Admin Support Groups At Work
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, a software question? Ever take an awesome training class and go back to work and tell all your co-workers? 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 admins together to share experiences, enhance awareness, and obtain personal and professional growth, all while working together towards corporate goals.
By Susan Silva
What does it take to create your own admin support group? It takes 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 employees/management gain):
Employee
|
Management
|
Who involved:
- Executive Assistant
- Administrative Assistants
- Office Assistants
- Staff Support
- Office Managers
- Event Coordinators
- Management's support
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 your proposal 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 that 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 that 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 between the group.
Some ideas for meetings:
- Group Focus (setting up goals for the group, every few meetings to evaluate how well you are achieving them)
- What can your group 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 organizing, etc)
- Group training; It may be cheaper and easier to bring training seminars to you. Many of these training seminars can be customized to meet the content of your specific needs. The AMA has many great courses. (1-877-582-1398 or http://www.amanet.org/56p for more information)
- Offsite tours of local meeting space
I would like to thank Judy P. for her sharing her expertise. If you have created a group and would like to add your stories of success, please send your experience to editorus@deskdemon.com
