History books do not give over much space to the weak and timid; instead they praise heroes and those who give their lives to a cause. The world looks up to role models past and present in the hope they will inspire behaviour that stretches us to our absolute potential.
All over the world there are unsung heroes and heroines who dedicate their lives to making the boss look great; connecting the dots to ensure the efficient delivery of vital tasks. The time has come to position the secretarial role as a profession, not just an occupation. This may sound like mere semantics, but it’s not – the word ‘profession’ carries considerably more weight.
Since World War II, the advent of the computer and the internet have impacted on the secretarial profession to a remarkable extent. These have been external developments; now we need a shift to come from the inside – from the professionals themselves. It is today’s PAs and EAs who need to cause a mind shift as well as a status shift. Workplaces across the world are waiting for you to raise up your profession. The work environment is looking for those who will make history to ensure that the PA is not merely the shadow behind the boss. Offices worldwide need secretarial standard bearers who will show by their endeavour that they are fully fledged professionals and that they have as much importance as the accountant, the logistics expert, or the project manager.
What is the key stumbling block faced by many PAs? The fact that logistics, accounting and project personnel are viewed as providing a service for the benefit of the entire organisation’s success, whereas the administrative professional is viewed as providing a key function of benefit to a single executive. The challenge, therefore, is to cause a mind shift: to be regarded as assisting an individual in such a way that impacts on the success of the whole company. Our rationale is that if an executive does not get quality support, then how can they impact on the organisation’s success? Why should the support they get from the accountant be viewed any differently from the support they get from their PA?
The moment is ripe for a world movement that cascades regionally and nationally; a movement that gains momentum and keeps going. As far back as 2011, I started working on an event that could have ripples worldwide; this was eventually to take shape as an international year for the secretarial profession. We established an organisation called PAFSA (the Professional Association for Secretaries and Admin Assistants), which later became an independent not-for-profit body. We then set up the International Year of the Secretary and Administrative Assistant, more commonly known by the acronym IYOTSA. With the substantial coverage we received, we knew that some impact had already been made.
We still need you to become an agent of change for the profession and we need you to espouse this shift in status. We need recruitment agents to adopt the philosophy that the work of PAs impacts meaningfully on a whole organisation, and we need HR departments to acknowledge this. Last but not least, we need bosses to treat their assistants with the same respect they mete out to other professionals. I invite you on this journey to the future of the PA profession.
Ana-Maria Valente is head of the Executive Committee for South Africa’s Professional Association for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants. She is also the editor of CareerSuccess magazine and has more than 25 years’ experience of uplifting the secretarial profession. The IYOTSA initiative was her brainchild and was designed to make 2014 the beginning of a significant status change for the secretarial profession. Find out more at pafsa.co.za
