Juggle Your Work for Multiple Bosses
Page 1 of 2
by Anya Martin
While the traditional role of an administrative assistant is to support a single boss, many admins today report to multiple executives, departments or entire staffs of small businesses. According to admins who work for more than one boss, some simple strategies can keep you from being pulled into multiple directions at one time.
When in Doubt, Let the Bosses Fight It Out
Joseph Carpenter, an administrative assistant, reports to four executives. He prioritises work for the company's owner, and when push comes to shove, he asks his bosses to determine the order of his tasks among themselves.
“You need to clearly indicate what you have to do for Ms. X, and that you would be pleased to handle Ms. Y's emergency if she would talk to Ms. Z and see if she can put some of her requirements on the back burner,” Carpenter suggests.
Ask Your Bosses to Rank Their Priorities
Another tactic is to ask each of your bosses to rank the urgency of their assignments up front. While supporting the director and 32 staff people in a call center in, Teresa Cryer, created request sheets, on which her bosses not only described the work they needed her to do but also rated every project's priority on a scale of 1 to 5. She addressed the projects accordingly, and in two years, she says she only had to approach managers twice to sort out a conflict.
The request sheets also helped Cryer during her employee review by providing written validation of all the work she had accomplished and for whom. She used the data to chart the percentage of time she devoted to each manager and month-to-month workload fluctuations.
