Volunteerism

Admin Gal recently got to ‘volunteer’ at an event that her corporation was sponsoring.  On a whole, the time was rewarding and fun, aside from the heat and ‘glow’ that everyone was wearing.

All in all, Admin Gal fully supports corporate events that helps the community and the social causes that the company lives in.  The question arises, is there a line that can be crossed between social awareness volunteerism and brand promotion?  And wherein does that line be come work and not voluntering?

Here are the main points that crossed my mind as I thought about this issue:

1. While most volunteer events and experiences involve work, should the work required really be so closely tied to your actual job responsibility that you feel are working for free?  And should you be?
2. If your company is organizing the event, encourages ‘Volunteers’ to man every conceivable booth, gate, and other event staffing need, shouldn’t they be paying employees for the time instead of taking advantage of a ‘service opportunity’?
3. The guise of ‘volunteerism’ should not be code for promote, promote, promote the company while giving it a glaze of social relevance.

Admin Gal is aware that most corporations have parts of their companies that are devoted to the concept of ‘doing good for the community’.  But at some point, what the employee does during this time really does have to benefit the community, not the corporate coffers.

No, Admin Gal is Not Dead

Rumors of my demise are just that. I have been in the midst of all the chaos and mayhem I could possibly create on any given day while keeping my job.

Google Apps rolled out in our company.  Roared in like a lion, left like a lamb.  Some really struggled.  I have to admit it was fun watching the mushroom clouds appear over the cubicles as people went nuclear.  But I and my intrepid band of Googlers went in with radiation suits to fix them up and bring life back to the waste lands.

I have sent my people to many lands and have brought them back with no communicable diseases.  In all of this a building move is in the offing and a other delightful flights of fancy.

Yes, Dear Reader, Admin Gal has many insights and stories to tell in up coming posts.

Until later!

RESPECT THE MEETING NOTICE!

MEETING – an assembly or conference of persons for a specific purpose or event.

There is nothing more frustrating than having set up a meeting 45 days ago, then finding out the day of the meeting that two of the principle players couldn’t be bothered to participate.  They accepted, but never chose to change their status so that alternative arrangements could be made.

This particular meeting had already been rescheduled 4 times.  All participants tell me it is imperative to have said meeting.  My boss, who was at the right time at the right place, was made to look bad.  Which in turn made me feel crappy.

I get it, plans change.  People get busy.

For Pete Sakes! Check your calendar and be courteous.  Decline the meeting if you aren’t coming.

Experiments in Software

Like all companies, in these hard economic times, mine is on the look out for the best deal on anything.  Recently we started taking a hard look at our email delivery system.  We currently use a system that is so half-a#$$ed backwards that no reputable hacker would want to be known for hacking it.  I break the email system on a regular basis. I’m not doing anything special.  Just using it.  But then I am an Admin…

I’m on a first name basis with the third-tier tech support for this software.  In fact, when my name comes up I’m pretty sure the conversation goes like this:

Expert #1: OH NO! It’s HER!  I’m not picking up the phone!

Expert #2: I took her call last time. It’s YOUR turn!

(Picture me on hold, tapping my fingers on my desk!)

The argument continues, fisticuffs erupt. 

FINALLY! Someone picks up the line.

Expert #3:  (who had to break up the fight, answers breathlessly) Hello XXXX, how can we help you today?

But I digress.  We are currently in the beginning of a email pilot.  I and an intrepid group of Executive Admins have been carefully selected to push this system to its limits and beyond.  I’ve spent the last week in training.  I’m bleeding Blue, Red, Orange, Blue, Green, and Red. 

The pilot hasn’t even started AND, I’ve already broken the calendar.  The next thirty days are going to be fun!

Jenga!

Sometimes I liken my job to a fast paced game of Jenga. You know that game that starts out with a tower of wooden blocks, each player strategically removes one, then places it on the top of the tower.  The object of the game is to not let the tower collapse on your turn. 

The tower wobbles as you gently pull the block out of the position you have chosen.  If you’ re lucky, it is an easy block.  But if your opponents have played the game well, all you have left are blocks that are critical to the the structure of the tower.  Anything you remove with bring the tower crashing down.

The thing is that the inevitable outcome of the game is the collapse of the tower.  And so it is with my job. 

So many of my responsibilities and duties often rest on one block, one person.  When that block is removed, everything can come crashing down around my ears.  Does this mean that I’ve done nothing to shore things up?  Or make contingency plans?  Of course not, I’ve been planning for these moments so the impact is not as significant. 

It always stings when the blocks come tumbling down around my ears.  In the end, I always build a better structure

The Buck Does NOT Stop Here

As an Administrative Professional, I nor my colleagues appreciate it when we are blamed for the lack of planning on the part of the people that we work so hard for.   This doesn’t happen often but when it does, it is a slap in the face, an offense, a sign that the person who has perpetrated said offense does not understand that the Administrative Professional is more than a lackey. 

Let me illustrate my point with a couple of examples:

1.  A Manager who is supposed to be in charge of their own budget, aware of invoices, accruals, etc.  Suddenly realizes that they didn’t accrue several invoices for a significant amount of money that will reflect badly on their budget.  Do they a) own up to their error and make the necessary corrections? b) act like they don’t know what happened and fix things on the sly? or c) concoct and elaborate lie to blame the administrative professional?  If you guessed ‘c’ you probably are thinking that this might be a gross exaggeration. But alas, no.  It happened to a colleague of mine.

2.  In their eagerness, a newby to a department with an Administrative Professional, decides that they can do all the ‘work’ that they are not inclined to do.  A seasoned Administrative Professional will a) do the work given them with a smile; b) do the work given them and have a talk with their manager; c) give them the look and ignore them; or d) kindly educate them in the department policies and procedures.  Honestly, I would have to say it would depend on how I was approached.  ‘d’ would always be implemented with a smidge of whichever other option was appropriate to the situation.  I have enough to do without someone thinking they can add to my load.

Look, an Adminstrative Professional is an integral part of the team, not a lackey to pass blame on or push work on.  We are the grease that keeps the wheels going.  We work hard to make your jobs seem easier. 

All that being said, if you need to find fault, lay blame, or just be cranky at, I suggest you look in the mirror and let the buck stop where it is suppose to.

Random Acts

Every once in awhile you find yourself the recipient of a random act of kindness, not for anything in particular just for doing your job. Yesterday, was a day for random acts of kindness for me. Both to give and receive.

To Give:

I received a frantic call from one of my fellow Admins in our New York office with an AP question. This was an arena I could find a solution to her problem, the people I needed were all around me. With help from my network, her issues were swiftly solved. I made sure to that my friend who spearheaded the fix, by emailing a quick ‘good job’ email to her boss. This is something I would do for anyone who has gone out of their way to help me. My friend said to me she was only doing her job, to me she moved a mountain. I had to make sure that her effort was acknowledged.

To Receive:

The same day, someone came to me looking for a typewriter. We have one on the floor, but it hasn’t been used since I started with the company. She had forms that had to be manually filled out. We plugged in the dinosaur and found out that the ribbon was dry as a bone. I looked at the form and realized that I could make an ADOBE form out of the form if we scan the document. Really, it was an easy fix. It took a few minutes to do and a few tweaks after that to perfect it. And Voila! No need for a typewriter. I was just doing my job.

This is what she sent my boss:

“Hi XXXX

Every once in a while, even though great people perform above the bar daily, someone really exceeds expectations, and I wanted you to know that XXXX “saved the day” for me. All I needed was a working typewriter to fill out a form for some of our XXXXXXX employees. She was right on it….looking to ease my burden of having to use a typewriter. She created a form with Adobe……something I didn’t even know was possible.

She is always great with requests and today she exceeded my expectations and helped with making the process more efficient….She saved the day!
And she taught me something!
We’re fortunate to have her.

Just wanted to let you know…..”

It’s moments like this that make my day.