Thursday 12 November 2015

Tonight's #adminchat on Twitter - I'm the "guest expert" this week at 6pm - 45 minutes from now

Join me, in just under an hour - at 6pm GMT - on Twitter for this week's #adminchat.

I'm the "guest expert" for this week's one hour of Q&A - and my chosen topic is "SP2PB: Self Preservation to Prevent Burnout".


If you're not already a Twitter member - sign up for your free account NOW.  Then search for the conversation by using the searching tag - #adminchat

(It's easiest to do this via a third-party tweeting package - I recommend using TWUBS.com to follow the conversation as this will prevent any other tweets from popping up in the way of the chat.)

Lucy Brazier's hosting team will be asking me questions - and I'll be answering. Feel free to join the conversation, ask a question (numbering your question Q1, Q2, Q3, according to wherever we are in the numbering at that point) or post an answer to a question (using A1, A2, A3)...  Watch the conversation for a few minutes and you'll get the hang of it, if you're a newbie...

So, join us via Twitter or Twubs.com - see you in 45!!

 



Angela Garry

Monday 9 November 2015

The wrong message for Christmas - John Lewis advert 2015

I can't bear it. The Christmas 2015 John Lewis advert is SO wrong.

  • We see the lonely old man in the moon.
  • A little girl sees him through a telescope.
  • He looks sad and all alone.
  • So she sends him a telescope for Christmas and waves at him.

"Ah, how sweet." Right?


WRONG!!

This is purportedly a message to encourage us to think of old people at this time of year and to do something for them.

My response to the ad?



If you agree with me - please feel free to SHARE this post, especially to John Lewis and Co.


Angela Garry

Women in business

Survey figures show that 97% of PAs in the UK are women (Source: APA PA Survey, 2012) - but only 25% of FTSE 100 Board Directors in the UK are women.  (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34663119 - 29 October 2015). 

This doubles the number of women directors since 2011, with a new target of 33% of women board members at FTSE 350 firms by 2020.

However, much as we might applaud the increase, it has been revealed that 260 of the 286 women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies are non-executives: in other words, these women are involved in the policy making decisions for the business but not in the day to day operations.

In addition, it should be noted that the FTSE report counts positions held by women not individuals, so women who serve on more than on board would have been counted multiple times. (In other words, the number of individual women in Director roles in the FTSE 100 companies is lower than the 25% of roles reported.)

Whichever way you choose to read the figures, we need more women to aspire to (and gain) top positions in business.

As PAs we are in the PERFECT position to learn about running an organisation, as we usually in a unique role in the company - we are the person who works closest with the Executives. We run their office while they are out, we deal with their contacts and correspondence with ease. We become their business partner, working in conjunction with them, on projects and major tasks. We need to push for more recognition for our skills and worth within the organisations we support, and for more progression routes.

We have the skills, the experience, the expertise and the knowhow - let's use them!



Thursday 5 November 2015

Susie Barron-Stubley - funeral details

The PA and EA community has been rocked this week by the tragic news of the death of Susie Barron Stubley. Susie, owner / MD of Castalia Executive Coaching, is loved by so many of us. She trained, coached, mentored and inspired so many, worldwide. We are all greatly at a loss without her.



I first met Susie when she was blonde - back in 2009-10, when I attended one of her seminars. She offered me some sound advice on something related to my job, and a couple of years later she was one of the judges when I was nominated for PA of the Year, and she gave me some great tips, pointers and feedback. She then offered business advice to me and encouraged me in the early stages of my own PA training work. All of this, she gave willingly and freely, with great cheer, common sense, compassion and a smile. She later 'went red' around 2012, exchanging her then trademark blonde hair to become a vibrant redhead, a colour that seemed to match her temperament so well - bright, bubbly, vivacious, charming, and a bit naughty. She had the most amazing laugh, that made me smile every time I heard it. I remember it now, I can hear it. And always the lipstick, the bright red lipstick...

Details for Susie's funeral have been announced, with requests that we share them out, in the hope that all her friends get a chance to see them, and thus have the opportunity to attend. Please feel free to like / share / forward this post - and I'll see you at the funeral, if you're able to make it.



Get your bright red lipstick out for the occasion. Let's see this beautiful, wonderful woman off with a smile to match hers.

A tribute page has been opened by Susie's family - if you wish to, you can use the space to leave a message, a thought, post an image, or make a donation to the MIND charity. The page is at http://susie.barron.muchloved.com/


Angela xx