According to First Round Capital research, CEOs are inefficiently using 70% of their time. Indeed, executives have a lot on their plates, especially since they’re responsible for critical business decisions. However, knowing how to delegate tasks can reduce bottlenecks in their operations. When you want to focus your efforts on directing your organization strategically, consider hiring a CEO assistant.
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You can partner with a Wing executive assistant and dramatically improve your productivity. Expect to work with a high-performing professional with comprehensive experience in providing C-suite administrative help. They can handle a range of responsibilities, including managing calendars, preparing financial documents, and even supporting the recruitment process. Keep reading this blog post to discover how CEO assistance can help minimize, if not eliminate, bottlenecks in your business operations.
Meeting Management through a CEO assistant
A Doodle case study reported that scheduling meetings takes about 20 minutes. Imagine how disruptive that task can be when you need to organize multiple appointments every day. You need to find a schedule that works for everyone. Besides, when people cancel, you have to reschedule the meeting. Here are some ways a CEO assistant can help in this area:
Scheduling and Logistics
Part of the CEO assistant job description is ensuring that your calendar is up-to-date. As such, they will arrange the meeting at your most convenient time and location. They will ensure that there will be no scheduling conflicts on your end. What’s more, you can educate them about the most valuable processes and people within the organization. So, when you receive multiple meeting requests, your CEO assistant will give your meeting time to more appropriate contacts.
Agendas and Follow-Ups
According to a study published in Behavioral Analysis in Practice, preparing a meeting agenda can help prevent interruptions, distractions, and off-task activities. An assistant to the CEO can also perform this task efficiently. They will list a clear set of items to discuss, including the objectives and the time frames. Moreover, they will proactively send confirmations and follow-ups to avoid meeting no-shows.
Email and Communication through an EA
Business executives run their lives through phone calls, messages, and emails. Unfortunately, these administrative tasks can take up a lot of their time. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that CEOs spend 15% of their work time on phone calls and messages. Meanwhile, 24% of their time goes to electronic communications like emails and virtual meetings. Here’s how CEO assistance can help you regain this time:
A CEO Assistant Manages Inboxes
An executive assistant to CEO salary is worth every penny, especially with the sheer size of email inboxes they manage. Aside from managing your inbox, they can also skillfully organize your most important messages for you. This way, you will spend your valuable time reviewing the essentials.
A CEO Assistant Manages Calendars
As a business executive, your time is your most valuable commodity. You can easily lose track of your efficiency and productivity when you spend hours redistributing priority and managing multiple calendars. Without any help, you might double-book meetings and miss deadlines.
Thankfully, part of the CEO assistant job description is to manage emails and organize calendars. All you need to do is confirm events and add them to your to-do lists. Your assistant will synchronize your calendars and update you with the deadlines.
Decision-Making through a CEO Assistant
According to a 2019 McKinsey survey, 14% of C-level executives spend 70% of their time making decisions. It’s only reasonable for CEOs to want to spend so much time on this activity. However, the same study revealed that the “quality and speed of decision-making” significantly influence the overall performance of an organization. The good news is that an assistant to the CEO can add value to this process.
A CEO Assistant Conducts Research for You
As a senior leader, you must keep abreast of the latest industry trends and news. However, you must admit that this can be a time-consuming task. So, it only makes sense to let an assistant conduct research for you.
One of the reasons why a CEO assistant salary is different from what a regular secretary gets is because the former can conduct competitive intelligence. They can gather information about prospective clients and industry rivals.
What’s more, they can research important developments in your field, ensuring that you always stay ahead of the competition. Other departments can use the information they collect in tailoring and adjusting sales and marketing strategies.
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Travel Management care of an EA
Even if you’re traveling for business, you’re planning a personal experience. After all, you need to schedule flights, find the ideal accommodation, and even secure car rental services. Moreover, the tasks go beyond the actual business trip—you’d have to list your expenses.
According to Global Business Travel Association research, processing a business expense report for a one-night hotel stay takes about 20 minutes to complete. Moreover, it takes around 18 minutes to correct a mistake. Indeed, travel preparation—on all levels—can be a significant time sink for any CEO.
A CEO Assistant Manages Travel Arrangements and Logistics
You may have preferences for airports, airlines, seating, hotel chains, and rental cars. That’s understandable because traveling can easily turn into a horrid experience. Well, you can document your preferences and inform your assistant. You’ll have the advantage of working with someone who understands your requirements when completing your itinerary.
CEO Assistants Handle Administrative Tasks
The same Harvard Business Review study we mentioned revealed that CEOs spend about 11% of their time performing routine duties. Such tasks can include reviewing important documents, handling expense reports, and even preparing invoices.
Choosing between an executive assistant vs. an administrative assistant can be challenging. However, in general, when you need high-level support that’s tailored to your needs, choose the former. Here are some ways an EA can help:
Reviewing Crucial Documents
Because executive assistants have specialized skills, they can also review important documents for you. For instance, they can go through your contracts and identify potential legal problems. They can bring these concerns to your attention to ensure they will be addressed accordingly.
A CEO assistant can also monitor your emails and flag important messages. They can also respond to routine messages on your behalf. Another task you can delegate to an executive assistant is reading and analyzing reports. They can extract key details and provide you with a summary.
Handling Invoices, Expense Reports, and Other Financial Documents
CEO assistance can also involve bookkeeping support. Your executive assistant may not be an accountant, but they can maintain financial records using programs like FreshBooks or QuickBooks.
They can prepare invoices, expense forecasts, and monthly profit statements, among others. Their responsibilities can also include following up on outstanding bills. This way, you can ensure that your company will receive payments on time.
Keep in mind that bookkeeping tasks involve sensitive data. So, one of our tips for hiring a solid remote executive assistant is to find a managed service provider. This way, you can ensure that your hiring a trustworthy professional who is always accountable for the documents they handle.
People Management through an Assistant
Gallup research revealed that executives who invest in employee engagement are likely to see organizational improvements. Indeed, an assistant cannot completely take over a CEO’s responsibilities in managing employees. However, they can still help with some administrative tasks related to people management.
Your Assistant Can Help Cultivate Your Team Members’ Growth
Aside from providing recruitment support, a CEO assistant can also handle employee development and engagement duties. They can organize and maintain records, including performance reviews. Moreover, they can send organization-wide memos and newsletters on your behalf. This way, your employees will always feel connected with you.
You can also require your assistant to coordinate employee development and training programs. Also, if you’re planning to send your team to meetings, development programs, or conferences offsite, your assistant can handle travel arrangements and accommodation. They can coordinate with booking agents, hotels, and event organizers. To boost employee engagement, your assistant can conduct surveys to collect and collate feedback.
Fostering a healthy and purpose-driven company culture is essential to an organization’s success. However, as the CEO, you don’t have to handle all aspects of people management. You can delegate specific administrative tasks to your executive assistant. This way, you can focus on making valuable decisions that will drive the growth of your company.
Learn more about virtual administrative assistant services.
Save $900 on a Full-Time Wing Virtual Assistant
when you start with a full-time Wing Virtual Assistant.
Hire Top-Notch Remote CEO Assistants through Wing
When interviewed by CNBC, Harvard professor Michael Porter said that for CEOs, “time is the scarcest resource.” They spend hours and hours in their workday on meetings, and the remaining few go to routine administrative tasks. These are duties that could be delegated to an assistant with specialized skills. Now, because organizations rely heavily on C-suite decisions, they experience bottlenecks on various levels of business processes.
The good news is that Wing’s executive assistants can alleviate these bottlenecks. They can handle complex personal and team schedules, organize calendars, plan business trips, and prepare financial documents. Of course, these are just some of the tasks that you can offload to a Wing CEO assistant.
If you want to ask what an executive assistant to CEO salary is or what responsibilities you can delegate, schedule a call today.
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Eunice Samson’s interest in keeping up with the “bleeding edge” of technology has led her to a career in digital marketing. She’s currently writing SEO content for eCommerce, SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS companies. Aside from searching for opportunities to increase her online marketing knowledge, Eunice also scours the Internet for useful bonuses and coupon codes that she can use to fuel her love for photography. During her free time, she watches professional photo retouching tutorials between streaming her favorite TV shows. Fun fact: Eunice has never met a cupcake she didn’t like.
