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If you’re stepping into a leadership role as an admin or EA, get started with this episode featuring career coach and trainer Peggy Vasquez.
Recorded at APC 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.
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Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." Leadership is one of our training pillars here at ASAP, which is why you'll find admin and EA leadership training in our online courses, PACE certification, and at our events: APC and EA Ignite. At APC 2024, Peggy Vasquez, an international speaker and trainer, sat down with Mia Lane, an ASAP Advisory Board Member and a manager herself, to talk about all things admin leadership. Now, here's Peggy and Mia.
00:00:42
Mia Lane: Hello. My name is Mia Lane. I'm an EA manager at UKG. Today, my special guest is a career coach, author, and speaker: Peggy Vasquez.
Peggy Vasquez: Hi, Mia.
Mia Lane: Hello. I'm so glad to have you here today.
Peggy Vasquez: Well, this is going to be a fun conversation.
Mia Lane: Yes. Welcome to "The Admin Edge" podcast.
Peggy Vasquez: Thank you.
Mia Lane: Okay, we are going to just jump right in. First question: What are the most important qualities of a successful leader for an administrative team?
00:01:12
Peggy Vasquez: How long is this podcast? Because I could go on and on. There are so many different characteristics, attributes, skillsets. There are so many things you need as an admin lead, but I think what bubbles to the top is that understanding that leadership is about service. You're not there to lead the team because you're the best. You're there to lead the team because you are willing to serve.
Mia Lane: Exactly.
Peggy Vasquez: I think about the best leaders that I ever worked with, and the best ones were the ones that weren't at the front of the line when it came time for lunch. They were the ones at the back of the line, letting everyone else be fed before them. That goes for food and for knowledge, for opportunities.
Mia Lane: Yes, yes. And one thing that I know I've heard you say before is just being an active listener. That is just key in our roles as managers. One of my mentors told me, he said, "Always remember you have two ears and one mouth, so listen more than you speak."
00:02:20
Peggy Vasquez: And yet that seems so basic, but when you apply that concept into the office space, into your day-to-day space with all the other stressors and deadlines, we can forget those basics. I think it's important to have something in front of you to remind you.
Mia Lane: Exactly.
Peggy Vasquez: And I think the best reminder is when you are looking at your team and they're people you know, then you want to listen to them because you genuinely care about them.
Mia Lane: Exactly, yes. Okay, our next question is: What are some effective ways to keep an administrative team motivated and engaged?
00:03:02
Peggy Vasquez: A vision. Having a vision and having that vision not being dictated by you, but creating that vision with them based on their strengths, their challenges, where they want to go. And then of course, if you're the admin lead, it's not that it's your business, so you also have to marry that with: What does your organization need? What does your organization expect? What does your executive or leadership team expect of that admin team? So you can guide the team more to the type of vision that is needed, not only what might be fun or interesting. But I think that when there is a vision, the team is inspired because they're united, they have a purpose, and they get to use their strengths to hit it.
00:03:55
So there's many other ways to inspire them. I think the relational aspects also help inspire because they know that people care about them, they're mentoring them. Something that's about their growth and development and where they want to go, because then they're excited because they're on the track they want to be on.
Mia Lane: Yes. And speaking of being united, what strategies do you use to foster diversity and inclusion within your admin team?
Peggy Vasquez: Oh, my goodness. Diversity is so big and inclusion, too. We've all had that experience, I'm sure, where we felt like we didn't really matter, that while we were on the team, that we weren't part of the team, or we didn't feel that our contribution mattered or was noticed.
Mia Lane: Exactly.
00:04:42
Peggy Vasquez: Sometimes, when you look at all the negative aspects, that can help you know as a leader what not to do. And so you want to make sure that your team is all treated with the same level of importance, of respect, that you are letting them know that you value them. Again, it goes back to the relational aspect of knowing who they are. So, Mia, if I was working with you, I would have had a conversation with you by now to learn more about: "Where do you want to go in your career? What's next for you? How can I help you get there?" And then if I know that, when I hear about opportunities, I'm going to include you in that space.
Mia Lane: Exactly.
00:05:20
Peggy Vasquez: And I'm going to make sure that I'm not going to have favorites on my team. I'm going to make sure that not only did every opportunity go to Mia, but they also went to Ann. They also went to Johnny. Other people were able to grow, too, that it wasn't one-sided. Diversity and inclusiveness are so key in our world. It's a hot point worldwide, and I think that another huge lesson is making sure that it's top of mind.
00:05:55
I shared a story in one my sessions earlier this week about how I thought I had that covered. I thought I really understood that attribute and how I missed the mark. Thankfully, a woman told me. Because of that experience, I'll never let that happen again.
Mia Lane: Yes. That's great. How do you support professional development and career growth in your admin team?
Peggy Vasquez: It's about constantly looking for opportunities for training, whether it's a great opportunity to be here at this conference or whether it's virtually. Another way that you can have training moments is, again, highlighting your team's strengths. There's always somebody on the team that is excellent at Excel or PowerPoint or some type of tech. And so you can highlight what they know, their expertise, for the whole team, so the whole team gets to move forward in that area.
00:06:53
And then there's somebody else in the power skills, the soft skills, that can teach the team. And then bringing other people in. So if you don't have a budget, you can bring in internal staff to your team, and then you're also growing and developing them by looking for: What are some internal and external committees where you could bring somebody along? The growth and development – if your team is not growing, they're going to get stagnant and the motivation, the inspiration, is going to wane.
Mia Lane: Right. How do you identify and nurture potential leaders that are within your team?
Peggy Vasquez: Oh, my gosh. I love that part. I love that part because you can see the fresh energy. They'll often share with you when you're having the one-on-one meetings that they want to be where you are, and when you hear that – or they say, "In five years, I want to be where you are." You're like, "Yes! I have somebody."
00:07:45
The interesting thing is that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. So when somebody tells you they want to be where you are, you get to help them get there. It's all about mentoring and coming along beside them figuring out: What are your strengths, and how can I help you maximize those?
Mia Lane: Great. How do you see the role of the administrative team evolving in the next few years?
Peggy Vasquez: It's constantly changing.
Mia Lane: How do we prepare for that?
Peggy Vasquez: Yes, it's constant change, and we've got to be flexible and adaptable. We've also got to be smart enough to be reading, to be listening, about those trends and being prepared to take on the new knowledge. AI is the biggest topic right now. If you're not using AI because your company says you can't use it internally, that doesn't mean you can't use it personally.
Mia Lane: Exactly.
Peggy Vasquez: I encourage you to take advantage of that because it saves us all time, and time is money.
Mia Lane: Work smarter, not harder, exactly.
00:08:47
Peggy Vasquez: Exactly. So I think it's about being aware of what's happening in the industry that you work in and worldwide changes so that you can get on board quicker. Again, going back to AI, if your company doesn't allow you to use it, you can use it personally. And then when your company does bring it on board, you're already aware of how it can help you.
Mia Lane: Familiar with it, exactly.
Peggy Vasquez: So when it comes to a team, I think it's about making sure that no one is left behind. If you see somebody who isn't adapting to the changes, if somebody isn't aware, bring them on board. Bring them on board. Dig in to find out: "Why are you not of the mindset that you need to understand these changes?" Bringing them on board. And then looking for opportunities for some new changes. You can be the one who drives the changes. With Copilot, if you're not using that and somebody else in our organization is and you bring them on, you can save them so much time, so much headache.
00:09:51
Mia Lane: Okay, so Peggy, we talked about change happening. How do you lead your administrative teams through change, such as org changes or structure changes in the company?
Peggy Vasquez: Reorgs? Does that happen?
Mia Lane: All day every day! [laughter]
Peggy Vasquez: All the time, right, all the time. I've been through so many. In my position, I was supporting the CEO and working with the leadership team. Thankfully, I had the insight to know that the changes that they rolled out – they were massive, but they weren't decided upon overnight. They had more information than anyone else. They took a ton of time to deliberate, to find out what was going to be the best thing for the organization long term and for the staff.
00:10:38
Staff often think, well, didn't the team know how this was going to affect me? And when they find out, yes, they did, but they had to look at the broad organization and they had to say, "Well, what's going to be best long term for the organization?" Not just for one team. And I remember sharing that with one of the admins that was on my team that was really struggling because she was close with her team. She knew about the impact. Some people were laid off. It was a big, huge, huge change. When I shared with her that, I simply said, "Darlene, I want to make sure that you understand I'm on board with the change, and the reason why is because I know that the leadership team took months to make this decision. They vetted the possibilities. They had access to information that you haven't seen. And I trust that they made the best possible decision."
And because I shared that with her in a confident, clear way, she got on board, because now she no longer had that doubt in her mind that the organization didn't think about her team.
00:11:47
Mia Lane: Yes. And one thing that has also been something that came up is having a growth mindset as an administrative professional.
Peggy Vasquez: And what do you think a growth mindset means?
Mia Lane: Adaptable to change, able to pivot at the last minute and do what is best for the company and for your teams.
Peggy Vasquez: Right. And about you looking forward to the possibilities that are coming down so that you're not so fixed in what you've been doing. We've probably all seen an executive or an admin that are so fixed in their ways that when change happens, they resist so hard.
Mia Lane: Oh, yes.
Peggy Vasquez: They took all their energy resisting instead of taking their energy to pivot, like you said.
Mia Lane: Embrace it, yes.
Peggy Vasquez: Because there's always a reason for the change. There's a reason. And instead of doubting the reason, if we adopt the mindset that this is going to be better, even if I don't know how to do it yet, even though I don't understand it yet, if I get on board, I'm going to find the blessing in the change. It's going to be a good thing for everybody.
Mia Lane: Exactly. Well, we do have a listener question submitted from one of our community members.
Peggy Vasquez: Fabulous.
00:12:59
Mia Lane: They have written: "I'm stepping into a team lead role for the first time, overseeing other admins with different levels of experience. How do I ensure everyone feels valued and supported?"
Peggy Vasquez: My number one tip is have one-on-one meetings with everybody on your team. Ask them some questions. And if you want access to those questions, all you have to do is email me at [email protected], and I'll send you the questions. But they simply are: How long have you been in your current role? What do you love about your profession? Where do you want to be in the next two to five years? What do you want the team to focus on and why? How can I help you? What are your strengths? What are the challenges that you are experiencing, and how can I help you overcome them?
00:13:53
And then based on all of that, now you know who's on your team. Now you know, I've got some strength over here. I've got some challenges over here. Well, guess what? There's people on my team who have the strengths to solve the challenges. You don't have to be the one to solve everything.
Mia Lane: Not everything.
Peggy Vasquez: Pull on the strengths of your team. Use the people who have the knowledge and help them to give the knowledge to the people who are just starting out. And then the people who are just starting out, get feedback because they haven't been seeing all of this for years. It's a new perspective. You can learn a ton from the new people, too.
Mia Lane: You can. I feel like it's a partnership. It is definitely a partnership because every day I learn from people on my team, and they learn from me. Yes. Wonderful. Well, it has been such a pleasure speaking with you today, Peggy. Thanks again for joining us. But one more time: Where can our listeners find you online?
00:14:51
Peggy Vasquez: They can find me at my website at peggyvasquez.net or through email at [email protected]. I'm also on LinkedIn. I'd love to be connected. And, Mia, thank you.
Mia Lane: Thank you so much.
[music playing]
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 video and audio production at our events by 5Tool 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.