Your old road is rapidly agin’
Bob Dylan
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
We have entered the second half of the calendar year. With summer holidays planned for those in the Northern Hemisphere whilst those in the South spend more time inside, we naturally have a little more space to think about our careers and our current positions.
That’s why, with all the talk of quiet quitting and quiet firing, I was intrigued when Rhonda Scharf submitted an article on “the stay interview”. I knew it had to be our cover article for this issue! Recruitment and replacement are expensive for employers, and institutional and operational knowledge is lost when long-serving employees leave. If you are feeling disgruntled but not yet ready to make a move, consider a stay interview. And, if you are happy in your current position, there are great questions to consider in order to grow and improve your role. But, as Robert Hosking points out in his article, time off matters. Make some time to rest and recover; you’ll be a better Assistant for it.
We’re also continuing our focus on the pros and cons of AI in the workplace, with an article from Thom Dennis talking about the importance of remaining human and allowing ourselves and others to be truly seen. However, taking advantage of AI to free us from mundane, repetitive and time-consuming tasks, and give us time to focus on interesting, in-depth and strategic high-level tasks, can only be a good thing. And speaking of removing time-consuming tasks, have a look at our article on Clockwise, a new app that can handle rescheduling meetings, communicating changes and updating calendar events for all meeting attendees. Lucy Brazier has been saying for a long time that transactional tasks for Assistants will be taken over by AI – and that time has arrived! Matt Martin, CEO of Clockwise, is presenting a session at ES Tech, so make the most of the opportunity to see this innovative AI in action. Don’t forget that as a subscriber to the magazine you receive a discount on your ticket price!
The times are definitely changing, and a new road of professional growth awaits. Use this issue as your guide and let us support you on your journey.
Kathleen
