Training is vital to enable management assistants to do the best they can in their roles. Merryl Futerman and Josephine Green explain how crucial it is to continue your professional education as the PA community enters a new era
The role of the PA can sometimes be an isolated one. While companies often provide training for team members and managers, PAs can be overlooked. Thankfully, this is changing as training and support for PAs is vital to enable us to be the best assistants we can be.
These courses need to be targeted and tailored specifically for PAs. We are no longer the secretaries of old, just answering phones or typing up letters. The role has developed and now encompasses so much more than it ever used to. This is an exciting move forward for our industry, but it is important that the training available reflects this.
Secretarial training has been long established, but as well as the more traditional technical training such as Excel and PowerPoint, we are starting to recognise the value of โsoft skillsโ and that these too can be taught and learned.
A common issue for many PAs is the setting of boundaries. As the definition of the PA role increases to blur, when and how do you draw the line? Firstly, itโs important to understand that there is no blanket right or wrong on where to put down boundaries. Every PA and every boss is different. It is up to you to decide what tasks you are happy to include in your remit. There are many practical skills you can develop to help you make these decisions and to protect yourself from being pushed too far and asked too much.
For example, we keep a close eye on PA stories in the media and try and think how we would cope in each of the scenarios and reflect on whether these things would be outside the realms of acceptability. Here are three such stories. Weโll leave you to make up your own mind as to how you would have reacted.
โข Cheryl Carter, the former PA to Rebekah Brooks, who at the time was CEO of News International, allegedly destroyed documents and evidence and was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice (although she was later found not guilty).
โข Jennifer OโNeill, the former PA to Lady Gaga, who claims many extraordinary demands were made of her. These include being woken up in the middle of the night to change a DVD that the performer was watching.
โข Matt Harrell, the PA to Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan. The reality TV programme that Lindsay has made (shown in the UK on TLC) portrays the intricacies of working day to day for a famous person.
These are extreme examples, but we are constantly shocked by some of the things that PAs in every industry are asked to do. Sometimes just thinking about different situations in advance can make you more aware of what you will and wonโt accept yourself should a questionable request happen to come your way.
Targeted training should focus on the personal aspect of the PA role, helping you to build and improve your working relationship with your boss and beyond. Although all bosses are different, most will share some alpha traits. We know these can be difficult to manage, but by learning to recognise them and how to work with them you improve productivity and also your working environment. This is the most effective way of working, as it means youโre not pulling against or butting up against an alpha boss and their methods, but instead are supporting them.
Once youโve got that nailed, how do you look out for yourself? The most fundamental way is to create your own support network. All industries recognise the importance and value of networking and the PA sector is no different. In fact, a good network and a โlittle black bookโ of contacts are even more vital than in most other jobs. It can seem daunting, but with a few practical tips itโs easy to get started.
The modern PA faces so many more challenges than our predecessors in the typing pool and it is vitally important, therefore, that we have access to a range of training that can help and support us in practical, realistic ways. Even if youโve been in the business a long time, the one thing about continuing professional education worth bearing in mind is that we should never stop learning.
Between them Merryl Futerman and Josephine Green have been PAs to the likes of Joseph Fiennes, Julian Clary, Emilia Fox, Jonathan Ross and Miranda Hart. Together they run training company PA Access All Areas, which offers boutique seminars and tailored in-house courses. For more details see PAAccessAllAreas.co.uk
