Administrative Assistant's Update - sample

December 2017

Focuses on the training and development needs of admin professionals and features topics such as hard skills (software competencies, writing, communication, filing) and soft skills (teamwork, time management, leadership).

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DECEMBER 2017 2 Trust is key to business relationships Strong relationships are built on a foundation of trust. That's the basis for a new book by Robin Dreeke and Cameron Stauth: The Code of Trust: An American Coun- terintelligence Expert's Five Rules to Lead and Succeed. Dreeke was for more than 20 years a senior FBI agent whose mission was to get strangers to trust him enough to be recruited as spies. The skills he developed in order to be successful are skills we can use not only to convince others to do something but to inspire them to want to do it, Dreeke main- tains. Right now, trust is in short supply. That will continue until we "under- stand the priorities of others … and do it with no expectation of reciprocity, which is the real key," he points out in an interview with Knowledge@ Wharton, an online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "Whenever there are two human beings interacting and you hope to move forward, you're not going to do it without trust." First, he says, one must understand one's own priorities and goals. Once they're clear, however, let them go, because your job is to understand the priorities of others. Once you do, you can offer them resources so they can achieve their goals – without expecta - tion of gain on your part. The five rules to achieving trust: (1) Suspend your ego, because it will just get in the way. When people are insecure or fearful or resentful, Dreeke says, the likelihood of saying the wrong thing is high. "If we can let go of our own ego and vanity in every situation and keep the focus on the other person, it's going to enact the code [of trust] flawlessly." (2) Be nonjudgmental. "When we are not judging others and dem - onstrate their value by seeking their thoughts and opinions … we em- power them with choice and validate them." (3) Honour reason. Recognize that emotional attachment to an idea or a particular direction can introduce bias to what should be clarity of thought. Understand the priorities and goals of someone you're supporting and "ask cognitive questions such as "how is what you're doing helping or hinder- ing you getting there?" (4) Validate others, which does not necessarily mean agreeing with them. Rather, "it's the simple task of trying to understand the human being you're interacting with, why they have the thoughts they have, how they came to be the human being they are and how they make the choices they make." (5) Be generous with your resourc- es whether it be your time, expertise or something else to enhance other people's prosperity, and do it without expectation of reciprocity. "When you build solid relationships, your net- work and connections and trust start expanding exponentially," Dreeke concludes. "Everyone has something they're working on, and everyone has great strengths. If you take time to focus on the strengths and validate those strengths, the negativity will start flowing away." Writing the book with Dreeke has taught co-author Stauth how to get along with people, including his wife, he says, "even though I should have known that at my age (69)." "People don't want you to be a 'yes' man, Stauth says, "they just want to be understood. That's what I do now. And I tell you, it's working at work, at home, everywhere." Dreeke calls the book "my manual on how to overcome that type-A, hard-charger [personality] that just barrels forward and ruins relation - ships because they think it's all about them." Trust is hard to come by. It takes perseverance and a lot of trial and er- ror to achieve it with colleagues. But it will take us places we couldn't get to without it. E D I TO R ' S N OT E George Pearson Administrative Assistant's Update is published once a month by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher: Todd Humber Editor: George Pearson george@adminupdate.ca Associate Editor: Jennifer Lewington jennifer@adminupdate.ca EDITORIAL OFFICE (519) 271-6000 Administrative Assistant's Update Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 1 Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE (416) 609-3800 (800) 387-5164 FAX (416) 298-5082 (877) 750-9041 customersupport.legaltaxcanada @tr.com Contents copyright. All rights reserved. © 2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission. Brief extracts may be made with due acknowledgement. Annual subscription: $189. Publications Mail Registration No. 40065782 GST# 897176350 UPDATE Administrative Assistant's

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