Starting and growing a business today means managing multiple time zones, locations and cultures, with a 24/7 sense of urgency. To cope, executives must rely heavily (more so than decades before) on their Executive Assistant (EA) to be their closest ally. EAs have the arduous job of responding to emails/correspondence and requests at all hours of the day (or night), planning and organizing chaotic (and ever-changing) travel schedules, and holding down the fort in their boss’ absence.
While these responsibilities have broadly been a requirement for any EA, today, the need for an EA to add “strategic business partner” to their job description is not only essential but critical. With this higher level of responsibility, including decision-making power, the EA needs to be able to quickly respond and adapt to change by finding tools that help them stay one-step-ahead of their boss.
To assist, we compiled this list of useful tips and tools to empower today’s EAs to be on top of their game:
1. EA Challenge: Too many side projects
Tip: Save time by outsourcing everyday tasks
Tool: ZeroCater. ZeroCater makes food simple for companies of all sizes by partnering with over 500 local restaurants, caterers and food trucks to offer family-style meals, approved by even the most critical foodie. ZeroCater’s hands-on catering consultants learn your company’s food tastes, dietary restrictions and delivery logistics to ensure every step of the process, from order to clean up, runs flawlessly. Outsourcing your catering needs saves you hours of time, so you can focus your time on your more strategic responsibilities.
2. EA Challenge: Not enough time
Solution: Gain efficiencies by prioritizing tasks
Tool: Asana. Asana is a useful tool to help you (and your boss) be more productive by organizing everything from the most immediate details to the big picture. With Asana, each person knows what they should be doing and why. This clarity, transparency, and focus lets you operate with less friction and produce great results.
3. EA Challenge: Too many ways forms of communicate
Solution: Consolidate informal communication into one platform
Tool: Slack. Slack lets you organize your team conversations in open channels. Make a channel for a project, a topic, a team, or anything—everyone has a transparent view of all that’s going on. For sensitive information, create private channels and invite one or few team members. Take your conversations with you on the go with apps for iOS and android.
While these responsibilities have broadly been a requirement for any EA, today, the need for an EA to add “strategic business partner” to their job description is not only essential but critical. With this higher level of responsibility, including decision-making power, the EA needs to be able to quickly respond and adapt to change by finding tools that help them stay one-step-ahead of their boss.
To assist, we compiled this list of useful tips and tools to empower today’s EAs to be on top of their game:
1. EA Challenge: Too many side projects
Tip: Save time by outsourcing everyday tasks
Tool: ZeroCater. ZeroCater makes food simple for companies of all sizes by partnering with over 500 local restaurants, caterers and food trucks to offer family-style meals, approved by even the most critical foodie. ZeroCater’s hands-on catering consultants learn your company’s food tastes, dietary restrictions and delivery logistics to ensure every step of the process, from order to clean up, runs flawlessly. Outsourcing your catering needs saves you hours of time, so you can focus your time on your more strategic responsibilities.
2. EA Challenge: Not enough time
Solution: Gain efficiencies by prioritizing tasks
Tool: Asana. Asana is a useful tool to help you (and your boss) be more productive by organizing everything from the most immediate details to the big picture. With Asana, each person knows what they should be doing and why. This clarity, transparency, and focus lets you operate with less friction and produce great results.
3. EA Challenge: Too many ways forms of communicate
Solution: Consolidate informal communication into one platform
Tool: Slack. Slack lets you organize your team conversations in open channels. Make a channel for a project, a topic, a team, or anything—everyone has a transparent view of all that’s going on. For sensitive information, create private channels and invite one or few team members. Take your conversations with you on the go with apps for iOS and android.
Nicole Barnes is the Director of Product Marketing at ZeroCater. Along with her day-to-day responsibilities, she enjoys helping her colleagues work more efficiently. In her free time, she loves traveling, hiking, and cooking (and eating) delicious food. Nicole graduated from Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business with a joint degree in Marketing and Management.
ZeroCater makes planning and ordering food simple for companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, ZeroCater specializes in providing companies catered meals for any occasion from a diverse range of local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks. ZeroCater currently feeds thousands of companies including, BuzzFeed, IDEO, Bleacher Report, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, ClassPass, and Blue Apron. As of March 2017, it is operational in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Washington D.C. and Chicago.
ZeroCater makes planning and ordering food simple for companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, ZeroCater specializes in providing companies catered meals for any occasion from a diverse range of local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks. ZeroCater currently feeds thousands of companies including, BuzzFeed, IDEO, Bleacher Report, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, ClassPass, and Blue Apron. As of March 2017, it is operational in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Washington D.C. and Chicago.
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