With the ever-increasing needs of fast-growing companies, the PA/EA has become a vital component in the success path of the company. PA and EA roles require additional skills to attain maximum effectiveness.
This is where good PA/EA support comes in. With some knowledge of financial basics and the procedural side of accounting linked with a grounding in digital marketing and social media, connectivity support can be provided to allow for continued growth without elaborate structural changes.
If growth elements can be broken out into projects then an EA/PA with project management training will also enhance the effectiveness of the main executive/s through either supporting larger projects or even running a small internal project.
The point here is that a competent executive can create good leverage of his own skills and knowledge by working totally interactively with his assistant thereby multiplying his ability to cover a wide variety of tasks.
I know of companies where a major level of growth was achieved under the control of a CEO and his very effective EA; it only became necessary to change this structure once a major line of funding was in place and the associated infrastructural changes were then implemented smoothly.
An EA/PA should therefore consider supplementary, intense training courses to bolster existing skills and enable their participation in company functions where some support is needed in the short to medium term.
Areas to consider:
Internet and social media marketing – many bosses are a bit thin on skills here but this is now a vital skill set within any company.
Basics of finance with an understanding of bookkeeping and a relevant computerised accounting package such as SAGE, Oracle etc – cash flow monitoring is vital in a rapidly growing business; if the top team is running this they are well equipped to run an efficient operation.
Project Management External project managers can be expensive and do not always relate to the culture in a growth company; many projects can be simplified and controlled from the centre.
A common-sense course in project management staying away from the more academic formalities of PRINCE 2 and other standards and looking at projects for what they really are.