Annie Croner [00:00:01]:
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 Kroner. 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. Last week I was invited to sit on a managing up panel for Offsite. It was so much fun. I also wanna give a shout out to the other panelists, Jeremy Burrows, Chrissy Arias, Melanie Naranjo.
Annie Croner [00:00:40]:
During the course of this event, the moderator asked us to take turns answering this question, and this question is gonna be the topic of our discussion today on this podcast. He asked us, what is one habit no EA should live without? And the moderator punted to me first, and my answer left an impression on the audience. There was just a lot of chatter in the chat box, a lot of back and forth. The other people in my panel with me were like, how do I follow this with an answer? Because it was so profound. So it's been very top of mind for me. So I thought I'd come on and share what my answer to the question was. Again, that question is, What is one habit no EA should live without? Here is the answer that I said during the panel. The habit that no executive assistant should live without is articulating your value proposition.
Annie Croner [00:01:34]:
We need to be sharing regularly with leadership all that we manage for them, because so often, especially if you're really good at your job, you reduce friction. And reducing friction means that people don't notice what you do because nothing has gone wrong. Especially for those of us who are really good at our roles. And here's the deal. I have coached hundreds of assistants at this point. I've logged thousands of hours of coaching, and every time this is true. I've not met an executive assistant where this hasn't been the case. And that is even the most well-meaning executive has no idea the ins and outs of what their executive manages day to day, how they streamline things, how they keep things from landing on their executive's plate.
Annie Croner [00:02:17]:
The only way they are going to know those things is if you actually share them with your leader. It's the only way. And so articulating your value proposition can be super, super powerful, powerful to bridge the gap between how you actually spend your time and what your executive assumes you spend your time doing, and powerful in terms of your own inner compass and how you see yourself, right? And I think a lot of us, especially if you've been in this role for a long time, we fail to bridge the gap between what we do on a day-to-day basis and how that actually translates into business outcomes for the business and also helps your executive to stay on track. And there are several obstacles to actually communicating your value proposition. The first obstacle is Not wanting to bother your executive. I see this a lot where the executive assistant knows all that their executive has on their plate and they just don't wanna bug them with all the details cuz they feel like they should be managing all the details and their executive should not have to deal with that. But here's the thing, guys, unless you actually articulate those things, your executive isn't gonna know that you actually handled that for them. We actually need to be better about speaking up and using our voice for this purpose cuz otherwise they won't know.
Annie Croner [00:03:41]:
And it also devalues the work that you're providing. Every single day, I think another reason why this happens is because we're just on autopilot. We're just checking off the boxes. We're doing the things. We're failing to see and recognize there again that the work that we do impacts bottom lines. It impacts outcomes, and this also can tap into your belief about your work. So if you think that you're only there to execute on tasks, you are vastly mistaken. The executive assistant role has a unique vantage point on the company and the impact.
Annie Croner [00:04:15]:
Of that can be really powerful. You're the only person in your organization, or you and other support staff are the only people in your organizations who touch leadership every day, who touch the team every day, who probably know the doorman and the facilities coordinator. You see more of the business than your executive ever will, and more about the interpersonal dynamics than your executive ever will. You need to be articulating those things. You need to be bridging that gap. You need to be sharing with your executive how you are streamlining operations for them and for the business so that they actually know that you're providing value. They actually know what that value is, but first you have to know what that value is. So stop discounting your strengths.
Annie Croner [00:05:00]:
Stop selling yourself short. Articulate your value proposition. Do it regularly because otherwise, especially if you're good at your job and you're reducing that friction, Nobody is gonna know. If things are going smoothly, nobody pays attention. It's just how it goes. Um, the better you are at your job, the more your work can go unnoticed. So here's how we articulate our value proposition. Just to break this down for you, you're gonna share what gets accomplished consistently.
Annie Croner [00:05:30]:
You're going to add it to your agenda. If you have a weekly touch base with your executive, if you have a daily touch base with your executive, Make sure you include all the things you executed on, all the things you kept off your executive's plate, and all those friction points that you mitigated. The second thing we're going to do is we're going to understand the full impact of our role. We're going to stop seeing our role as tasks that we accomplish, and we're going to start plugging those tasks into the broader organization, into outcomes that are actually impactful and effective. And my guess would be that many of us have done many projects this year and annual review season is coming up. We wanna be able to capture those projects and we will also wanna be able to articulate them to our executives and business outcomes in ways they can understand so that they can get the full grasp of your impact. They're not gonna be able to do that unless you fully understand your impacts. So please zoom out, ask yourself how you fit into the broader organization.
Annie Croner [00:06:28]:
Ask yourself about the impact of the work that you are completing on a daily basis, please. And You are not just having conversations either. When we talk about linking our work to larger business outcomes, you're not just having one-off conversations with people. You're filtering information. You're using your EQ and your unique vantage point on the business to be able to move things forward, which is such a cool flux. So this is what I have for you guys today. This is a really impactful answer for the panel, and I'm a big fan of articulating your value proposition on a consistent and regular basis. This is gonna help you get pay increases.
Annie Croner [00:07:07]:
This is is gonna help you get promotions, but it won't happen unless you are actually sharing those things with your executive consistently and regularly. And if you don't have a weekly touch base with your executive, you don't have a daily touch base, you can do what I did. I sent weekly update emails to my executive. I had a template for that email. The template looked like buckets of work. And then at the end of that email, I had what I was planning on working on for them next week and things I needed from my executive. It was a really long email to write, but it was really cathartic as well because I began to see just how much what I did impacted the broader company, impacted my executive's life and world. And so please pay attention.
Annie Croner [00:07:49]:
Stop discounting your strengths. Articulate your value proposition. This is the one habit that will change everything for you, not only in terms of what is capable for you and your organization in terms of your impact, but also for you internally. When you understand the full range of your impact, that will help your self-concept to level up as well. Please do this. It's the one habit that can be super impactful that I know that many of you are not regularly doing. Now, the power move for this week is to pay attention to the value you provide and communicate it, whether it's adding a line item to your agenda with your executive or it's an email that you send. Please do this and report back.
Annie Croner [00:08:29]:
I wanna hear all about it. You can email me at annie@wholeassistant.com to tell me about it. And that is all I have for you guys today. I hope you found this episode helpful. I know it's short and sweet, but this one thing can dramatically change your career and how you think about it. That's all for now. If today's episode gave you language clarity or just a quiet, oh, it's not just me, I am so thrilled you're here. If this podcast has been helpful for you, the easiest way you can support the show is by taking 30 seconds to rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Annie Croner [00:09:03]:
This helps more assistants find this work. And if you're ready for ongoing support, guidance, community, and growth that actually fits into your life, Empowered Seat is where we continue this work together. It's affordable, flexible, and designed for assistants who are done white-knuckling their careers in isolation. You can learn more and join at wholeassistant.com/empoweredseat or click the link in the show notes below. And until next time, go embrace your badassery.
