Leah Warwick: Hi everyone, I’m Leah Warwick, and you’re listening to The Admin Edge. Here at the American Society of Administrative Professionals, we offer AI training while also emphasizing the importance of human discernment and amplification. Few know this better than Lisa de Melogue, EA to the CEO at Marco Polo and a trainer at our event, EA Ignite.

Let’s listen in to Lisa on the show floor at EA Ignite, talking with Lydia Davidheiser from ASAP. Lydia speaks first

Lydia Davidheiser: Welcome to the podcast, Lisa.

Lisa de Melogue: Thank you. Excited to be here.

Lydia Davidheiser: Yes, we’re so excited to have you. And today we’re talking about something very important. A big conversation in the industry right now is AI. But of course, on this podcast, I would love to cover with you how it’s really taking over parts of the job that are maybe becoming time-consuming or repetitive.

So we’re calling this episode, AI Came For The Parts Of Your Job That You Hate. And so I must admit, I spied on your LinkedIn earlier, and I found a quote that I would love to read everyone because I think it really sets the tone for this episode and what you believe when it comes to this new technology.

So you work for Marco Polo, which is a tech company, and you say, “At Marco Polo, there’s a strong expectation that we embrace AI-first thinking in how we work. I use AI in nearly every part of my role.” And so what I wanna ask you first is, in our recent State of the Profession Report, which for those who don’t know, it’s a free benchmarking report on our website, and this year we surveyed over 5,000 admins, 285 executives, and 223 HR professionals.

We saw that AI usage has skyrocketed. Almost 77% of admins are using it, but less than half feel confident actually integrating it into their work. So I’m curious, Lisa, does this gap surprise you?

Lisa de Melogue: Yeah. You know, it really doesn’t just because of the EAs that I talk to, um, there’s a, I think, a few factors that are contributing to that.

One is it’s just such a huge learning curve. We have all these different tools we hear about. We have all these different ways of doing things. We’re hearing about it at the conference. We’re hearing about it from our peers and social media, all these places. And so we’re bombarded with all this information and all this advice of what we should be doing, and I feel like it’s just overwhelming.

Right. You know? And it’s hard to know who to listen to, where to begin. You know, how do I really integrate it for myself? Um, so that’s one part I think that’s contributing. And then the other thing is there’s just the level of fear, you know of like, “I don’t know what to do. How do I do this? What if it doesn’t work for me?”

Or they’ve tried it and it hasn’t worked out the way they expected it to, and so they just kinda wanna give up. Um, and also just another huge common fear is job security. You know, if I automate too much, it’s, am I not gonna be needed anymore? Right. You know? Or am I gonna be completely replaced in my role?

So those are all really valid fears. Um, so I feel like with all that coming together-

That’s what’s contributing to that gap.

Um, what I’ve seen and experienced for myself is that I feel like it just starts with that first win, like that first wow factor of when you do something with AI, it just makes your life easier, and then it just, like, snowballs-

Right

you know, from there. Yes. So for me, it was, um, taking a screenshot of my exec’s itinerary and of, of, of an event they’re gonna go to, and there’s many days and many events, and they need to know where to go. They’re not gonna look at that piece of paper. So it was taking a screenshot of that, and it- AI helped to just automatically stick it into their calendar without me manually entering everything in.

Wow. And I think most of us have that kind of scenario- um, where we have to do that.

And so to see that happen within minutes is like, wow.

You know?

And that’s to me where it was like, “Whoa, where else can this take me?”

So, um, so I think it’s just about experimenting and taking things one step at a time, you know, to help close that gap.

Lydia Davidheiser: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And you touched on something really important, which is the honest truth, that there is a lot of hesitation, there is a lot of fear when it comes to AI, especially in the industry right now. Where do you think the profession is falling behind when it comes to adopting these tools?

Lisa de Melogue: I think once you get the confidence and you build those couple tasks, the couple tasks that you’re gonna automate, that’s great, but I think where people, people then stop there. They don’t go further. And I think the question that you need to ask is, what happens next in that workflow? We don’t just have one part of a workflow.

Right. You know? So for example, if you are using AI to help summarize meeting notes, um, what do you do with those meeting notes? Well, you probably have action items, so have AI create action items. Have it create tasks for you in your task program at work. Um, there’s probably follow-up communication that even happens, right?

So have it draft the communication. It’s got the context of the notes, and you can give it more context about your company, too. You know, you can be giving this information to AI to help it help you, which is amazing. And then another one is, for example, event planning. We all probably plan events-

Yes …

team off-sites, that kind of thing.

Yes. And so you take a messy spreadsheet that has all this travel logistics and maybe sessions that you’re gonna be building, and instead of manually cleaning and organizing and formatting it, just upload that spreadsheet to AI and say, “Help me make this better.” Right. And it’s amazing what it comes up with, not only that maybe you thought of, but it’ll come up with other ways, and it’s like, wow.

Mm-hmm. I never thought of having this there. And it’s like, that’s what’s so amazing to me. So it’s like, it’s then going from just generating stuff for you to actually thinking with you.

And that right there, I think, is where people are not realizing that it’s out there.

Right. Yes. Like, they can seize that, you know?

Lydia Davidheiser: Yeah, no, that is such an important step. And, you know, you already provided such great examples, but for someone who feels overwhelmed by all the options, how would you recommend they start integrating AI into their workflow in a way that actually feels manageable?

Lisa de Melogue: Mm-hmm.

Lydia Davidheiser: If they don’t know where to start.

Lisa de Melogue: Sure. I’d actually start with the frustration, not the tools. So asking yourself one of two questions. One would be, what’s something that I do over and over and over again? And maybe I can shed some, you know, reduce some time with doing that task. And so it’s gonna be something that’ll make it more efficient or even just completely automate it.

Um, so it could be like taking all the travel details for your exec for a trip and creating a nice it- itinerary, like a beautiful snapshot itinerary. Again, something we manually would be doing, but that’s a manageable thing and most of us have that to do. Um, another one might be building a report, and there’s multiple sources.

So instead of you having to go to the different sources, you’re putting all that into AI, and it’s creating that report for you. Um, and at least it’s a starting point too. It’s not just starting from a blank page.

And I feel like that’s a huge one of… The other question is, what is something you don’t like doing?

Like, we all have parts of our job we don’t like doing, so what’s that thing that you’re like, “Ugh, I just really don’t wanna do this”?

And some people it might be, like, expense reports. Some people don’t like that, so you can have AI help with that. Um, for me, I don’t like writing.

I have a AI chatbot that writes for me-

Can you help me automate this?”

Lydia Davidheiser: There’s so many out there. But what’s the difference between AI that saves you a few minutes versus tools that genuinely change how you work and potentially saves you hours?

Lisa de Melogue: Mm-hmm. Um, I would say it, it really comes down to mindset, um, a mindset shift, like being open and curious and just wanting to experiment.

Um, again, like if something… AI helps you with one thing, asking that next question of, what else can it really help me with? Um, and so an important shift right now is-

The fact that, well, first we all have a huge ownership in all of everything we do as EAs. Like, we want our exec to be happy. We want everything to be perfect.

Lydia Davidheiser: Right. And that’s a strength. That’s part of what we’re good at. But it also can be a hindrance in a way, because then we feel like we have to be part of every single part of the process.

And if you stop and really think, “Do I need to be a part of every step of this, step of this process?” The answer might surprise you.

Lisa de Melogue: You probably don’t need to be. And so what I think the shift is right now is going and doing an agent, having an agent run in the background doing these tasks with you or even without you. Right. And as long… You know, you’re overseeing, you’re creating it- Yes … but having it run without you.

An example of that, um, in my work is meeting prep.

Mm. So it used to involve eight steps, and it… When you step and, you know, you stop and you map it all out, it’s like eight steps-

Right …

Then it checks if they met before. If they’ve met within the last six months, she might not need prep.

Lydia Davidheiser: Right.

Lisa de Melogue: it then kicks off research. Like, it gets the LinkedIn profile- Yeah … the company info, finds commonalities between my exec and-

Mm …

Wow. That’s amazing.

Lydia Davidheiser: Right. “I wanna make it better.”

Lisa de Melogue: Mm-hmm. So just keep a list in whatever format you want, and then you have to block time on your calendar every week. You have to take time for yourself. Mm-hmm. And it, it’s really important to do this because if you don’t make space for yourself, then you are gonna fall behind.

And then when it comes to that time, though, open up that list and see what comes out as, like, the most important, the most sticky to you at the moment, and just do it.

And, like, just start small and do that. But if you do it every week, it really is gonna build that muscle.

Yeah. And then you’re gonna build that confidence really quickly.

Lydia Davidheiser: And I just wanna touch on a listener question that was actually submitted by one of our community members. They write, “I’m worried that the more I automate, the more my executive will wonder what I’m actually doing all day.” How do you handle that?

Lisa de Melogue: Yeah, totally a common concern. And, and very understandable, right?

‘Cause we are automating so much, and so then it’s like, well then, what am I doing in my role? Or what are they thinking I’m doing or not doing in my role?

Um, and I think that automating doesn’t remove value. It just shifts the value. So when you think about-

So things like that, things that require judgment, that require awareness and relationship building. Um, and as EAs, it’s a deeply human-based role. They rely on us for judgment and emotional intelligence, intuition, context, things that AI doesn’t have. It doesn’t know your business, it doesn’t know your exec, um, in the ways that you do, and doesn’t know your culture.

It doesn’t know all these different things, right?

The nuance behind decisions that are being made. And so that’s why I really feel like AI is here to augment, not to replace. Um, and it’ll make us just better at what we do. Mm-hmm. Especially the things that we don’t like to do or that we don’t feel like we do as well.

Right. Um, so it, when you’re freeing up that time, you really are able to reinvest that into higher value work. Anticipating needs, improving processes, solving problems before they arise, and that’s what execs truly value, and these are the things that only humans can do.

Lydia Davidheiser: Wow. All right. Well, what a powerful note and a way to end this episode. Thank you so, so much, Lisa, for joining us here on The Admin Edge. Where can our listeners find you online?

Lisa de Melogue: Yeah, I’d love to connect on LinkedIn. That would be great. And I do just wanna add that for me, my real breakthrough with AI was taking a course. I took the Carve AI for EAs course. Um, and it wasn’t just the tools and ideas that come from that, which are great.

If it’s a community, a workshop, a class, surrounded by people that just really have the same growth intuition – is, is learning amongst your peers and growing in your skills.

Lydia Davidheiser: So thank you again, Lisa, for your time.

Lisa de Melogue: Yeah. Thank you. It was fun.

Leah Warwick: Audio editing by Warwick Productions, with audio and video production by Five Tool Productions.

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