Get a grip on your email

It cannot be said enough: to be a successful Executive Assistant, you need to be incredibly organised, especially when it comes to email. Follow these three steps to start organising your email:

1. Clear it out every now and then

It's hard to even begin thinking about cleaning up your email completely, but you have to to do at some point. This means deleting every single email you no longer need and organising all others in folders. The important thing to remember is to hold onto any email you think you may need to access again.

This may take a long time if you have been a disorganised email user for years. But it is necessary; you wouldn't open every letter you received and leave it on the counter without filing it or throwing it away, the Muse writes.

2. Unsubscribe

It is essential that you unsubscribe to Facebook, Twitter or any other mass email sending sites. It is so much easier to miss an important message if Facebook is clogging your inbox. If you don't want to unsubscribe to these services, consider creating a separate account to minimise clutter as much as possible.

3. Use automatic filters

After your initial cleaning out, set up automatic filters. Gmail has an excellent auto filter feature and it works wonders. If you label an email from a particular company, you can create a filter that will automatically put all future emails from that company in a separate folder.

Instead of putting specific email names, you can just write in the ending of the address. For example, you can write '@company.com' and this ensures that you get emails from anyone in that company instead of just one person. How great EAs are excellent eavesdroppers

Anticipating your Executive's needs means that you need to be a little nosy and listen in on the many conversations they have throughout the day, according to the blog "Musings of a High-Level Executive Assistant." It seems like strange advice to give, but it is actually a very effective way of limiting the amount your boss has to ask for your help because your one step ahead of them.

Of course, this doesn't mean listening in on personal conversations; you have to train your ear to know when your listening would be welcome and when it wouldn't be. But it does mean that if the Executive's door is open and they ask someone about when a particular event is happening, for example, that you can look it up and go tell them.

The fact that EAs' desks are often located right outside their bosses' offices means that listening in on conversations is encouraged. If the door is open, feel free to take notes about what they're talking about - it may mean that you save the day by reminding your Executive of an important detail. After all, you are in charge of every aspect of their work life, so it is natural that you should be aware of many of their conversations and meetings.

Needless to say, though, that if their office door is closed, it means you were not meant to be included in the meeting, so turn off your ears!

What to do when you have a problem you can't fix

Sometimes, it can be difficult knowing when you should finally ask your boss for help with a task. As an EA, it can feel especially disappointing to ask for help if your Executive is very busy. But there are ways that you can keep calm. Remember the following pieces of advice to guide you on when to finally give up and ask for help, and how to do it. First of all, remember the phrase "try, then pry," writes Jennifer Winter of The Muse. This means trying every simple solution to a problem you can think of before going to your boss for help. Winter says that one of the worst things to hear your boss say is "Why haven't you tried X yet?"

That being said, you don't want to be spending too much time digging for the answer. It is counterproductive to waste hours looking for the solution when all it would take is a thirty second conversation. Especially if you're new to the job, Executives will appreciate your honesty if you tell them that you don't completely understand and need clarification.

It shows that you want to get it right the first time.

But, again, if you think the answer can be found on Google, ask the search engine before you ask your boss.

If the problem is more complicated, it's a good idea to give three suggestions for solutions when bringing up the problem to your boss. They'll value your attempts to solve the issue rather than helplessly handing them yet another problem.

EAs should learn networking skills

To be an indispensable Executive Assistant, it is crucial to learn good people skills. EAs can gain a lot from forming connections and networking with people.

Diplomacy is important when it comes to using vendors for functions, for example. The blog, "Musings of a High Level Executive," says that once you find a great vendor, reward them by continually using them. You'll be surprised to learn how much more willing they'll be willing to go out of the way to help a loyal customer.

Say the food is late - the vendor may be more likely to give a substantial discount as well as throw in extra food because they want you to return in the future. Or, if the restaurant isn't so accustomed to catering to big groups, they may go out and buy special platters for you.

Reliable partnerships in business can make a huge difference. Start learning the skills of making business connections today, even when it comes to vendors, and you'll find that you're able to do your job even better.

It is situations such as these that show that, no matter how advanced technology gets, the value of human connection and loyalty in business can't be replaced by a robot. An EA can make amazing things happen with their friendships and connections in the business world.

The value of databases for EAs

As an Executive Assistant, your boss will often call upon you to get the contact details of a particular person. As a result, it is vital that you are able to quickly pull those details up and the most effective way to do this is by creating databases.

If your boss hasn't already told you to create databases, you will look that much better if you took the initiative to create them yourself.

The databases don't have to just be for contacts either, according to Small Business Chronicle. They should include "any and all relevant information you need." For example, you can keep a database of hotels that the Executive has stayed at and enjoyed. Or you can keep track of good flight deals for any future travel plans you make for your boss.

Plus, should anyone else in the company ever need access to this information, you can email it to them with just a click of a button.

Databases are yet another way of anticipating your boss's needs before they think of them. Inc.com says that EAs are the backbone of an organisation for this reason: they can fulfil the Executive's preferences and guide key decisions over the long-term. Get organised and have important information at your fingertips in databases so that you can make life easier for your Executive.

What to do when you feel overwhelmed by your workload

As an EA, you'll frequently feel that there are too many important things to do and it's hard to decide which to do first. The first thing you can do to start being productive when you have a lot on your plate is to prioritise the tasks. But how do you do this?

Janine Balter, a Silicon Valley EA, says that if you are unsure about what to prioritise, it is essential that you ask your boss what they would prefer to be done first. The primary responsibility of an Executive is to tell everyone where the company's priorities lie, so don't be afraid to ask them. After talking to them, make a to-do list and rank each task according to its importance.

Once you've established everything you have to do, you can begin to set deadlines. Ask your Executive when they'd like something done and plan your day according to the deadlines. Balter says that it has helped her to learn roughly how long each task takes. Of course, this is something that can only be learned over time, but it can help to plan out your day so that you meet important deadlines. Make sure each of these deadlines are logged in your calendar.

Lastly, if your Executive doesn't give any deadlines, you can set your own deadlines. Try to space them out so that you aren't scrambling to do everything on one day or even in just one week.