Over the last few years, I’ve written extensively about building a successful partnership between an Executive and an Executive Assistant. This partnership is the cornerstone of the Assistant role and something you must get right for long-term success. Without a solid collaboration, the work becomes much more challenging. Today, I want to discuss anticipating needs and other mind-reading tricks.
If something is causing your Executive stress or wasting their time, you should do everything possible to resolve it. A strong working relationship between you and your Executive happens when your manager doesn’t feel the need to manage you. Don’t get me wrong— you need good managers who support you professionally through regular meetings and feedback. But day-to-day, you should anticipate their needs and keep everything running smoothly around them. This approach will not only strengthen your relationship with your boss, but it will also make you an outstanding Assistant!
So, how do you anticipate needs and practice other “mind-reading” tricks? How do you ensure you’re always one step ahead of your Executive? I think it boils down to being proactive rather than reactive. For Assistants, this can be hard to achieve. We work in a fast-paced environment, often spending our days putting out fires and responding to other people’s urgent needs. I understand that.
However, being proactive instead of reactive is a vital skill that will allow you to excel in this role. Why? Because you’re not just completing assigned tasks; you’re shaping your role, managing your projects, and adding value where you see opportunities. This approach leads to more opportunities, makes you indispensable, and helps your Executive achieve greater success.
The 1:1 Meeting Template for Executives and Assistants provides the steps to ensure that when you have a one-to-one meeting with your Executive, you cover all the work you need to and maximise your time together.
Let’s explore three areas that will help you transition from a reactive to a proactive Assistant:
I’ve talked a lot about business acumen in the past because it’s crucial for Assistants. If you have no interest in your Executive’s work, it’s difficult to thrive in the Assistant role. You need to care about both your Executive and the business.
Yes, it’s easier said than done. If you work in an industry that doesn’t excite you, reading through reports might not be the highlight of your day. But to excel as an assistant, you have to be engaged and informed about the industry. You need to care about your Executive’s goals and what they want to accomplish. Without this foundation, you’ll merely get by, never moving from reactive to proactive.
If you need to improve your business acumen, I have a checklist you can use to start enhancing your skills in this area.
I borrowed this concept from Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why. In his book and TED Talk, Sinek discusses understanding the “why” behind what you do. I want you to start here. Why does your organization do what it does? Not just what it does or how it does it, but why? What is the organization’s purpose? And within that purpose, why does your Executive do what they do? What are their core values? Once you start thinking in terms of the “why,” you’ll understand the bigger picture—why something needs to be done instead of just doing it.
Take every opportunity to learn in areas where you can improve, whether in business strategy, finance, or marketing. Think about where you can add value. Where are the knowledge gaps, and can you fill them?
Networking is fundamental for building business acumen and understanding your organization’s direction. As an assistant, networking is essential for several reasons, but primarily, it helps you gain insights into the business. Networking gives you an advantage by helping you learn about what’s happening in your organization.
Go to networking events, join training sessions, meet with suppliers, attend team gatherings, and talk to people at your organization’s events. One of the best ways to learn about your organization is simply to talk to people. As an assistant, you’re often privy to information that others aren’t, so leverage this to build your knowledge and stay curious!
This might sound obvious, but read everything! Read your Executive’s emails—both incoming and outgoing. Review reports, memos, files, and past communications. Read any business magazines your Executive subscribes to and all internal communications posted on your organization’s platforms. The company intranet, Slack channels, and collaborative tools like Trello contain a wealth of information. Make it a habit to read everything relevant to your Executive’s work.
Listening is one of the best ways to understand how your Executive operates and the people they work with. If you take minutes at meetings, use that as an opportunity to increase your business awareness. Offer to attend meetings and take notes—this will give you insights into what’s happening, and you’ll be better equipped to anticipate what your Executive will need next. Pay attention to conversations in the office, whether they’re in meetings or casual chats. The knowledge you gain from these interactions will make you more effective in your role.
If you don’t already attend meetings with your manager, you should. Being present in these meetings is essential to staying in the loop. While there will be some confidential meetings you can’t attend, try to join as many as possible—client meetings, board meetings, team meetings, and project updates. The more you understand about the decision-making process, the more you can make strategic choices in your day-to-day work.
Your Assistant works WITH you, not FOR you. Hallie reads all of my emails, attends the majority of my classes & trainings, listens on calls, and sits in on meetings. She is more effective when she knows what I know, knows how I think, how I solve problems, and what I have decided and promised (so she can follow-up and deliver). Do not keep your Assistant on the periphery, assigning tasks that have no context or meaning. They will be far more invested in your success when they are a part of the entire process, and eventually part of the decision making or even making decisions on your behalf. When you bring your assistant into your inner circle – everyone wins.
Adam Hergenrother
If you can, share this idea with your Executive. As an Assistant, you’ll be far more effective when you know what your Executive knows, understand their thought process, and see how they approach decision-making. Being part of the whole process keeps you informed, engaged, and more valuable to your Executive.
Taking responsibility for your role involves three key actions:
This section is about not waiting to be asked to do things. Here are some ways you can show initiative and move forward in your role.
Evaluate Your Tasks
Look at your daily tasks and identify the ones you have complete control over, whether they’re minor (like handling the mail) or more significant (like managing your Executive’s schedule). For each task, ask yourself: How can I make this task successful? How can I ensure this process runs smoothly? Spend time refining and improving each task, and take ownership of its success.
Saving Your Executive’s Time
One of the most important aspects of the assistant role is saving your Executive’s time. Here are a few tasks you should handle for your Executive to free up their schedule:
The benefits are huge when you take control of your workload, accept accountability for your actions, and take real responsibility for your tasks. Here are just a few differences you will notice in your behavior once you start to think about accountability within your role:
So, accountability – it’s a good thing, right?! Yup, I’m probably preaching to the choir here. But the question is: where do you start? Let’s look at how assistants can specifically be more accountable within the role.
What Tasks Do You Have Control Over?
This is the first step to being more accountable. Take a look at all the day-to-day tasks assigned to you. I bet there are plenty. These are the tasks you should have complete control over. They may be minor things like picking up the mail every morning, or larger tasks like managing your Executive’s schedule. For every task you have complete control over, ask yourself: How can I make every task successful? What can I do to ensure the process attached to each task runs smoothly and is working well? Make a list of these tasks and spend time making them more efficient. You are accountable for these tasks and should take responsibility for their success.
Be Results-Focused
Being more accountable for your actions will make you more results-focused and more valuable to your organization. With everything you do, think about the goals: what are your objectives, what do you want to achieve, and what are the useful outcomes? This level of critical thinking benefits your business because you’re constantly looking for a return on investment in everything you do. If you spend ages on a task that isn’t business-critical or doesn’t add value, you can adjust the process and make it more effective because you are accountable for that task.
What Areas Can You Influence?
What areas can you influence? You may not have direct responsibility for many tasks, but you do influence them. If it helps, make a list. A task that comes to mind is working with suppliers. You may not be the person who signs contracts with new suppliers, but you probably use them more than most, so again, take some responsibility for that relationship. Let your Executive know if a supplier isn’t quite working. If they’re great, let others in your organization know so they can benefit too.
Be Honest About What You’re Doing and Where You Are with Tasks
Being accountable for your work doesn’t just mean you control the good stuff; it also means you’re honest when things aren’t quite working. If you decide to take more ownership of your work, you’ll have to raise your hand when you might fall behind deadlines or struggle with something. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re working on projects that push and challenge you, there will be times you need advice from your Executive (just like any other staff member).
Remember, you have to be accountable for all of your work.
I remember one time I was working on a brilliant company-wide project. I was excited about it and spent a lot of time on the details. My Executive called me into her office one afternoon for a quick catch-up. She told me she was proud I was working on this big project but had noticed that I wasn’t quite up to speed with my daily tasks, and I’d missed a few things I usually did for her. She was right. I was having a great time working on this new task, but I had to remember all the other things I had to do. I let the ball drop, but being accountable meant I had to put my hand up, apologize, and say it wouldn’t happen again. Being accountable for your mistake isn’t fun, but it’s just as important as being accountable for your successes!
What Training Do You Need to Be in Total Control of Your Work?
Another aspect of being accountable and in control of your work is realizing that you might need help to make each task successful. This is why you must ask for training, and your organization takes your request seriously. When you’re accountable, you know that other people within your organization depend on the results of your work, so without training, how can you perform to the best of your abilities?
Last but Not Least
Accountability has to begin with you. It’s an important competency for Assistants, and it will only become more valued as our industry shifts from a support role to a business-critical one. Strategic assistants are skilled at anticipating needs and other mind-reading tricks.
Initiative is about doing the right things without being told and getting involved in the business. We’ve discussed how you do this, but here are a few examples of what I call “random acts of initiative.” These are some of the actions you can take to show initiative as an Assistant.
Being a forward-thinking Assistant will help you greatly in the role and enable you to anticipate needs and other mind-reading tricks. But I’m going to be honest—it isn’t easy. Here’s why. We’re so busy getting through our tasks, supporting others, and helping out as much as possible it can be hard to take a breath and think about how everything is working and what problems might arise soon. But this is what forward-thinking assistants can accomplish in the role.
These are the qualities and traits of an assistant who anticipates needs and has a ton of mind-reading tricks up their sleeve.
Anticipation, understanding, active listening, and communication are the keys to a successful partnership with your Executive. To explore this topic further, check out our Confident Communicator Online Course. The course will take your career to the next level by teaching you the skills and competencies needed to thrive in the role.
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