In my previous position
at my current organization, I was given the opportunity to work on a project to
create a handbook for the administrative assistant throughout the organization.
The handbook had to contain training guides for many of the everyday functions
for the administrative assistants. In order for this handbook to be effective,
the group had to gather the information that would be of great value to the
assistants. To do so, the group interviewed six of the executive assistants at
the organization. Interviewing the executive assistants did not pose a problem;
however, the assistants were so busy that it took approximately three weeks to
complete the interviews to gain the knowledge we needed for the handbook. After gaining the information, it was decided
that someone would need to analyze the information. We needed to know what was
of importance and what was needed to move forward with the project.
In my opinion, we
interview too many assistants. I believe the project could have been productive
with three interviews. Because so many of the assistants were interviewed, we
had to wait to gather their input, and the project having to be put on hold for
three weeks while we wait on these assistants, there was wasted time. The stakeholders wanted the project to be
completed within two months and three weeks were wasted waiting.
The information
gathered was analyzed by the team and developed into a handbook/training manual
on how to set up new employees in the IT global system, how to set conference
calls, order new laptops and/or desktops, etc. Once the manual was produce and
given to the assistants throughout the organization, we found that there were
things missing from the manual (i.e. how to setup new telephones, order
corporate credit cards, and how to complete travel arrangements). I believe the
time that we were awaiting the executive assistants; we could have reached out
to a few lower level assistants and managers. I believe their inputs could have
prevented the missing information that was not included in the handbook. More
importantly, we could have use the idle time working on the project, oppose to
waiting around on someone else.
The positive side of
completing this project, the assistants globally, now have a handbook/training
manual that can be used as a resource at any time. This will cut down on having
to call someone else to aid in completing a task. This handbook/training manual
can be found on the company’s intranet site for all assistants who are new to
the organization. This is the most gratifying part of it all, the assistants
can submit items, they believe can be beneficial to other assistants, to the
site and the project coordinators take the time to review the items and decide
if the will be added to the manual. This project is now the work of all
assistants throughout the organization.
