really feel empowered because they are surrounded by community. Yes, I coach my one on one clients and yes, I feel empowered by me. My one on one clients also have access to many parts of my group program. So I think that solidarity piece is just so underrated in these roles and especially if you're supporting a C suite executive.
Annie Croner:
I just found community to be really helpful. I've seen people make the shift from isolated doer like the one who does everything to empower strategic partner. And they do this by saying no. And how they feel empowered to say no is, is through community. It's through people backing them. It's through this idea of we've got you. This idea of collective knowledge and typically somebody being a little bit further along in their journey with regard to a certain situation or dynamic than you are, especially when it comes to boundary setting. So we just love this so much.
Annie Croner:
Community is your biggest shortcut to success. I'm going to say that again because it's really powerful. Community is your biggest shortcut to success. What might take you years to figure out on your own, you'll learn in days or weeks by leaning into shared experience. So just really consider how you can bring more community into your life, how you can really rely on people to level up. And typically what happens too is we're the sum of like the top five people we spend the most time with or whatever. I'm not quite sure what the statistic is there, but when we're around people who are really embracing their badassery leveling up are growth minded. When we're around that peer group, we will all rise.
Annie Croner:
And I am constantly trying to surround myself with people who are a little further along in their journey as well. And especially for me as a business owner now kind of had to flip the script and find people who are running their own businesses so that I can level up my mindset too, so that I'm not staying stuck in old patterns, so that I have that mirror as well that's reflecting back to me my limiting beliefs so that I can address those. I'm a firm believer that iron sharpens iron. And when you're in a room full of powerhouses, you're going to feel empowered as well. You're going to feel emboldened to make the changes you need to make in order to level up your badassery in order to really become a more strategic business partner. And I'm talking about this solely in the context of work right now, but your life as a Whole. I'm a firm believer in this. If you surround yourself with high quality top tier people, you yourself will ingest and adopt high quality top tier beliefs and actions.
Annie Croner:
So the question then becomes how do we build our community? Joining coaching programs like a leveled up assistant where community is baked in is a great way of doing that. I also love online communities as well. I love LinkedIn. LinkedIn. I have just found so much community. I actually found my coach through LinkedIn, my business coach. I just flew earlier this summer to Ireland to meet with her and to meet with my mastermind who is largely an Irish based group of people which is so much fun. And I've just found so much community.
Annie Croner:
So really tap into wherever you hang out. Look for them. If you're a Facebook person, there are several Facebook groups. If there's somebody you follow, engage with a post and then engage with other people. Connect with other people on LinkedIn and honestly guys, this is going to be helpful, especially if you're looking for a job. I also launched a course earlier this summer for job seekers that's pay what you can. And building your community is going to be paramount to your success if you're job seeking because 70% of jobs aren't actually posted to the general public. So we want to be engaging with people, we want to be connecting with people.
Annie Croner:
We want to be building meaningful relationships. Not so that we can find a job, but it certainly is helpful should you be looking for one. So building those relationships now, building that community now that you can rely on when you need something is tremendously helpful for you in your career, for, for your growth and tremendously helpful in landing your next position potentially. I think we also need to be willing to be seen. We need to be vulnerable, we need to be contributing as well. We all have a superpower and I think that oftentimes we downplay what that superpower is. I know for me, I am really good at connecting with people. I know some of us are really good at creating or doing events.
Annie Croner:
Some of us really don't mind coordinating board meetings and boards and stuff like that. We all have a strength and so if you can contribute your strength to somebody else, even in a mentorship capacity, that is also going to be helpful in first of all articulating your value proposition, articulating what makes you unique in our space, but then also in that connection piece with others. So you weren't meant to level up alone. Transformation happens more often than not in the context of community, especially if you're looking to turbocharge your growth and you really want to level up. To become a truly strategic business partner, you need community. And the doors are now open for Leveled Up. If you enroll as this podcast episode comes out before September 3rd, you get an additional hundred dollars off. So please check that out.
Annie Croner:
You can go to wholeassistant.com leveledup to register for that, or just check out my masterclass at wholeassistant.com/partnership to register for that as well. I will link to both in the Show Notes below. Honestly, if you're ready to stop going it alone, step into a career that truly lights you up, where you feel supported, challenged and celebrated. Come join us. Find another community. There are a lot of fantastic communities out there. I collaborate with a lot of people who are running amazing communities. So go find yourself a community.
Annie Croner:
Especially if growth is the name of your game and you really want to make the last half of this year truly impactful for you and your career. Okay, guys, that's what I have for you guys today. Be intentional. Be whole. And that is all for now. Hey, before you go, don't forget to grab my free Strategic Planning Session guide. This stealthy playbook will help you and your executive find clarity on their priorities so you can make a greater impact. Go to wholeassistant.com/guide or click the link in the Show Notes to snag your copy.
Annie Croner:
And if you're loving the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review and share with another assistant ready to level up. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep embracing your badassery.
