How to work with colleagues

– There are a few really key points that all administrative professionals need to keep in mind as they consider how to work with colleagues. Always remain confidential. Maintain professionalism. Refrain from gossiping. And finally, consider yourself a resource. As an administrative professional, you’ll be working closely with colleagues across many different departments. Bear in mind that you may have access to confidential information that other colleagues are not privy to. As such, you must maintain the highest level of confidentiality in any administrative professional role. As your role evolves, you could have access to even more confidential information. There’s nothing wrong with letting your colleagues know that there are certain things that you’re not at liberty to discuss. Instead, you can politely ask them to speak to their direct supervisor for that kind of information. You’ll learn that maintaining professionalism and keeping a certain distance from your colleagues will help you. By keeping that distance, you won’t find yourself in an awkward or uncomfortable position when it comes to keeping information private. Often your colleagues might be curious about what goes on in the company and they know that you have the first insight into what may be coming down the line. That’s when you have to remember that you were put in that role for a reason, because you can remain professional in any instance or situation. If you aspire to move up as an administrative professional, keep in mind that it’s really not wise for you to participate in office gossip. Whatever conversations you partake in about other colleagues or the company will find a way to get back to your executive. So it’s always a best practice to remove yourself from those type of conversations. Lastly, remember that you are a main source of information for your executive. So it’s very important that you know who the key people are and how your organization is structured. This will cut down on unnecessary emails and phone calls when you try and find the right contact person. You may think that your executives should know these things and they probably do, but they also rely on you to just have the answers for them. This helps them to be more productive as they’re not wasting their time tracking someone down. If you aspire to grow as an administrative professional, these key things will help you no matter what position in your company your executive holds.