[00:00] Leah Warwick: Hi everyone, I’m Leah Warwick, and you’re listening to the Admin Edge. Our guest today is the former EA to Simon Sinek, or Chief of Simon Sinek, and since then she has become an assistant recruiter as well as a speaker, coach, and trainer for executives and assistants. Monique Helstrom knows a ton about what executives want and what EAs can do to be exceptional partners and leaders. So we get into that in this episode. Here’s me and Monique at the ASAP training event EA Ignite. Hi, I’m Leah Warwick, Senior Content Manager for the American Society of Administrative Professionals, and my guest today is Monique Helstrom, CEO of On Point Inc, and a speaker at this event, EA Ignite. Welcome Monique.

[00:50] Monique Helstrom: Thank you so much for having me, I’m excited to be here.

[00:54] Leah Warwick: I am so thrilled to have you here, and at EA Ignite, this is very special for us, and especially because you’re such an expert in this space. I mean, you’ve worked on both sides of the leadership equation, executives who are searching for their next powerhouse EA, and also admin professionals who are really looking for their next big role. So what inspired you to focus your career on improving that partnership?

[01:28] Monique Helstrom: Well, it was really a realization after leaving so many partnerships that I’ve had, and realizing how few people had such great partnerships like I had with my executives. When I came back out into this world and owned my own company after working with Simon Sinek for about a decade, and I saw how much productivity and how much success we were having because we worked together in such a tight partnership, because we communicated, because we appreciated each other’s strengths, it really changed how everything how we did business, and we skyrocketed, and when I left, I realized that wasn’t happening everywhere. And so then I started coaching assistants and quickly realized that there was another half of this partnership that needed to be involved. So my radically redefining this partnership is also geared towards the executives who have never been taught how to have this most special partnership.

[02:16] Leah Warwick: Oh gosh, I mean, preaching to the choir here a bit, but that’s why it’s so important because we hear this from executives all the time. We ask them, well, what kind of partnership would you like with your EA? And they’re like, what are you talking about? I don’t even know, what skills would you like your EA to have? No idea, like so much of it is so needing your expertise. I’m so glad you provide that service. You know, I always say most admins were never trained how to do our job. We usually got a job and got thrown into the deep end as high-end elite EAs, but they were never taught how to have us either.

[02:50] Monique Helstrom: And this is a very special, unique partnership. It’s different. They delegate to us differently. They communicate to us differently. They have to give us feedback differently. And I kind of feel for them, they’ve never been taught. You know, one day they just get really successful and boom, they got an EA. They’re like, here’s Linda, here’s your person, and they’re like, I don’t know what to do with Linda.

[03:10] Leah Warwick: Exactly. She doesn’t come with a manual. So I’m out there to help all my executives find the manual.

[03:15] Leah Warwick: Well, that leads me to my next question, which is even though executives sometimes say, well, I’m not sure, like you’re talking about, they do, I think, know what they are looking for and when they are wanting to hire someone for them. So beyond what appears in the job description, how do you kind of get that out of them? Like, what do you want from the person that’s going to be partnering with you?

[03:46] Monique Helstrom: Sure. Now, as a recruiter, as I do my administrative recruiting, I talk a lot with my executives about who they are as humans. I talk about what their values are. I talk about their personality style and who they get along with because I always say at the end of the day, I want my executives to call my assistants at the end of the day and enjoy it. That’s my, that’s, you know, table stakes right there. So if we can get a more solid partnership, that’s the way to go. So I always try to connect my executives and their assistant, both on personality, on values, on what they think about life and how they approach life and how they approach the work and the technical skills.

[04:19] Leah Warwick: Hmm. Yes, I like that because it is a human relationship for human as a guest. Yes. So speaking to that, what kind of qualities or habits make an assistant not just reliable but indispensable in that role?

[04:40] Monique Helstrom: 100%. It’s the confidence in the role. You know, we as assistants have said for a long time that we don’t want to be seen as just secretaries. However, we’re not out there banging the drum going, I’m not a secretary. I want to do event planning. I want to own this book launch. I want to do this thing and go into this project. So I think the new executives are looking for assistants who own their job, own their positions, stand confident and tall and know, I am the subject matter expert in processes and procedures. I am the subject matter expert in inboxes and calendars.

[05:27] Monique Helstrom: So when you are the subject matter expert, they want you to tell them they want you to speak up. They don’t know our job and we can’t make them know our job. We wouldn’t have a job. So they want the outcome of that you’re taking care of things, right? You’re taking care of things. You’re ahead of it. You know what you’re doing. You’re not waiting for permission. You see a problem. You fix it. You have an idea. You say it. You have a way to make our systems more efficient. You mentioned something. That’s what I’ve seen most executives want these days.

[05:42] Leah Warwick: They don’t necessarily want someone who’s quiet and in the background. And that’s an important distinction because these roles have evolved over time and the partnerships have evolved and things are changing very rapidly. So it really helps to have your perspective on that change.

[06:00] Leah Warwick: And also to you, what does a healthy and effective partnership really look like in practice?

[06:15] Monique Helstrom: Communication, communication, communication. It really does. You know, again, I was spoiled with Simon, I guess. We had very, very good communication. And one of the things that I used to love is that we could spar. We could verbally spar with each other. We could get into a disagreement. We could have an argument about how something should go down. He could disagree with me and I could disagree with him. But we communicated and he sat down and we talked about it and we got through it. There was no hard feelings. There was no resentment.

[06:41] Monique Helstrom: You know, we came at it. And I think if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s when I hear that my assistants can have a verbal disagreement with their executives and keep their job. I’m like, score. You did it.

[06:55] Leah Warwick: Yes. And that should be true, by the way, of any colleague or anyone that you work with, no matter who you are, who your boss is, you should be able to have a disagreement with someone at work. And it’s not the end of the world, 100%.

[07:05] Monique Helstrom: It’s part of life. Conflict is part of life. We have to understand and we have to get used to it.

[07:13] Leah Warwick: Yes. And also a skill, just like there are a lot of communication skills to develop, I would say one of them is conflict resolution.

[07:29] Monique Helstrom: 100% conflict management, navigating those sometimes uncomfortable conversations. Like you’ll get through it. It’s going to be okay. And this is why I talk about communication all the time. I don’t know about you all out here, but I didn’t get taught how to communicate in elementary school. I didn’t have the class how to get into a fight with your bestie and still be friends or how to have healthy conflict. How do you have an argument? How do you give someone feedback? This should be taught in school because we need it and we use it every day. But it’s not. So this is why I’m out here, banging the drum about communication, feedback, conflict. It’s not all bad. It’s healthy.

[07:53] Leah Warwick: I could not agree more. It’s vital that people understand these things and you’re right. It’s not necessarily taught in school. You have to seek out that kind of training. So thank you for bringing that to the forefront. Sure.

[08:07] Leah Warwick: So what do you think the next generation of EAs will look like? A big question. And how can current professionals start to prepare for that evolution?

[08:17] Monique Helstrom: They have to evolve with it. This profession is moving fast. We are changing fast. We are evolving fast. For goodness, you know, roles that stick around evolve, you know, roles that don’t stick around go away. So we should be happy that this is evolving and we are still in the marketplace and we are still needed and wanted. But I do believe this next generation of executive assistants and administrative professionals needs to be agile. They need to be curious. They need to want to evolve with the situations happening, not dig their heels in.

[08:45] Monique Helstrom: You know, resistance of the future is going to get you nowhere. So accepting, adopting, moving with it and wanting to learn and grow. I’m seeing that in the marketplace a lot when I’m talking with my executives when they want to hire an assistant, I want someone who has lifelong learning abilities. I want someone who’s curious. I want someone who is learning things on their own just because it’s huge. So I think we need to listen to that and keep doing it.

[09:29] Monique Helstrom: You know, I only use Microsoft as a limitation now. That is a limitation. I only like Salesforce. I don’t like any of the other ones. That’s a limitation right now. You have to learn how to use different systems, different softwares. And even if you don’t know how, you have to lean in. Even if you’re a Microsoft person, you go to a place that’s a Google place, you gotta roll with it. We can’t stamp, put our feet down anymore and say, nope, I want to do it the way that we used to because there is no use to anymore. Only forward, only forward.

[09:56] Leah Warwick: And we do have a question from one of our listeners that I’d love to share with you. So this really ties our conversation together in a bow, I think, because they ask, I’d love to know when executives talk about wanting a strategic partner. So like what you’re talking about, they want someone who’s going to own things and take action. Okay. But what does that really mean in the day to day work?

[10:25] Monique Helstrom: Okay. So I love this question because I want to break apart those two words, strategic and partnership. What is a partnership? What is a partner? The actual definition of that is two people being involved in the same activity. So think about it. It’s strategy of two people being involved in the same activity. They want you to participate. That’s what a strategic partnership is. Someone who has an opinion and says, I don’t understand or let me give you another suggestion or just someone who is involved and intentionally involved and intentionally looking forward, not sort of staying on the receiver end. That strategic partnership is two people being involved in the same activity. So join in, not stand on the outside.

[11:04] Leah Warwick: Yes, it’s really important that those things are combined. And I’ve talked with some other people today about strategic partnership because of course it’s a big theme of this conference. You know, it’s a big theme in a lot of our attendees’ lives of I don’t want to just be seen as an assistant because like we’re talking about the outdated perceptions of the role. People outside that’s profession, hear the word assistant and they think more like secretary. Right. Right. So a lot of it, it is the power of words, words matter. But it’s also, it is a change in the relationship. It’s a change in how you’re working together. It’s a change in the dynamic. And for the better, I’d say, yeah, absolutely.

[11:38] Monique Helstrom: And that I don’t want to be seen as a dot, dot, dot. My retort to that is so then don’t be it. You know, I don’t want to be seen as a task taker. Then don’t be a task taker. Offer opinions. You know, you don’t want to be seen as a secretary. Then don’t act like it. We have to be the ones to change that perception. We can no longer sit back and wait for everyone to Google what is an executive assistant. What can my executive assistant do? Can my executive assistant plan my internal Christmas party? No, we have to go, hey, hey, I want to do the Christmas party. That’s, I really enjoy it. It’s my jam. I love event planning. So we, we, I mean, I just think of everyone in the world.

[12:32] Monique Helstrom: No one knows what your strengths are. No one knows your skills. We have to be the ones to get out there and show them.

[12:40] Leah Warwick: Couldn’t agree more. So on point.

[12:43] Leah Warwick: And thank you so much, Monique. This is a great conversation. And please tell our listeners where they can find you online.

[12:52] Monique Helstrom: You know, name is Monique Helstrom and that’s pretty much everywhere. It’s a, it’s a hard name to find. So moniquehelstrom.com and all of my socials are the same.

[13:02] Leah Warwick: All right. Thank you, Monique.

[13:04] Monique Helstrom: Thank you so much.

[13:06] Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to the Admin Edge produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, our visual music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with audio and video production 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.