One reason so many assistants experience burnout is due to identifying too closely with the executive they support. Let me explain.

When an assistant has a great partnership with their executive there's an unusual (mostly unspoken) closeness and bond. It was certainly my experience in many of the senior roles I held in my career.

Here's how it happens:

Fun fact: only 5% of assistants globally seek feedback outside the annual performance review cycle. This is a huge missed opportunity to support growth, career progression and to understand where to focus for the highest impact. Here are some quick tips to get you comfortable with seeking feedback regularly.

Reading data and financials is a skill gap many assistants struggle with. Read on to hear:

why nailing this skill will support you to create impact in your work, be rewarded and recognised for your contribution.

and a practical way to get started

With burnout rife in the assistant community and on the rise, now is the time to re-define what high performance means today. Here are some practical tips on designing a career that will be sustainable, fulfilling and authentic.

As an EA I had a regular habit that served me well.

I carved out time every month to check in on how I was going, where I was going and how I was feeling. Not my performance goals, a more personal check in that was all about me, not what I could deliver for the organisation I was in.

I began doing this after noticing all of my executives spent time regularly thinking about themselves. Their career. Their success. Their happiness. Their development. Their professional relationships. Everything they needed to rise and rise and rise.

During my 27 ish year career as an EA, most of which supporting at the most senior levels, I experienced some really challenging times.

Mergers, acquisitions, public relations catastrophes, IPOs, changes in leadership, Royal Commissions, House Economics Committee appearances, the GFC, a pandemic, bullying, sexual harassment, unreasonable requests, demanding executives and some lean times with serious cut backs.

I also experienced some really amazing, happy, cruisy times.

Here’s the weird thing. The happy, easy times weren’t the moments in my career that brought me the most growth or opportunities.

Somewhere on the career hamster wheel of working hard toward the next promotion or pay rise we began sacrificing what we need to fulfil the needs of others. It’s a habit that’s hard to break, particularly for Executive Assistants whose roles exist primarily to support the needs of others, to support the success of others.

If left unchecked this is a detrimental way to exist and it bleeds out beyond the working week into life itself. I talk a lot about the dark side of EA work because it isn’t shared openly enough. It’s a dirty little secret and burden many feel they have to carry alone.

I was a senior EA for over 27 years, I know this first hand from personal experience and through conversations in the community throughout my entire career and now in this business.