How to work on a team

– As an administrative professional you may find yourself working with a few assistants to support one or more executives. When you work in this dynamic, it’s important that you work as a team. Clear and open communication between the team members is crucial so that all projects are completed on time and in a professional manner. Here’s a few key things to remember. Play to your teammates’ strengths. Know their weaknesses. Set them up to succeed and mentor them. Each team member has different strengths and weaknesses. If you’re the person that each of them reports to it’s important that you utilize each team member int he correct way so you have an effective team. For example, you may have an assistant that’s great at working with spreadsheets and data manipulation so you would give them the projects that involve Excel. You may have an assistant that’s great at working and collaborating in the cloud or you can give them any projects where things need to be created for future use. You may have an assistant that is great at organizing travel arrangements so you could give them anything to do with travel. Of course, all your assistants should be able to help out in all these areas but it’s important to play to each person’s strengths. That way if you have a critical project, you can assign the person that is most comfortable with that task to handle it. They will get it done in a faster and more efficient manner which will help keep things moving along. If you give a project to someone that’s not comfortable with the task and you know they’re going to struggle, you’re setting them up for failure which is not fair to them or the team. That’s why it’s important to know each team member’s weakness. This way you can invest in training and sharing that knowledge that they might be lacking. By getting to know your employees and investing in them, you’re setting them up to succeed. You’re creating a very positive environment in a team that wants to work with you and not against you. This helps when big projects come on your plate where some after hours might come into account. You can count on your team members to be there for you because you’ve already created a good, solid team that works well together. Mentoring is another key aspect of working as a team. You can act as a mentor yourself for your employees or pair them up with other experienced members who can offer insight and knowledge into the role. You always want your team to be successful because if they fail, it’s a reflection on you as their manager and mentor. Having a team member that excels and shines is a huge accomplishment for you and demonstrates what you can do for your and your team.