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If you are like many small business owners, you might have a little time on your hands during this pandemic.
Most have employees who are working remotely, business is down (if not stopped) and life has been put on hold – hopefully not for long.
It is not a place any of us ever imagined we’d wake up to – yet here we are.
Use this unexpected free time to catch up on some of those tasks that seem to hit the back burner of your priority list – and stay there.
The Invaluable Administrative Assistant
Any successful business has someone behind the scenes helping to keep things humming by connecting all the dots.
This person is typically an administrative assistant.
Often, these valuable employees have a vague understanding of what they are expected to do.
An accurate and updated job description is a valuable tool to help communicate job expectations and can be used when assessing how well an employee performed over the course of a performance period.
Someone recently asked me to provide some examples of administrative assistant performance goals.
Administrative assistants are some of the most valuable of all employees because they are the doers, the ones who get things done. These valuable employees are instrumental in helping the organization achieve its objectives.
This, of course, is if they have a good understanding of what is expected of them and written employee goals to help them prioritize daily work tasks.
For example, an administrative assistant may be responsible for drafting business letters to vendors or clients.
When someone asks me to provide examples of administrative performance goals, I start with a question.
My first question to them is:
What kind of goals does his/her manager have and how can the administrative assistant help their manager achieve departmental goals?
The easiest way for any organization to achieve its mission and corporate objectives is to articulate and write business goals.
These important steps create a road map for achieving desired results.
It is essential to monitor how well employees complete goals through a structured performance management process.
Writing administrative assistant goals can be done by using the SMART goals model.
Going through this important planning process requires determining the necessary action steps and identifying a person who has responsibility for completing those goals.
This is done by creating a goal document that clarifies:
- The goal
- Tactical Steps
- Responsible Person
- Timeline
- Status of Completion
Example Goal #1
For example, let’s say the administrative assistant works for the manager over the purchasing department, and the manager has a goal to reduce supply costs.
The manager could solicit help from her administrative assistant to do the research and audit departmental spending.
So, a performance goal might look something like this:
Purchasing Department Goal:
Reduce purchasing supply costs by 10%.
The purchasing department spends an average of $1,000 per month on supplies, and they need to cut out $100 (10% of $1,000) per month in costs.
Administrative Assistant Performance Goal:
Reduce purchasing supply costs by 10%.
The administrative assistant is now responsible for identifying excess costs and recommending spending cuts.
What this might look like in a goal document:
Example Goal #2
The administrative assistant works for the manager of human resources.
The HR manager is charged with ensuring that all employee files are kept up-to-date and that those files maintain the required employee information.
Human Resources Goal:
Maintain 100% I-9 Form compliance.
There are 75 active employee files, and the administrative assistant needs to make sure each of those files has a completed I-9 form.
HR Administrative Assistant Performance Goal:
Ensure 100% of HR files have completed I-9 forms.
The administrative assistant now has a goal to ensure that all employees have the required I-9 forms in their personnel files.
This goal document might look like this:
Example Goal #3
The administrative assistant works for the manager of a large call center.
This call center has 50 employees who answer customer calls. Customer satisfaction scores have been declining, and the manager has learned that there has been a spike in caller wait times to 180 seconds (3 minutes).
Call Center Goal:
Improve Customer Satisfaction To 87 Satisfaction Score
The administrative assistant helps to manage and train call center employees.
The manager is asking the administrative assistant to help improve the satisfaction score by reducing call wait times and giving her a goal to improve call wait time by 90 seconds.
Call Center Administrative Assistant Goal:
Improve call wait times by 90 seconds.
That goal document might look something like this:
Implementing a strategy requires a process to distribute responsibility throughout the organization.
Employee goals are important because they support the goals of individual departments, which should line up with the implementation of business strategy.
The beauty of flowing goal responsibility throughout the organization is that it gives every employee an opportunity to participate in the success of the organization.
Employee goals should be part of their job description, and staff should be assessed for completion of goals at the annual performance appraisal.
This responsibility helps employees understand how what they do (on a day-to-day basis) affects the ability of the organization to achieve corporate objectives.
Employees come to work with the intention of doing a good job.
Managers can help their staff succeed by giving them clear goals and helping them to understand what is expected so that they are better prepared to perform at desired levels.
Consistent communication with employees is the best way to keep employees engaged, so communicate often.
Administrative assistants, in particular, are vital to an organization’s success.
Take the time to write goals for them so they can help the organization achieve its business strategy.
If you want to learn more about setting performance goals, check out Perfect Phrases for Setting Performance Goals: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Goals for Any Performance Plan or Review
You can access an editable goal document here.