Defining executive assistant OKRs (objectives and key results) is imperative to the success of executives and their businesses. Without a coherent list of objectives, executive assistants (EAs) will likely have difficulty measuring their success—especially against the ever-expanding workload and tasks they are expected to tackle.
As an EA, you take on many roles. While your main focus is to be a seasoned assistant, your day-to-day is ever-evolving. Some days you may need to be HR, procurement, facilities, and marketing all in one! Not to mention the various other hats you’re wearing. With so much going on that requires your professional attention, it can be hard to pinpoint and prioritize your personal goals.
Below, we dive into executive assistant OKRs and how defining your goals can propel your career forward as an EA.
OKR Examples for Executive Assistants
Finding the right OKRs for executive assistants can be a breeze when you understand how to shift your lens to focus on yourself and your own personal growth. Once you discover what you need to advance in your life, it becomes much easier to apply this same exercise to your career as a professional EA.
To begin the powerful process of goal setting, it’s crucial to lay out your OKRs. To break it down, “objective and key results” is a goal-setting framework used to define and track objectives and outcomes while simultaneously engaging employees around measurable goals. With OKRs in place, everyone can intentionally work towards the same organizational goals while still focusing on their personal needs.
When executive assistant OKRs can be lined up with the goals of your company and the leader(s) you support, you set yourself up to deliver unending value as an EA. Here are some OKR examples for executive assistants that can keep you on track to better yourself, your career, and your organization as a whole:
Objective: Improve internal document management at your company by the end of the third quarter.
- Key Result: Choose and launch new file-sharing software.
- Key Result: Have team members create their own directory structure for files.
- Key Results: Move 75% of documents from file servers to the new file-sharing platform.
Objective: Improve document and information management procedures at your company by the end of 2021.
- Key Results: Improve procedures for tracking incoming requests.
- Key Results: Review software options for incoming document tracking.
- Key Results: Compile a weekly “office highlights” newsletter for all team members.
Objective: Self-educate in areas related to being a better EA to set you and your executive up for 2022.
- Key Results: Read four business management books. (Here are two to get you started: The Leader Assistant and AS I SEE IT: Volume 1: Business.)
- Key Results: Come up with new team-building ideas (one per quarter) to help maintain morale and wellbeing.
- Key Results: Take an Excel course by the end of the first quarter to make those weekly reports more efficient.
Goal Setting for Executive Assistants
Write down a few of your own OKRs so you can get a feel for what you want to accomplish as an EA. Make sure your objectives are not only relevant to what you do but that they’re also attainable. You want to set yourself up for success, not failure! Executive assistant OKRs should start with the main objective and a few key results to paint a clear picture of how you will reach your goal over time. We like to think of OKRs as a map for your professional journey that leads you in the right direction.
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