Heather Baker shares her top tips for increasing your business acumen
1. Minutes 0–15
Establish the basics: What is the mission statement of your organisation? (This is probably outlined on your company website.) Who are your company’s main competitors? Ask AI to produce a summary document for you, listing the companies and their specialist areas. You could also ask AI to summarise how your organisation stands out against your competitors.
2. Minutes 15–30
To work with your executive for the success of your organization, you need to know what their objectives and priorities are. How can you help them to achieve them? What are their main challenges? How do they define success? Write down everything you know. Do the same exercise with your executive’s direct reports.
3. Minutes 30–45
Spend some time looking at the gaps in your knowledge. What could you do to fill them?
Would you benefit from meetings with key colleagues (e.g., people who report to your executive, colleagues with whom you work regularly)? Include thoughts on any potential training – both internal (such as potential colleagues to shadow or mentoring possibilities) and external.
4. Minutes 45–60
Use the last 15 minutes to request meetings with your executive and with any other people required; these could be online or in-person. Explain you need a brief overview of their objectives and how they enable the success of the organization. Use the questions outlined in minutes 15–30 as a starting point. When I first started working with my managing director, he proposed I have lunch with each of his directors to get to understand their roles and how they worked with him. He was ensuring that I built relationships with each one and that I was seen as part of his management team.
Note: It is vital that you avoid two words when requesting these meetings: “sorry” and “just”. Rather than saying, “Sorry, I could just put a meeting in your diary…”, say: “I’d appreciate a few minutes of your time to ensure I’m working for the success of our organization.” The perception of you as a professional colleague (not “just the admin”) is necessary to ensure that you build the relationships and are given the time in a constructive manner.
Sometimes it’s just getting started that is difficult; with this plan, you are on your way!
