[00:00] LEAH WARWICK: Hi everyone, I’m Leah Warwick and you’re listening to the Admin Edge. Executive assistants and administrative professionals with robust change management skills are super valuable to organizations, and the higher up you go, the more these skills are needed. So who better to discuss this skill set than expert Chrissy Scivicque, talking to our interviewer for this episode and herself an expert on navigating change, Monica Brooks. So let’s listen in to Monica and Chrissy at the ASAP event EA Ignite.

[00:30] MONICA BROOKS: Welcome back to the Admin Edge. My name is Monica Brooks. I’m a people developer consultant with the empowered edge. Our guest today is Chrissy Scivicque. She’s a professional development strategist and founder of eatyourcareer.com and a trainer at this event at EA Ignite. Welcome to the podcast Chrissy.

[00:50] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Hi Monica, thank you so much for having me and hello listeners. Glad to be here.

[01:01] MONICA BROOKS: Yes, I’m so happy that you’re here and today we’re talking about change management. Change is a constant thing that EAs continually have to manage. They’re just right out the gate. A lot of us are feeling change fatigue. And sometimes I find that EA support their leadership through all of that change fatigue. How can EAs support themselves as change continues to happen and evolve all the time, constant?

[01:28] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes, absolutely. And I think this is a great place for us to start. Change fatigue isn’t talked about enough and we’re all feeling it. So I always like to start a conversation around change fatigue by being really clear about what it is. Really when the disruption of the change outweighs our capacity to deal with it.

[01:57] MONICA BROOKS: Oh, say that again. The disruption of the change outweighs our capacity to deal with it. Wow, I love that. It’s it’s a really helpful kind of formula because we have two sides of it. We have the disruption and then we have our capacity and capacity is something that changes every day.

[02:19] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah, so it depends on a variety of things, right? Like what you got going on at home and your current workload and your temperament, your personality. So on any given day, that capacity can kind of go up and down. So I think that if there’s one thing that we can all do, it’s to be aware of our capacity and other people’s capacity. You know, paying attention when it’s being stretched or it’s maxed out and it’s depleted. And using that as a signal to say, okay, let’s pause and replenish capacity. And then on the other side of that equation, right, we’ve got capacity and disruption. I also like to remind people that there are times when our capacity is totally dropped, it’s depleted. And we still need to make a change.

[03:01] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[03:03] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: So then we start looking at that disruption and we say, how can we bring that disruption down? And we minimize disruption. So we say, what can we do to better support people through this change because their capacities are already tapped. So support resources, give them more time to process. You know, we have things we can play with on both sides of the equation.

[03:37] MONICA BROOKS: It sounds like what you’re saying is we need to be aware of our capacity.

[03:41] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes.

[03:42] MONICA BROOKS: What would be one of the first signs before we before we hit that capacity? What are some of the signs leading up to that? Because we don’t want to hit that, right? We want to be able to take care of ourselves before. What are some signs we’re looking for to say like alert, you’re going to hit your capacity and you don’t want to do that.

[04:04] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: I think the number one sign is, you know, that you’re getting close to capacity or or maxed out. Is that your resistance? You are just so pushing back. Every change feels monumental and it feels personal and it feels like it’s impacting everything in your world. You know, we tend to exaggerate when we’re headed towards max capacity. And everything just feels harder to to deal with emotionally, mentally, physically, it all kind of culminates in a sense of burnout, essentially.

[04:44] MONICA BROOKS: It sounds like also like your stress is also increasing as you get to this capacity, so you can’t even handle any more changes that may come. So it really requires you to have that awareness, find the way that you need to recent her.

[05:00] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes.

[05:01] MONICA BROOKS: How important is keeping things in perspective when it comes to change?

[05:07] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: It’s so funny because like mindset, right?

[05:10] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[05:11] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: As a trainer, I sometimes can resist mindset conversations because I’m like, what’s the process? I want the checklist. I want the step-by-step mindset is to have struct and it’s how do you feel?

[05:22] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[05:23] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: But it’s so important. It is such a critical piece of this. And one of the things I like to remind people of is you have done this a million times in your life. You have been changing from day one and you’ve been adapting successfully. Think about when you first started in your career. Now Monica, for me, I faxched every day. Every day, faxing was our primary mode of communication. And eventually, email starts taking over. And now it’s slack in teams and especially during the pandemic. We all adapted. We can do this. We certainly, there are challenges to it. With technology in particular, I truly believe that technological advancements advance us. They do move us forward. It’s taken us from living in caves to carrying computers in our purses. So it’s undeniably a good thing. But it comes with challenges, comes with new threats and new obstacles. So the mindset really is, I can do this. I’ve done this a million times before. I’m an expert. Yes, it might be challenging, but I can do hard things. And on the other side of this, I believe that life will be better.

[06:35] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah, that’s really the mindset we all need to embrace. How could you encourage EAs to lean into change? Because we talked about the resistance. We talked about the fear of what this change means for me, specifically technology right now, right? There’s so much talk around AI and what’s happening. What does that mean for us? How would you encourage, how would you encourage EAs to lean in to be curious with change?

[07:02] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: I mean, curiosity is kind of a great way to lead that. But I think that, so I’m a very proud former executive assistant. So I do believe that all change is a wonderful career opportunity to just have greater visibility, more, more influence into leverage your influence. So one of the things that I think we can do is like, keep your ear to the ground, you know, and really listen to that sentiment, you know, like we were talking about with fatigue, pay attention to capacity, listen to concerns, listen to challenges, you’re in such a unique position. I’ll never forget when I was an executive assistant and someone said to me, you get so much time with the leaders. Like most of us would die to have all of that face time with leaders. And that’s a wonderful opportunity and that’s a responsibility too. So you hear these things, you hear concerns, you hear questions, you hear misinformation. It’s an opportunity to say, okay, maybe I need to filter some of that up to leaders and decision makers. Or at other times, maybe you hear it and you say, oh, that’s a wonderful opportunity for me to take initiative and resolve that issue.

[08:34] MONICA BROOKS: That’s good because I think, you know, as you’re saying, they have that ear to the ground, they hear things going on, but it’s like, okay, now the question is, what can I do about it? Right.

[08:46] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah. And there’s times when it’s, it is about, you know, sharing that feedback because we want to be facilitating a feedback loop with our leaders and with our staff. But then there’s plenty of times when I can, I can do that. I can help. Sometimes the easiest thing is like somebody just needs a resource.

[09:05] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[09:06] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: I can make them in the right direction. Or maybe there’s a resource that needs to be created. And you say, well, I can build a cheat sheet or a job aid that helps support that person to adapt to this change that’s feeling so frustrating to them right now. I can help facilitate that.

[09:27] MONICA BROOKS: I think that’s beautiful because I think you’re also setting an example for other EAs. Like look at the change that’s happening. Look at what I’m taking power of and taking control of versus just. I mean, that feedback is important. But what else can I do? How else can I help the situation? I think is a great way that you’re saying to look at it versus just.

[09:49] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: And role modeling, right?

[09:50] MONICA BROOKS: Yes.

[09:52] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: We’re role modeling for one another and for the rest of the organizations.

[09:57] MONICA BROOKS: Yes. Because people sometimes look at the administrative support staff. And I think of them almost like the flight attendants on the plane. The nervous flyers are taught, watch the flight attendant. And if they don’t look panicky, you’re fine.

[10:15] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah.

[10:16] MONICA BROOKS: If the flight attendant is freaking out, you should freak out.

[10:18] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah. And it’s the same thing with the administrative support staff. If you are looking calm, if you are taking the change in stride, figuring things out, other people follow. They look to you to figure out, should I be freaking out? Okay. The admin staff seems to be taking the stride and figuring it out. I think we, okay, we’re going to be okay.

[10:42] MONICA BROOKS: I think that is a beautiful example. Because you’re right. If the flight attendants were panicky, or if they’re talking to each other, and you see them whispering, you’re going to freak out. Totally freak out. But I think it’s such a great reminder for me is that people are looking towards you and looking at you without you even realizing it. Like you are literally always on a stage and they want to see how you’re reacting to maybe an organizational change or leadership change.

[11:07] MONICA BROOKS: So one of the questions is that EAs are also often aware of upcoming changes that are happening in the organization. And they have to maintain that professionalism. What are ways that they can do that, but still show empathy to the changes that are happening in the people around them that perhaps are looking towards them? Or looking at them as an example.

[11:30] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: It’s a great question. And it’s one that I can really relate to because I do know that as an EA discussion was just such a key piece of it. You do have a lot of information. And during times of change, discussion is even more important. So I would say if you ever are concerned about what can be shared and when it can be shared, and with whom can it be shared, always get clarity. And where possible, I think we want to encourage leaders where we can to be transparent and forthcoming during times of change. The earlier people can get information, the more information people can get, typically the more they can take things in stride. So where possible, we help push for transparency. But once the decision and the change is made and it’s public, it’s our job, it’s our responsibility to get on board.

[12:24] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah, to demonstrate that enthusiasm. And that’s, I like to preface that it also, it doesn’t mean that you can’t behind closed doors in different settings, express dissent or question challenge. That’s still an important piece of it too. But once it’s public, once the decision is made, once it’s moving forward, we are an extension of our leaders. And so we want to embrace the change wholeheartedly while, as you said, like empathy is so important. So acknowledging when people are feeling someone kind of way.

[12:57] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah, they’re feeling afraid or nervous or confused. We can acknowledge that.

[13:02] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah, I don’t know about you, but I’m really anti toxic positivity.

[13:07] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Anti toxic positivity. Correct. We don’t like the toxic.

[13:11] MONICA BROOKS: Like everything’s going to be fine, everything’s going to be great. Yeah, and sometimes it’s just hard. And I think there’s the human aspect to this that people have to remember. Right. Is that you’re allowed to feel a certain way.

[13:25] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes.

[13:26] MONICA BROOKS: You don’t always have to say it, but you can still show empathy while you maintain that professionalism is what it sounds like.

[13:33] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes. So I always like to phrase it that it’s not an attitude of positivity. It’s an attitude of possibility, though like that. So yeah, it kind of opens the doors. It’s like, look, we can acknowledge that this is going to be tough.

[13:47] MONICA BROOKS: Yes.

[13:48] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: There’s challenges. We have to figure some things out. We don’t know what this is going to be like. There’s a lot of uncertainty. And what might be possible with this change is pretty cool. We have a lot of opportunity on the other side of this. If we do this well, and that really to me feels a whole lot more honest.

[14:08] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[14:09] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Then like, let’s look at the bright side and rose color glasses.

[14:13] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah. That can feel, it can feel tight. And it can feel like people aren’t heard.

[14:21] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Exactly.

[14:23] MONICA BROOKS: I think those are such valid points. I love the topic of change, which is why I wanted to talk to you about it because it’s such a big, it’s such a big thing. And it’s happening. And it’s going to continue to happen. How do you think EAs can move the best way from that resistance to acceptance? Because I think resistance is a part of it. Like we just want to resist. We don’t like it. We’re comfortable. We like feeling comfortable in situations. So how do we move through that resistance as easily as possible to the acceptance piece?

[14:55] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah. I like it that you acknowledge that resistance is just kind of a piece of it. It doesn’t, it’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that you’re weak or it’s, it’s human nature that we resist. And it’s ingrained in us from our treatment ancestors. But what I know from my experience and also what the research really bears out is that the number one tool is peer support. So getting people and particularly the best way is if you’ve got someone who’s really in resistance and you’re able to connect them with someone who is a peer who is already in a further stage of the change. Where they’re in, you know, exploration and maybe even commitment and you get them together. So that person in resistance says, oh, I can be real and I can share with you how I’m feeling and the person who has made it through can say, oh, I felt that way too. And here’s what I did. So facilitating those conversations and introductions and helping to facilitate knowledge share. You know, if there’s a really steep learning curve or something that you bring people together and say let’s share best practices is we’re learning this.

[15:53] MONICA BROOKS: That’s great because it’s one thing to have leaders and people outside of your peer group tell you it’s all going to be okay. But it’s different when it comes from someone who really is in the trenches with you.

[16:06] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah, that’s a really great point.

[16:08] MONICA BROOKS: We have a question from a listener that was submitted by one of our community members. And they asked, I’m great at adapting personally, but I struggle to get others on board. What’s the best way to influence people who resist change? And I think what you just said fits that.

[16:28] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes. Yes, all of it. All of it. Yeah, we talked about really kind of fits it. But I think that one of the things particularly with administrative professionals because I’ve been working with admins for so long. I was a former admin and I know how tempting it can be to think that we can. If there’s just something that I do differently, I can get this person on board. And we can lead a horse to water. But we can’t make them drink and we can support people through change. We can provide resources and perspectives and all kinds of support. But ultimately, it’s their responsibility.

[17:08] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah, to figure out how they want to respond to the change. Just like it’s ours, I have that right in responsibility and privilege to make that change, make that decision myself as well. But we want to really recognize that everyone is an adult and everyone has a different tolerance level. I’ve seen, and I’m sure you’ve seen that organizations where a change is so big that some people just say, I can’t do it.

[17:37] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah, I’m out.

[17:39] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[17:40] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: I also think with that resistance is that someone can stay in the resistance for a very long time.

[17:47] MONICA BROOKS: Oh, yeah.

[17:48] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Especially if it’s a leadership, organizational change, they’re just going to stay there. And like you mentioned, you can’t want it more than they do. Like they have to want it first. Like they have to want to be like, okay, yes, I’m ready to move forward. I’m ready to stop resisting and then now I’m ready to adapt. I mean, those conversations, I don’t think happen like that. But the feelings that we feel is like, all right, this is happening.

[18:14] MONICA BROOKS: Right.

[18:15] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: They have to make that critical decision.

[18:17] MONICA BROOKS: Yes. They have to come to that like, okay, this is happening. And I need to get on the train or like leave the station.

[18:24] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yeah. Like that, that ultimately. And with large scale change initiatives, as you all know, there’s just expected turnover. We expect that a certain number of people are going to opt out in really large scale changes. And that’s their right. You know, you get to choose.

[18:41] MONICA BROOKS: They get to choose.

[18:42] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: So we, we, you know, especially those people that get really stuck in resistance. Like they’re stuck.

[18:48] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah.

[18:49] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: For it. It can take time. You can tell also, because they’re still talking about it. Like years later, remember when that whole tech that we had was so much better.

[18:58] MONICA BROOKS: Yes. Yes. Exactly.

[19:02] MONICA BROOKS: Chrissy, this has been an amazing conversation around change. Thank you for joining the admin edge. But I want to let our listeners know where can they learn more about you and what you do.

[19:15] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes. Well, please visit me at eatyourcareer.com. E-A-T-Y-O-U-R-career.com. Funny sounding name. But the idea is that I believe that work can and should be a nourishing and enriching life experience. So over there, you can join my newsletter list and come join us. You have a wonderful community of career-minded administrative professionals and professionals from other fields as well. All, you know, coming together to support each other. So I would love it if they signed up over there. And then people can also follow me on LinkedIn.

[19:54] MONICA BROOKS: Yeah. And then attend a conference in the future to probably see you here.

[19:58] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Yes.

[19:59] MONICA BROOKS: I actually signed up to your newsletter and I love getting them. I love reading them and lots of learning and lots of information. So definitely check out Chrissy on eatyourcareer.com. Thank you so much, Chrissy, for joining us today.

[20:15] CHRISSY SCIVICQUE: Thank you, Monica. Always a pleasure.

[20:18] MONICA BROOKS: Thank you for listening to the admin edge produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals. Our original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions with audio and video production by 5Tool productions. If you liked 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. Thank you.