Facts of life. Why you need to speak in data points if you want to be heard.
There's a common missing link I see in the EA community: not being able to interpret data or read financials. Many EAs have never been taught. They’ve moved through their careers, learning as they go, doing a terrific job at working out how to do hard things through their resourcefulness.
But not being able to interpret performance metrics and dashboards has a big impact on growth, progression, recognition and earning capability.
How does this unfold?
To be valued and developed to your full potential you have to be able to articulate your worth.
To articulate your worth, you need to be able to speak to the impact you create.
To speak to the impact you create you need to be able to share data points.
You need to be able to tell a compelling story about what you do, the impact of it and how it's being measured.
Data and facts are the executive language.
Not the vibe or how we feel.
It's what makes goals measurable.
It helps to make the seemingly intangible aspect of support work become tangible.
It also helps an EA understand where their exec's focus, time and energy needs to be applied for maximum return.
Most of the EAs I've encountered in my career and business haven't been taught how to do this and it feels overwhelming to them, so they avoid it.
They can get by, but it's feeding feelings of imposter syndrome, self criticism and moments of self doubt. These feelings are natural, but if they’re present more often than not, it’s disempowering and stops an EA from stepping into their full potential.
Reading numbers and data is great to build into your development goals and it's a skill that will support you as you move throughout your career.
Figuring out how to shift it feels hard, especially if analytics and financials aren't directly relevant to a role / feature in a PD. It can feel conceptual.
Here’s a tip to get started and bring the conceptual into practice:
It doesn't have to be complicated, you don't have to do a course to learn this.
Ask your executive, strategy manager or your finance business partner to step you through the monthly finance report and other business critical reports or dashboards.
If it feels overwhelming, shift your perspective. Think of them as a story instead, one that illustrates what's working, what isn't and where something should be replicated, repaired or prioritised.
Learn to find the opportunities in that story where you can lean into the needs of the organisation.
This is where your contribution becomes measurable.
Think about learning together: can you have a colleague run an internal training session for your team? Hint: that’s a great goal that any exec would be impressed to see.
Campaign for your administration cohort to have visibility of regular reporting (this doesn’t happen everywhere). It’s a fast way to help everyone work smarter, not harder and keep your organisation focused on high value priorities.
Remember:
Tie your learning outcomes to the impact you want your efforts to have.
Consider how you’ll use it in your role, and the difference it will make.
Practice bringing data into your 1:1, your performance review, goal setting and business cases for change.
Know that this is a muscle that gets stronger the more you flex it. It gets easier over time and once mastered you’ll never look back!
Need more?
If you need support with articulating your worth or identifying where your efforts make an impact in your organisation, The Elite EA Academy can support you.
If you want to elevate your team as a collective, take a look at the masterclasses for full teams so you can rise together.
If you’re a leader and you want to learn to partner with your assistant for maximum ROI, let’s chat about my consulting services.
