Over the years, I’ve had some great administrative assistants—as a pastor, as a missions-agency employee, and a seminary professor. My current assistant, Jeremy, is one of the best. Here are some of the characteristics of these admins that have proven so helpful to me:
- They pray for me. I start here because this commitment means the most to me. There is simply no way to put into words how much the prayer support of my staff means to me.
- They regularly ask, “Anything I can do for you?” Just the question says a lot about these assistants. They have been giving, helping, sacrificing friends who have thought proactively on my behalf.
- They never express frustration at working with my busy schedule. COVID slowed it down considerably, but it’s beginning to crank up again—and having an assistant who can stay on top of travel, lodging, etc., has been huge.
- They anticipate my needs and requests. Some of that comes naturally as they work more with me, but much of this happens because they intentionally strive to learn my preferences.
- They work to keep my wife in the loop. Frankly, it’s been a struggle over the years to find the best way to make sure she’s in the discussions about present commitments and potential invites (and that’s on me, not on my admins), but my best assistants have figured out how to keep us all in the conversation.
- They protect my time when necessary. Sometimes they do that by intentionally blocking time on my calendar. At other times, they guard my office door when I need the time to write—both from drop-by visitors and from me when I’m hesitant to leave the door closed.
- They are great multi-taskers. That’s almost essential given my various responsibilities, but not everyone can stay focused while doing several tasks at once. It’s even harder to do that much while being filled with joy – but my best admins have done that.
- They laugh. I want my workplace to be fun. I like it when staff laugh at my sense of humor or make me laugh out loud. I doubt someone who is always serious would work out well in my office.
- They have never given me any reason not to trust them. Ever. They are Christ-followers who strive themselves to be living in completely integrity. That’s a big deal to me.
What characteristics have you seen in your best administrative assistants? Also, check out this post if you’re interested in the debate about whether an admin assistant should be a church member or a non-member.
