How to work together remotely as Executive Assistants
Are you an Executive Assistant struggling to work remotely? You’re not alone.
As an EA, it’s easy to find yourself stuck working in a silos. Even more so when you’re part of a remote or distributed team.
At Headroom, we’ve had a remote-first approach since day one. We’re also operating in different time zones and continents, and our colleagues come from all walks of life.
That’s to say, team building is incredibly important to us. We want to make sure we all feel connected to each other no matter where we are from and where we live. Growing and making our team stronger is what we are currently working on, and we’d like to share some of our best practices with you.
Communication among Executive Assistants is key
For emergencies you can call, for a quick reaction you can use Slack or asynchronous replies; and for matters that can wait a day, email is fine.
Of course, not everything can be done via Slack or email, some things are better discussed via video or phone, to minimize miscommunication.
At Headroom, we use Slack to collaborate successfully within teams. Slack is also great for sharing giphys and other fun, uplifting content with each other. We also use it to exchange ideas, ask and give advice and share useful information. At the end of the day, it’s about the way you prefer to communicate and stay in touch with the rest of the team.
Virtual Meetings & Accountability
Make sure your meetings are planned in advance, and share the agenda beforehand. In this way, you will ensure everyone knows what is being discussed and comes prepared. Plus, you will make it easier to stick to the topic and keep the meeting short and focused.
Discuss who is responsible for collecting agenda items. Make sure an action list is created and maintained. Tools like Notion, Google Docs let you create, edit and collaborate on documents from anywhere at any time. That’s ideal if you are working in a remote, distributed team.
Lights, camera, action
55% of your communication is visual, so make sure you’re ready for the camera and strike a balance between smart outfits and your jogging suit.
Use Zoom (or Google Hangout) for video calls with all your team members and easily share your screen to showcase your work, give a presentation or host virtual afterwork drinks. For example, with our Headroom team we have a Weekly video call every week. During the meeting, we discuss ongoing issues and check in with the rest of the team.
Working in an office as Executive Assistants
At Headroom we have the freedom to work in the office with other colleagues, in a coffee shop or from home. As we operate both in Europe and the US, some of the team is fully remote, while others join at the office a few times a week.
When working from home, try to create a quiet separate space that you set up as your workspace. This way when you’re done working you can also close your ‘office door’ behind you and give yourself the space to relax.
Get things done
For some people it is easy to be at work 24/7, others find it hard to get behind the desk. Develop your own start-up ritual, organize your tasks with tools like Trello or Todoist and note your shut-down time in your calendar. With Trello boards, lists and cards, you can flexibly organize your projects and to do’s and keep track of them in a fun way.