Behind the Scenes: Coaching Your Administrative Assistant for Success

Welcome to your Morning Boost, your daily shot of educational leadership wisdom from AWB Education. We'll explore the latest trends, share practical strategies, and inspire you to reach new heights. Stay to the end of the show for more information on our services. Now Here is your Morning Boost. Hello and welcome to your Morning Boost, a podcast that is dedicated to giving our school leaders a quick idea to start their day off right. We are focusing today on an often overlooked, yet very crucial role in school administration, and that is the administrative assistant. Administrative assistants obviously are the backbone of many school offices. I frequently joke that they're the people that run the school, and most often I'm probably right. They handle a wide range of tasks. They do scheduling and communication, They manage paperwork and provide sport to staff and students. And by investing a little time and coaching our administrative assistants, we can significantly enhance their effectiveness and some overall job satisfaction. Think about ways you can help them with time management, help them prioritize tasks, maybe delegate when possible. A lot of our administrative assistants can do and will do everything, but maybe they shouldn't. Maybe somebody else can help them with that task so that they can use some of that time to do something else. Help them with those time saving tools and techniques that can free up even more time in their day. Also provide some guidance on effective communication. What's verbal and written communication? What should it look like? How does our school want to be seen in the eyes of the public. This could include email etiquette, It could include phone skills, the ability to interact professionally and certainly now with a diverse range of people. Encourage them to approach challenges with a solution oriented mindset and equip them with those tools and resources to be able to find creative solutions when one is needed for a task. Help them stay updated on the latest technology trends. Provide some training on relevant software and systems. It can help streamline workflows and can really prove efficiency. And then also support their professional growth. Many times we worry about our teachers, sometimes worry about our own professional growth, and we frequently forget about our administrative assistance. Give them that opportunity to attend a workshop, to attend conferences, maybe some online courses, anything that's going to help them be even better at their job and more dedicated to our school environment. Some of this might just take some good coaching too, think about some regular check ins. Oftentimes our assistants can just work work, work, work, work, and sometimes we just let them do that, and we need to also think about providing those one on one opportunities to discuss workload, what the challenges are right now, and goals they may have in areas that we can help support. Try to give some positive reinforcement, appreciate that hard work and their contributions to the team and to the system as a whole, but also offer some specific and actionable feedback for improvement. Make sure you're empowering them and giving them responsibilities and legating tasks, but give them that feedback on those tasks so they can continue to improve as well. Maybe they need a mentor maybe we need to look at other buildings in the district if those exist, and provide an experienced mentor for somebody, especially if they're new, to be able to provide some guidance and support, or certainly just another voice that they can hear and another person that can bounce ideas off of. By investing a little time and doing some coaching. With our administrative assistance, we can certainly create a more efficient, effective and harmonious school environment. After all, most of the time they do run the school. You have been listening to your morning boost from AWB Education. You can learn more about our services and find resources by visiting AWB education dot org. Please leave a rating and review to help us spread our message. Otherwise, go have a positive impact on our futures as you do the job on a few can do. We got this