Congratulations! You’ve just taken a step up in your career and moved into a position with more responsibility, more authority, more work, and a team of people to manage. And with that promotion you are going to have an assistant assigned to you from another department. Things are looking really good. 

But wait! 

Did you just say you don’t need an assistant? It’s easier for you to do stuff for yourself? It takes too long to train or explain your ways to an assistant? Besides, you have that new smartphone, and it can do everything, right? 

Here’s some insider information: Achieving the right mix of delegation, trust, and rapport with your assistant may be the best thing that ever happens to your career.  Here are some steps you can take to get this partnership off to the best start. 

1. Schedule time to meet with your new assistant. During the first week, set aside at least an hour.  This is the opportunity to set boundaries, define expectations, and establish preference for communications. 

• Confirm your preferred form of communication? Text, Email. Gchat?

• Define the best method the assistant should use to notify you that he or she will be out of the office or is running behind schedule.

• Provide the names of people you want to be interrupted for, such as elderly parents, spouse, CEO, daycare provider, child’s school, and with which of those people have privileges to know your whereabouts.

• Detail your travel preferences, including any frequent flier memberships, preference for hotel room (king, non-smoking). Remember that the assistant may be restricted by any company travel policies.

• Discuss expectations for processing of expense reports. Most experienced assistants are familiar with expense reporting software and requirements. Again, company travel and reimbursement policy will be part of the answer.

• Review the calendar and set an agreed upon meeting time with the assistant for at least 30 minutes a week for the first eight weeks. It takes time to build rapport and get a clear channel of communications worked out. 

2. Make the assistant an integral part of your team. Include the assistant in team meetings, and introduce them to visitors. Acknowledge them in your email: “If you can’t reach me, please speak with my assistant, Jeff, or email him at [email protected].”  Taking this action will establish with your team and your colleague that the assistant is a peer and a respected member of the team. 

3. Have a list of tasks you want to delegate. Start with just a few in the beginning and add on as you become more settled in the working relationship. 

4. The biggest time saver is scheduling meetings and travel. Think about it from a cost-benefit analysis approach. Is it a wise use of company dollars to have you spend an hour fixing a budget presentation or the administrative professional that holds the Microsoft Office Specialist certificate in Excel and PowerPoint? Or, if your administrative professional doesn’t hold that level of expertise, have them spend the 45 minutes with the travel office re-booking your flight. You get the idea. 

5. Be sure you confirm any calendar changes via email or text. And, let the assistant know whether he or she needs to notify the other party, update the calendar or if you have already handled it. 

6. Don’t wait to discuss something that is not working. If you requested that the admin block 30 minutes between any in house meetings and that’s not happening, find out why. As in any good working relationship, supervisory or otherwise, have this conversation privately. 

Adjustment time is always needed for a new position. Both of you are new to the job, so invest strategic time at the beginning when you start working with your assistant. Your respect and effort to establish a good working rapport will pay dividends. Remember: You don’t need experience working with an administrative professional but you do need to start with mutual respect.