Tell Me Again - What Is It That You Do?

Does your HR department understand your role? Does your job description even reflect what you do every day? Do you even have a job description?

With Administrative Professionals Month upon us, Admins the world over are in the spotlight. How long have we struggled in our industry to create awareness and understanding of what it is we actually do, to gain recognition and to show to executives and the business world the value that administrative professionals bring to the bottom line?

Research done by the World Administrators Summit (WA-Summit) came from our survey of around 3000 Admins across the globe and we published the International Position Titles Report. The input showed that there are over 160 different job titles for administrative professionals and many job titles mean different things dependent on your employer, sector or country.

One of the biggest factors causing ambiguity and confusion about the role of the administrative professional is poor position descriptions/job descriptions (PDs/JDs).

Far too often, PDs/JDs written for administrative professionals fail to fully grasp the complexities of the roles and the numerous ways in which the administrative professional supports their executive/manager. In many cases, existing PDs/JDs are completely out of date, describing little more than the simplest routine, everyday tasks that have been performed by administrators for decades.

Inaccurate PDs/JDs too often contribute to a lack of understanding of the depth of the administrative professional role, which in turn leads to undervaluing the administrator in the organisation, ill-advised rationalisation of the administrator role in some organisations, equally ill-advised offshoring of business support functions and a general failure to make the most of the potential of the administrator.

So it’s no surprise that the outside world is confused about the role of the Administrative Professional. The Delegates at the WA-Summit determined that more clarity was needed, not just for Admins themselves, but also for Executives and HR Managers, so the Skills Set Matrix was born.

Created by a WA-Summit international task force, the Skills Set Matrix is a unifying framework that describes five levels of work, identifying the skills and tasks that fit each level, as you move from reactional tasks through transactional to strategic tasks. It shows career progression from entry level to the highest echelon. It shows what professional development you need to take you from one level to the next. This ground-breaking work has never been done before in our profession and we are very excited about the next steps.

Delegates at the 2018 WA-Summit have now given their feedback on the draft report of the Skills Set Matrix and it will be presented as final at the 2021 WA-Summit. Once the report has been endorsed by the Delegates, we can start to share the Skills Set Matrix with the outside world. You will be able to see where you fit within the profession.

The information will help you to determine a pathway for yourself, whether with your current employer, or elsewhere. The Skills Set Matrix is also to assist your Executive, your HR department and Recruiters to better understand the roles filled by Administrative Professionals, the structure and range of tasks within those roles and show a clear career pathway for those who wish to progress.

This framework is not intended to change position titles within your organisation or your country. It is aimed at clarifying what you do as an administrative professional, how you support and contribute to your employment. Now that’s something to shout about.

About the World Administrators Alliance

The World Administrators Alliance (WA-Alliance) is a non-profit trade association, representing Administrative Professional Associations, Networks and Individuals from across the globe. Our aims are to guide, influence, develop and elevate the Administrative Profession as well as to build a global community to enable Administrative Professionals the world over to speak with one voice. The WA-Alliance was established in 2020 as the new governing body for the WA-Summit and all its activities and opens for membership in 2021.

By Helen Monument, Interim Chair, World Administrators Alliance