i thought i would create this video because a few months ago someone referred to me as a chameleon
when i told them that i was an executive assistant i was perplexed and asked if
that referral was supposed to be a bad thing and he said no on the contrary
i didn't really question him about the statement however it did make me think about it for weeks
after that and the more i thought about it the more i agreed with that analogy and let me tell
you why a good executive assistant is like a chameleon because a chameleon is able to adapt
into the environment they are in at that present moment and it does it by changing and blending
by this i mean if the environment of an ea changes such as starting a new role in a new company
or their executive leaves and they are now reporting to another executive then the
ea can adapt to that new environment which is similar to a chameleon the chameleon can go to
a different location and change to look like the surroundings another comparison i can make between
the chameleon and the ea is that the chameleon doesn't have eyes on the back of the head
however they can swivel each eye 180 degrees this means they can see 360 degrees if they need to an
executive assistant also doesn't have eyes at the back of their head however they learn to see all
that is going on around them they learn to read the room these are some of the ways the ea has the
ability to adapt the ea skill set can be tweaked to suit projects and tasks that they've never done
before but they have the foundation to do it and do it well change both reactive and planned the ea
jumps into gear when a reactive change takes place which is an unplanned chain of events and the ea
takes control of plan change which is implemented by an objective to achieve a predefined goal
place them in a room with strangers and they are well versed to have a conversation with people
and they are able to work the room a good ea should know a little about a lot of subjects
the ea usually navigates the logistics of where their executives going
this could be locally or to a different state or country the ea researchers how to get there
and what time the executive should arrive where to park who they are meeting and where and so many
other tasks that go along with these scenarios whatever they may be the ea does this for
themselves also if clients or other members of the same company are visiting from a different country
a good ea will do some research on how to make them feel comfortable they will learn a little
bit of interesting trivia and facts about the country and what is disrespectful to that culture
the ea would then brief their executive in regards to the information they discovered
about the culture so the executive doesn't look ignorant dealing with the visitors
the ea should have the ability to troubleshoot when technology isn't doing what it's meant to do
i t is usually busy and no one especially the executive wants to wait for it
to assist a good ea will learn as much as they can in regards to their new environment
and about the company itself that is if they have started at a new company what they do in the first
90 days will either help them adapt and excel in their new role or it will make them struggle
i have a video about what you need to do in the first 90 days of starting a new job i believe it
will not only help an ea starting a new role it will also help an executive in regards to what
they can expect from their ea i will leave a link in the description box below a good ea should have
an app on their phone showing what time it is in the countries that the executive deals with
as well as a time zone converter app it is also important that an ea enters all scheduled meetings
events etc into the executives as well as their own outlook diaries in the time zone
of where those meetings and events will take place there are a lot of companies that don't know how
adaptable their ea is so they don't utilize the ea's full capacity because they are not sure what
an ea is capable of doing i'll let you in on a little secret a good ea also doesn't know what
they are capable of doing until they are placed in that situation and then you will see them flourish
i hope you have enjoyed my video don't forget to subscribe and like thanks for watching