PAs need to be more managerial, says expert

Posted on November 6th, 2017

Scott Knowles, Melissa Burnside, Adam Fidler, Lesley Dexter and Eileen Richards
The days of the ‘gatekeeper’ secretary ‘protecting’ her boss are long gone - today’s executive and personal assistants have to have a managerial mindset.

That was the message delivered to an audience of about 75 East Midlands executive assistants by Adam Fidler, training consultant and founder of Adept Executive Consulting, who’s EA Manifesto has become the benchmark for the 21st Century EA/PA.

Adam’s expertise is unrivalled in the field of executive and business support.

His manifesto – What I Am – went viral on social media and is displayed on many an EA/PA’s desk with pride.

It asserts that a good EA/PA is “a neutral and independent adviser to my Executive, who enables the day-to-day management routines that enhance the effectiveness of my boss and the organisation as a whole”.

It continues: “I operate as a business manager in my own right – I am an integral part of the management team.”

It places the EA/PA as “mandatory” to the success of the executive and concludes: “I work in the space of management, allowing my boss to focus on the bigger aspects of leadership.”

Adam, described as a highly motivational speaker, had been invited to address the meeting of the East Midlands PA Network, which is supported by the Chamber and led by Lesley Dexter, Executive Assistant to the Chamber’s Chief Executive and Board of Directors.

He told his audience that the opportunity for today’s EAs and PAs was to “move away from traditional forms of business support into more value-adding and fulfilling roles” and to “contribute more by utilising their key strengths, including emotional intelligence, organisational navigation and commercial awareness of business”.

Adam was talking about the Elevated Role of the EA at the Best Western Premier Yew Lodge Hotel, at Kegworth, last week.

Lesley said: “Adam is renowned for his passion about the value of first-rate executive support, his inspirational teaching style and his perspectives on the true role of the Executive Assistant.

“What he said resonated with all of us in the audience and the feedback at the event and on social media afterwards has been brilliant. We’ve already discussed the possibility of having him back to talk to other PA Network events in the East Midlands.”

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