My day-to-day work is very intense and dynamic, so much so that when I finish my day it seems like several days have passed since I managed this morning’s work.
The position of secretary is very transversal and versatile, you must have the capacity and ability to be able to manage different issues at the same time, in real time and at lightning speed because the work piles up. My mentor in this position taught me that the key to surviving and not dying in the attempt is to know very well which people and which areas can handle the management you need to do. This is the basics and from there you can do wonders.
My daily tasks
Every morning I check my emails in Outlook and classify them according to their urgency and priority, and at the same time I check the messages in Teams, as requests can be made to you via Teams, by phone or in person. Once I have a clear picture of what I’m dealing with first thing in the morning, I move forward in the negotiations until the urgencies arise, and that’s when everything becomes more exciting.
It is essential not to lose track of what you are doing every minute, because you can go blank and forget about the first task you were starting. To avoid this, I mark the emails that are a priority, I create alarms as a reminder of what I have to do most urgently and cannot wait until tomorrow. Once the requests are managed, I file them in the folders and the ones I have to follow up, I unmark them, but I don’t file them because they are still pending.
Our tricks
During the pandemic, a group of secretaries and I created a Teams channel for the secretarial team because we were quite isolated and it was difficult to keep up with the pace we were having in the office. It was spectacular the growth we had both professionally and personally, it gave us an important boost and thanks to this, we can resolve any concerns we have in just a few minutes.
We have also created a SAP JAM channel where we have a repository of all the relevant information we need to consult.
Something that I would like to highlight in recent years is that thanks to the advance of technology that has generated the possibility of teleworking, something that was not even considered in many jobs decades ago, a more collaborative spirit has been awakened. In this situation, sharing information has meant a substantial change in the way we work, and I would even go so far as to say, a change in the mentality of the society in which we are immersed.
Power Automate
Another tool that I use more in the areas I manage internally is Power Automate. This application helps you to automate activities that are very routine and that take time away from bringing more value to the company.
In our particular case, during the pandemic, the need arose to have a more detailed control of the trips made to visit clients. We used to send a lot of emails between the employee, the boss, the manager, the secretary and the director to authorise a travel request. Obviously, this whole chain of authorisations was not operational, so I decided, together with a group of colleagues, to put a solution in place through this application that has allowed us to track the flow of approvals in real time.
Power Automate connects with Teams and we can all approve requests by simply clicking on the notification bell and pressing the approve or reject button. All this is done in a matter of minutes whereas it used to take days. You can even see the history of trips that have been made and when approving expenses in SAP CONCUR, you can see all the details and you avoid having to interrupt the employee for some information that does not fit.
In my case, in order to compensate for so much intense and dynamic work, I try to have breakfast and/or lunch with like-minded colleagues. I really enjoy these moments where you have the opportunity to get to know them better and create unique and unforgettable moments.
I am very ironic and I am very grateful to have some moments where you can rave and disconnect a little bit from the routine. For me personally, this recharges my batteries and helps me to continue with my day to day life.
And to finish this article, I recommend you to make some innocent jokes during the day, because it reactivates all your senses. Laughter is very healthy, as the experts say.
