Did you ever have a question and turn to a peer and ask advice on something such as the printers or couriers they find reliable or a software question? Ever taken an awesome training class and gone back to work and told all your colleagues? Many companies are now creating admin support teams. They may have a name like A.C.E. (Assistants Creating Excellence) or something simple like "Acme" Support Team, but they all have a common goal: getting administrative professionals together to share experiences, enhance awareness, and obtain personal and professional growth, all while working together towards corporate goals.

All it takes to create your own admin support group is a creative vision and effort. Start by preparing a proposal for management. Include the expectations you would like for your group. Who will be involved? What will it take to achieve the desired results?

Here are some ideas to help get you started in the thought process:

Expectations
What benefits will there be for employees and management ?

Employees

• Peer support;
• Personal development;
• Mentorship;
• Targeted training;
• Team building;
• Improved Communications.

Management

• Consistency within an organisation;
• Group training;
• Improved internal communications;
• Professional growth;
• Admin staff working towards corporate goals.

Who Should Be Involved?

• Executive assistants;
• Administrative assistants;
• Office assistants;
• Staff Supports;
• Office managers;
• Event coordinators.

What Would it Take?

• Commitment from admins;
• Management buy-in;
• Meeting space and time.

Now that you have prepared a proposal it is time to present it to management. After management gives you the go ahead to start an admin group, start taking care of the other details. Reserve a conference room, figure out who will attend and how to invite the admins who will be in your group.

Within any company, the admins combined have a vast amount of expertise and knowledge in many different areas. One way to start the group and take advantage of the resources each individual can bring is to have admins sign up for one meeting and then cycle through them during the session. An Admin can bring their area of expertise in by explaining what it is they do in their area of the company. They can also relay information they have learned from a training course, or possibly invite someone they know or have worked with who could speak to the group.

For the first meeting you will probably want to set up a schedule of how often your meetings will take place, and lay out a general overview of what you like to accomplish with your group. By networking and word of mouth, each subsequent meeting should involve more people, and lead to more interactions within the group.

Some Ideas for Meetings:

• Group focus (setting up goals for the group, and every few meetings evaluating how well you are achieving them).
• What can your group do to do benefit the company (with the outcome you can have meeting topics generated on paths to accomplish those goals)?
• Personal expertise. Are you an expert on something (legal issues, money management, meeting planning, calendar organising, etc)?
• Offsite tours of relevant organisations.

Together we have a vast amount of knowledge and sharing that knowledge is one of the best resources available!