This episode is a book review focusing on Chapter 4 of Future Fit by Andrea Clarke. I think this is a must-read for you because I believe that what will allow you to adapt and navigate the change that is going to continue to come at you as Executive Assistants  is your 'power skills' or the human skills that Andrea outlines in the book.

Functional competence (the stuff you can get done)and even strategic competence (your awareness of what and why stuff is happening in your team and the broader organisation) are not sufficient for Executive Assistants to be perceived as indispensable to their business leader and employers. It's the soft skill proficiency that's going to help you stand out and stand up.

What I love about Chapter 4, Tapping Into Adaptability is that whilst Andrea lays out all the reasons why we must be able to adapt to change, she also reminds us to be kind to ourselves. Again, this is so aligned with my own advice to the people I coach and train. We are human beings, no human doings and reminding ourselves of
this is a great way to start being kind to ourselves.

Connect with Andrea at https://www.careerceo.com.au/ where you can find out more about her work and buy the book.

In this weeks "Being" episode Liz reflects on a comment that was made by a participant in a workshop she ran last week. The workshop was about equipping you with the words that describe the value you bring to your role as an Office Professional...in other words, your brand attributes. An audience member admitted that she found this challenging because it felt like self-promotion.

In this episode Liz shares why self-promotion is something that you shouldn't fear and getting over your discomfort is vital for reaching a place where you can be given the affirmation that what you do does matter and it is valuable. That affirmation starts with you being able to talk about the value you bring. 

In this episode Liz shares the four step approach outlined by Kathi Elster and Katherine Crowley in their brilliant book "Working With You Is Killing Me" to disconnect yourself from the emotions of difficult situations and confrontations. This technique highlights why Emotional Intelligence as a blanket term actually consists of four parts and self awareness and self management are two that are bought into play in this technique and topic.

Resources mentioned in the episode are:

https://hbr.org/2017/12/how-to-control-your-emotions-during-a-difficult-conversation

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence