DON’T WORRY HELP IS ON THE WAY – The Value and Importance of an Administrative Assistant [NIAAA]

By: Denny Ziegler, CAA - Strongsville High School (OH)

The value and importance of an administrative assistant

It was just past 9 a.m. on a Monday morning and already, your superintendent called about an issue, your principal was down to see you, and you had three phone calls from upset parents about playing time over the weekend. As you stare to the right of your computer, you notice your to do list just keeps growing. How many of you have been in a similar situation and did not know how to respond?

We have all been in a situation where, as an athletic director, you have a to do list that you replay in your mind. But, as you start on that list, five, six, seven, or even eight other things draw you away from accomplishing what you need to accomplish to stay on track, to meet deadlines, or just to get ahead. If you are anything like other ADs in public education, know that help is on the way. The value of an accomplished administrative assistant is the key to success in any athletic department.

Many of us may have been put in a situation where you begin a new job as an athletic director and the athletic department administrative assistant decides to retire or resign due to change. At first, you may think it’s you as a person, but the reality is most accomplished administrative assistants have routines and certain ways of doing things and when someone new comes in, they worry about the change and disruption of their current routines.

As athletic directors grow in their profession, they will begin to learn "tricks of the trade" to help ease the tensions of walls that seem like they are caving in. Here are some keys to valuing and retaining a successful administrative assistant.

1. Communicate - Make sure you communicate with them daily the schedule needs, transportation needs, changes, and other issues you see. It is important that you train them to do things the way you envision and help them along the way.
2. Train - It is important that you take time to train them and show them the ropes. Do not just assume they know how to do things especially when it comes to eligibility, fees, entry fees, and other items. It is ok to seek out professional development opportunities for them. Ask them what they feel they could do better and try to find professional development opportunities for them.
3. Delegate - Do not be afraid to delegate work. The more you can trust your administrative assistant, the better your work-life balance is going to be.
4. Create processes - Create a process for your assistant so they know when to forward calls to you or just take messages. Also, create a process for doing requisitions, purchase orders, transportation requests, paying officials, paying game workers, etc. In my current position we create a coaches corner for all sports, so coaches and the administrative assistant have access to all schedules, trip requests, end of season awards, and other items.
5. Share your calendar - Make sure you share your calendar with your administrative assistant so he or she can add meetings with coaches, staff members, parents, and look at your daily schedule as needed.
6. Take care of them - Make sure you give them athletic department gear, treat them for lunch, and make them feel appreciated. Give them what they want (within reason). If your administrative assistant needs two monitors, find a way to get him/her two monitors. In some districts, my administrative assistant and I decided to go to lunch every Friday. We would try to support every small local business in town and it allowed us to build a trusting relationship.
7. Confidentiality - There are many things we do in athletics that need to be confidential. It is important to remind your administrative assistant about their role in that.
8. Never Surprise them - Never surprise them with things you need. Make sure you always communicate and keep them in the loop with meetings, policy changes, when you are in and out of the office, etc. It is good to over-communicate with them and build a personal relationship with them in addition to the professional relationship.

Learning to implement these ideas or a portion of them will lead to a better office environment and will lead to better help in your department.