National Office Professional of the Year 2006, Cathy Harris shares her day at her office with us.
4 04:00: 05:50:
My cell phone alarm sounds gently at 4am, and I
stretch over to put if off. The light goes on and I reluctantly clamber out of bed. I few more minutes would have been nice! But, I am grateful for the challenges of a new day and my mind starts working overtime on what lays in wait for me!
I get choice parking in our basement, arriving at
a perky 5:50am in the morning. I save petrol, time and emotional energy getting up a bit early to avoid the morning rush to Sandton. Before absolutely anything else I must have my cup of coffee and pre- packed breakfast cereal – without these two forms of nourishment, I doubt I will be able to perform at my optimum!
I always arrive way before my manager allowing me time to re-check his diary for the day, compile his meeting files and respond to emails in my in-box as well as his. I draw up my agenda of items I need to discuss with my manager, and also prepare documents needed for my daily catch-up session with him.
As an executive and director, my manager’s day is choc-a-block and I need to ensure that I don’t harass him with too many interruptions on operational issues during the course of the day. He appreciates the fact that I catch up with him on a regular basis. For me, arriving before my manager gives me a sense of control, organization and calm.
08:45 to 13:00: I glance down at my screen to check
the time; it is 8:45 and I am hoping to time purchasing his coffee from Seattle perfectly, and so run off downstairs to the coffee shop. I am glad I left a few minutes earlier, the queue has already started to form. I scurry back upstairs coffee in one hand, access card in the other and place his hot coffee on his desk. (Yes, I know, he is spoilt – but I do enjoy spoiling him).
Two minutes later he walks in and is greeted by a friendly and enthusiastic PA. I am not flustered nor stressed – all the important things are done, and should a crisis occur, the foundations for my day have been laid!
It is almost time for him to dial in to that very important overseas conference call, and I go into his office to make the call on his behalf.
For the next hour I can now focus on following up on reports for the executive meeting and organize the planning of the arrival of a new employee. There are many procedures and processes in place which need to be followed, and my “PA Info” file is always available for easy reference.
No sooner has my manager commenced his meeting and the phone starts ringing, colleagues call in, and the day starts buzzing with activity, excitement and action.
His conference call over, he calls me to his office. There are a few things from the meeting which need to be actioned; meetings to be organized, documents to be scanned, and mails to be sent. He also hands me some medical bills to be forwarded, dry cleaning to be handed in and a utilities bill which needs to be queried.
I then go through his diary for the next few days, give him his e-tickets
for his trip to London the following day, and hand over some forex I organized for him to use on taxi fares and refreshments. His meeting files and brief itinerary are placed on his briefcase. I hand him his next meeting file and alert him to the fact that the meeting is in fact in 3 minutes, and will necessitate a brisk walk over to the other campus. He leaves his office and I alert the visiting office that he is on his way.
Servicing not only my manager but his entire team of actuaries has it’s challenges and I use the time that he is away to provide the rest of the team with my undivided attention and support.
A new person will be commencing soon and I need to ensure that they have a seat, are loaded onto the network, have a pc and a parking spot for their car. This is time consuming as all the information needs to be loaded onto our intranet and approvals and instructions given to and from various people – but the info is loaded, amidst many interruptions and broker phones calls, but it is done!
Continued overleaf careersuccess • issue 2 17
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