Leah Warwick: Hi everyone. I’m Leah Warwick, and you’re listening to The Admin Edge. Through our research at the American Society of Administrative Professionals, it’s clear that systems thinking and designing systems are key to where the administrative profession is headed, with more complex business and executive operations.

Let’s take some cues from Alicia Overton, C-Suite EA and founder of the AO Planner, talking with Lydia Davidheiser on the bustling show floor at EA Ignite

Lydia Davidheiser: Hi, I’m Lydia Davidheiser, Senior Content Coordinator for ASAP, and my guest today is Alicia Overton, founder of the AO Planner company and speaker at this event, EA Ignite. Welcome to the podcast.

Alicia Overton: Thank you so much, Lydia. I’m so beyond excited-

… humbled, all the things.

All the things. I’m so happy to be here.

Lydia Davidheiser: Oh, we’re so lucky to have you.

And today, we’re gonna be talking about The Admin Who Builds Systems Wins. And I don’t wanna get too ahead of ourselves, because I know shortly you’re gonna be on our State of the Profession panel-

Alicia is gonna be on a panel of four, and they’re gonna be talking about the five shifts that we can see in the administrative profession this year.

Alicia Overton: Yeah. And some very exciting data there. It– I would say that it is the conversation that needs to happen.

We’re such rock stars.

Lydia Davidheiser: But I did wanna bring up how in this report, specifically this year, we talk a lot about the shift towards more strategic work, but for many admins, that still feels a little abstract-

Alicia Overton: Mm. Mm-hmm …

I think the first thing that really has to happen is the foundational work, and so learning aspects of the business is really critical and key. So, you’re looking at key stakeholders, the meetings that you’re booking. How is this, um, affecting the business? Uh, looking at all of the areas of the business and how they interact with each other for the company to run.

Finding out those things at the very beginning can help you with building systems, because if you don’t understand the business, there’s no way-

Lydia Davidheiser: Absolutely. 100%. And so when you walk into an organization, what are the signs that something is inefficient, but no one’s really taking ownership of fixing it? And I already, I already hear you laughing.

Alicia Overton: Uh, it’s the proverbial, “Well, so-and-so does that-

And then of course, when you wing it, the thing that I hate the most, duplicate work. So you have- you start out down a path, you get to the end, only to find out that it wasn’t the right thing in the first place.

And then you gotta go back, fix what you started, and start all over again.

Lydia Davidheiser: Yes, that is the clear sign-

Alicia Overton: that there is a problem.

Like, the way I see things is very linearly.

So, um, I think looking for ways or areas where you see where improvement, uh, can be made in a process, creating, uh, an SOP for it-

because now you’ve created the process for them, and they didn’t have to do the work.

And I asked, “What’s the process?”

I’m now getting an envelope that I can place the small items that need to go along with the box, that goes in there. I’m now giving… I’ve created the process for, okay, how is it getting shipped? Where is it getting shipped? Who gets it back? Basically, just outlining it from start to finish what it needs to look like. It’s made life so much easier. So now, when a new marketing coordinator comes on board, I can hand the SOP over to them and I say, “Godspeed.”

And she’s a very, very keen on the SOP procedures. We have so many templates on that.

Lydia Davidheiser: Yeah. So absolutely. And for those who don’t know, we didn’t mention this in the beginning, but you’ve built a product, The AO Planner Company, while supporting C-suite executives full time, which is of course no small thing.

What did that experience teach you about capacity, prioritization, and what admins are actually capable of?

Alicia Overton: I’m gonna say that- I’ve been blessed to work for executives that have placed me in rooms with them, so I got to see business building at the very, at a very high level.

So “The AO Planner” is my love letter to the administrative professional community. It’s a smart planner system for them. And what it taught me was definitely using my organizational skills to make sure that I am following a process to get from s- from the idea to the iteration to launch is really important.

It also taught me that we’re capable of anything. We are SMEs at what we do.

And, uh, we are capable of building any business that we want to because we’re always surrounded by business.

Use it to build what you want. Use it to propel yourself forward. That has been the biggest lesson that I’ve learned.

And I am so blessed to have had people to really support me along the way, and, um, so excited to see where things go.

Don’t be afraid to sacrifice. Don’t be afraid to do anything that is going to get you what you want.

Lydia Davidheiser: Oh my gosh. Well, what powerful words to end on. Before we close everything out, we did have a listener question submitted by one of our community members.

They write in, “How do you build credibility as someone who can improve systems if your role hasn’t traditionally been seen that way?”

Alicia Overton: Ooh. I know.

Can you handle the implementation?”

Uh, that would be my advice.

I’m happy to be there. To learn about the AO Planner, which, uh, I am launching the physical planner and the application last day of, uh, Administrative Professionals Month. I’m so excited for that. You can go to my website, theaoplanner.com. Otherwise, LinkedIn is my spot. Just find me there. I’m always talking.

Lydia Davidheiser: All right. We will go and find you. Thank you, Alicia.

Alicia Overton: Thank you, Lydia. It’s so great spending time with you.

Lydia Davidheiser: Yes, you as well.

Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to “The Admin Edge,” produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals. Original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with audio and video production by Five Tool Productions.

If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you’d like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at asaporg.com/podcast.