- Introduction
- Important Administrative skills
- How to improve your administrative skills
- Tips to make office more work friendly
Introduction
Administrative skills are extremely important as these hold the organization together, and organizations wouldn’t be able to function effectively if these skills lacked. Administrative skills or administrative experience is crucial when working in a team, as these skills will help you meet the team’s needs and listen to their requirements.
These are skills of responsibility. It is about proper documentation – the process of doing things the right way or the accepted way, working on developing new processes to make the experience for customers, employees, and stakeholders better, answering any questions and solving challenges that employees are facing.
The importance of Administrative skills/ administrative experience
The importance of administrative skills is never justified enough, but these are the skills that help the organization and the business smoothly, effectively, and efficiently. Administrative experience is what helps achieve objectives and the goals of the organization. Someone with administrative experience or skills helps in smooth functioning. Not like you do not require technical knowledge for the task, but administrative skills are an added benefit!
Important Administrative skills
You might require various soft skills and also technical skills. Some of the soft skills that showcase your administrative skills are:
- Organizational skills
The skills that make sure you are using your time, resources, and energy in the right manner to achieve the goals and objectives. They involve managing your time, prioritizing tasks, and proper planning when working towards completing the tasks. Keeping your desk clutter-free is the first step to being organized, as when you are in a de-cluttered space, your mind tends to be more productive. Keep items on your desk that bring positivity to your day.
It is also important to organize your digital workspace. Keeping all your important files labeled saves you a lot of time and allows you to be quick when someone asks you about a piece of particular information. Keeping a calendar and a reminder tab to plan all your tasks will help you keep track of tasks and prioritize them the right way.
When making a plan for your tasks, always allot the time you will spend on a particular task. All of these skills, even though very basic, are an extremely important part of administrative skills. When you are well organized, you can document information better and achieve the goals you have set.
- Communication skills
No amount of emphasis put on communication skills is enough. Communication skills are one of the most important skills in any job and equally important administrative skills. Communication is what helps you be more efficient. With great communication skills, you listen to your team and understand their needs and requirements to achieve the goals.
You can solve challenges for them when you listen attentively. Communication skills also help you answer questions of your customers and employees and provide great services. Communication skills include both written and oral. Written skills come in handy during documentation and, oral skills are important when explaining information when talking to a customer, and responding to requests being made.
- Teamwork and also be able to work alone!
Teamwork is important to achieve the goals of the organization. Administrative roles require you to have teamwork skills when documenting processes. Since creating documents for processes has to be detailed, varied perspectives help you create the process that will be effective and efficient and bring out productivity. Being good at teamwork requires good communication skills and respect for all the opinions of your teammates.
Administrative skills also require the ability to work alone. Sometimes, too many perspectives and ways of doing things might create confusion and, too much discussion on particular information can be time-consuming. In such cases, you need to function alone to achieve the goals as quickly as possible. It is also important to work alone and make any corrections in documents instead of brainstorming every part of the information.
- Customer Service
Attracting and Retaining customers is very important for any kind of business. Customer retention happens when your organization provides great customer service. When you listen to your customers and solve their problems, you will be able to retain them. Administrative experience will help you identify the customer’s pain points, and you will also be able to solve that problem. Since customer service is an important skill for an administrator, you must develop your communication skills and help customers perform tasks they are having trouble with.
- Responsibility
Tasks that require administration are often tasks of responsibility. Responsibility towards achieving the goals by completing the tasks on time and in a quality manner is crucial. As an administrator, you need to be highly responsible when documenting important tasks and take responsibility for systematically achieving goals. When you are responsible for conducting tasks, you save a lot of time on corrections. As an administrator, you need to be responsible for listening to people’s complaints and opinions. It is also important that you provide solutions to them.
- Time Management
Time management skills are very important when gaining administrative experience because an administrator’s job is crucial and helps in smooth functioning at the end of the day. When you organize and prioritize tasks, you can achieve the set goals effectively. Planning efficiently and communicating the tasks clearly to the team will save you time in solving doubts. With time management skills, you must also have stress management skills since the work of an administrator can sometimes be stressful.
- Multi-tasking
As an administrator, you will often find yourself multitasking. You are replying to calls and emails, answering queries and checking documentation, and also meeting deadlines. You will also be responsible for handling various requests made by people and meeting the teams’ needs and requirements. Having great multitasking skills will save you time and also help you be productive and reduce procrastination.
How to improve your administrative skills?
- Set Goals
You need to set attainable goals for yourself for the skills mentioned above. If you want to save time, try achieving a few tasks by setting a timer for yourself. Identify the tasks that require more time and those that require less and how you can accomplish these tasks in the given time.
- Get Organized
Start clearing your table off things you do not need and your desktop of any unwanted files. Label your files clearly to find them when needed. Follow a pattern when it comes to saving your files so that any information you need is available handy.
- Look at people with Great administrative skills.
Look around you at people who have achieved these skills and are working efficiently in their domain. Look at what they do differently that boosts their productivity and, try fitting that into your routine.
Somethings to make your office more work friendly
You can color-code calendars to let people know tasks of high priority and tasks that need to be achieved by which teams. Always take a few minutes organizing your desks and also various files. Make sure you plan the activities that need to be completed before save time during meetings. It is also important that you thoroughly prepare any information you want to give to your team and prepare a FAQ that will save your time-solving doubts that are not very complicated.
You begin with the administrative assistant, handle operational roles, and work with accounting, planning, and executing. Go through skill training in skills like communication, customer service, and also scheduling tasks. Understand how you can improve the efficiency of the office and improve productivity. Work towards multitasking since that will save you a lot of time. It could be as simple as making notes while on a call than doing it after the call. This will not only save time but also reduce errors.
When showcasing these skills on your resume, show activities that prove you are good at managing time and people. Showcase tasks where you have managed any projects and also met deadlines. Show experience in establishing workflows and monitoring productivity regularly. Show your communication skills through written and oral by showing if you were a part of any college committee.
Show your experience in the committee if you have answered calls or worked on budgets. It is also necessary that you showcase your efficiency in various tools like customer management systems and database management. Also, work with various applications of Microsoft office that help you increase your productivity.
You might not have solid administrative experience, but what’s important is that you are willing to learn and improve on your already existing skillset. You will often be asked to work with executives and managers. Make sure you gain skills from them and work with them diligently. Lastly, always pay attention to any kind of detail that can be useful in the future.
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