First 90-days in a new admin role

You received an offer, applied your autograph, gave notice, and are ready to turn the page to a new chapter in your career. The inspiration shared in this article will help you navigate the first 90-days…

The administrative profession holds both routine and unexpected demands throughout each day. Due to each role being unique, there is no manual that makes it black and white. As someone who transitioned from being an EA to becoming a specialized partner, I’ve been blessed to accumulate over thousands of hours of 1:1 interactions with admins living this profession each day.  They've shared with me remedies, ideas, and hilarious moments which could help others transition from the “island” in which we feel and see ourselves living to a place of community.

 Executive Assistant First Day

Starting a new role can be both exciting and challenging. I've witnessed the first 90- days over 140 times (as of 2022) and have found it to be extremely valuable, if given the opportunity, to start your first day on a Wednesday. That first few days of onboarding include getting the basics established, i.e., learning systems, passwords, getting a tour of the office, etc. Countless times I have seen an exceptional admin struggle to get access to email and/or calendar during their first 48 hours…ouch! So, having a good 3 days to allow time to get acquainted with your new environment would be beneficial.  Furthermore, if you ended your last role the Friday before, you have a chance to do YOU on Monday and Tuesday as the next 90-days will be intense. 

Behind the Scenes

When I begin a partnership with my clients, I encourage a Wednesday start date, in tandem with denying them access to their new partner those first 3 days.

I state, “Those first few days you don’t have access to your new partner, because s/he is getting acclimated.” Yes, I speak this strongly (as I’m advocating for admins). A common reply is, “I trust your guidance, Hilani.” I then conclude with, “Offering this grace period helps your partner understand their environment better. It also allows them to prepare their desk and technology, giving them a better first step come Monday.” They understand the suggested approach is intended to set everyone up for success.

Be Thoughtful - Sprinkle Unicorn Glitter Slowly 

You landed the role and are very excited to dig in. They picked you, you picked them, and now you are ready to show them your greatness, #unicornglitter. Having seen so many wonderful professionals dig in, I can share that those who sprinkled too much glitter, too soon ran into problems. Your “glitter” can, at times, be identified as ideas for process improvement, changing things for the betterment of the executive, or saying, “Yes, I got it,” when you actually don’t. Imagine, if you will, opening a card that has glitter confetti in it. Once you open it, there’s glitter everywhere. Opening the proverbial “glitter card” hastily conveys you came in and started “improving” things too soon when others would prefer YOU develop context while learning people first. Sprinkle your glitter sparingly, like you would pepper a meal. The reason for this is to avoid negative judgments, such as, “Does s/he know the business yet? Is this new employee moving too quickly? Do they even know why we do what we do?”

When integrating into a new role, your goal should be to remain calculated with your work. You are in download mode and the way you take in the abundance of information coming at you is representative of how you want to carry yourself (think glitter from the card, messy - not the right impression). 

Create lists:

1. Details about the executive

2. Processes for improvement opportunities

3. Key stakeholders in/outside of the organization

4. Quick details about the top 5 people you need to build strong connections with 

Also, schedule time to ask questions based on what you’ve seen and heard so far. This way, when the time is right, you can volunteer your great ideas, i.e., sprinkle more glitter, and appropriately impress.

Case in point, a story from my journey as a Headhunter: The story highlights someone who sprinkled glitter too soon when starting a new role which resulted in a ton of frustration all around. One of my clients had an individual supporting him for 14 years, and it was a solid relationship, yet it was time for her to hang her glitter cannon. After HR posted the role, vetted candidates, and set up interviews, they believed they found the right fit. They extended an offer to an individual and were excited about their decision. However, that candidate came in with a huge cannon of glitter (i.e., ideas and applied changes without authority) during week one causing stress right away which ultimately created a big disruption in the organization. In the end, she lasted 45-days. I am honored to say, I've since helped them find the right professional for their organization. The lesson: be thoughtful, calculated, and patient with sprinkling your glitter, as it produces successful results.

Be Calculated - The way you design your time will evolve 

When you start your new role, be very aware that however you start to design your time/processes in the first 90-days will not be the same design in days 180 and beyond.. Develop a system/process that fits the immediate knowledge you’ve attained. From there, you can break down your system and reestablish it as you become a historian with the things happening around you. Avoid being too fixated on organizing yourself for the long-term right out the gate. As you gain context and a rhythm with your executive, you will start to make a system for yourself that fits as you grow in your role.

All right, here we go. Let’s break it down into days 30, 60, and 90.

FIRST 30-DAYS: 

Let's talk about the importance of the first 30-days. It's three words:

Historian - First thing you should be doing is looking at the last three months of the executive’s calendar and writing down repeat names, restaurants, and meeting titles (along with learning how poorly they’ve been managing their movement). Becoming familiar with his/her rhythm helps you experience cadence faster. 

Understand - Begin to ask yourself why things are happening, the purpose of them, and who is involved. A well received piece of advice I give out often, whenever you are asked to handle something, return by asking, “Why am I doing this and where is this a priority for you?” This accelerates building out your library of context.

Integrate - As you continue to gain exposure to movement and decisions, start to identify key things by asking yourself, “How do I integrate myself into this business activity?” Continue looking for tactical tasks to grab, i.e., gathering information, looking over deliverables, booking meetings and travel, research, and so on. 

Check out the 1:1 meeting article for tips, as you should be scheduling your first meeting at the end of your first 30-days.

DAYS 31 TO 60:

You’ve survived your first 30 days!! Now what?

Study - It's really important that you study, study, study.  When it comes to really wanting to understand what your executive is doing and what the company is up to, you have permission to ask if you can join a meeting or two so you can start to learn functions, lingo and begin connecting the dots on initiatives.

Core - As you assess, collaborate, and start to identify your core responsibilities, you begin to learn what work can be done in your “sleep”. You can then streamline and discover where your professional development opportunities lie. Meaning, what can we do beyond the core tasks? This is where you begin to strategically assess the information flooding your executive’s office. What's been happening routinely? What’s on the horizon? 

Side note, I’m a firm believer that access to the executive’s inbox should occur after the first 30-days. See general wisdom below.

Relationships - As you begin connecting the dots to your collective work and who’s a contributor to the success of that work, you should be paying close attention to the team members doing regular “Flybys” (or if remote, constant one off email requests) to your executive's office. Those are the people you need to be building strong relationships with. Taking note of these team members is key to your integration into bigger initiatives for and with your executive. Take that “flyby” team member to coffee whether in the break room or off-site, or over Zoom. Prepare questions like, “what have you seen from my executive that s/he could be doing differently? What should I be observing?” Properly preparing yourself for that meeting helps you establish a reputation for yourself, while also building trust.

I want to take a moment to remind you that you will make mistakes and you will be disappointed at times. Be encouraged to know that there are both “mistakes” (i.e.,when you know what to do, you knew better, yet didn’t do) and “learning moments” (i.e., trying to help with the flow, but did not have enough context). There is a difference between the two so I encourage you to enjoy a short podcast episode about that here. Be sure to share with your executive you will be reactive in the beginning, but you are working hard to transition to a proactive work style.

DAYS 61 TO 90:

Hoping that your relationships are growing, and your comprehension of your executive and the company are expanding, you should have a sense of accomplishment building up each day.

Cadence - You've been in the role now for almost 90-days and you are starting to optimize yourself and really become one with your executive and the flow of things. For those that have executives who travel up to 3 and 4 days a week, 90-days is not enough to experience cadence. You really need to have close proximity to your executive minimum, 3 times a week. So, depending on your situation, adjust your expectation on when cadence will arrive. I’ve come to learn that with executives who travel heavily, it takes about 6 to 7 months for cadence to show up and to be able to anticipate the needs of your executive and company. Give yourself permission to ride it out, it’s worth it! For individuals that work remotely or hybrid, consider the executive’s traveling dynamic (mentioned earlier) for you to experience cadence. I hope technical tools like Slack and Teams are regularly used so you can have quick access to your executive, like walking to their office and the reverse. If this tool is partially used, I see this as a terrific opportunity for you to deploy a plan. Working in a compartmentalized fashion helps you stay focused, avoiding a scattered work environment. In my experience, suggesting a deployment plan for using AI tools daily, allows admins to sit in the driver’s seat by proposing phased deployment strategies. First, is to use the chat back and forth. Next, is adding channels (or Teams) specific to workflow. Note, trying to deploy these steps before the 90-days may be misused energy; remember, you are still building trust.

General Wisdom

Executive Inbox Access

Clients and admins often ask, “When is a good time to gain access to the executive’s inbox?” My wisdom is backed by the depth and breadth of my work…not in the first 30-days. The reason is, you have little context and no authority resulting in anxiety joining the new relationship. 

Example: You’re in week 2, your executive is in a 3-hour meeting, and you see something come through from an employee that labels the subject line HOT. However, you are not aware yet that this person thinks everything is hot. So you immediately ask yourself, “Do I interrupt the meeting? Should I text the executive? Should I go down the hall and ask so-and-so, ‘is this important?’It’s an unnecessary pressure that can be avoided with the right timing. Additionally, if you work remote, holding out until day 31 gives you something to look forward to, plus, when it comes to communication movement, you will be more equipped to be proactive vs. reactive (as mentioned above).

So, what do you do in the first 30-days? Set a precedent with the executive that you should be CC'd with clear direction, i.e., please schedule a meeting for this week and BCC’d (so you two can discuss later) on as much activity as necessary. Backstory, I had a client give access to email on day 1, and the exceptional admin ‘assumed’ it was for visibility purposes only. The executive started coming to her office every 5-minutes telling her to reply to certain emails and she’s like “what!?”. Let’s just say, it was unorganized for the first 2-days. By day 3, she prepared a roadmap for how she was going to handle the next 3 weeks. She was not going to be the driver, but a passenger only, and at 30-days in, they would evaluate if she was ready to drive. 

Executive Calendar Access

Day 1, you should have access to the calendar and full scheduling permissions. This is the flour to your banana bread recipe; you need this in order to be successful.

Launch Pad:

1. Remember, you are becoming a historian, give yourself grace.

2. Keep in mind, you want to build the right brand for yourself in the beginning so move calculated (proactive) vs. messy (reactive).

3. You will have plenty of time to share your ideas and make process improvements. 

4. Be sure to grab the onboarding guide below!

In closing, as you move forward in your role, consider taking in this brief podcast episode from the Exceptional Admins show.

EA at Your Service: Grab the Onboarding Guide

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