What do you think of when you hear the words Administrative Professional or Executive Assistant? Does your mind conjure up visions of a 1970s secretary?

If so, I'd like to suggest wiping those visions from your mind, because that's NOT who Administrative Professionals are these days.

When their potential is maximized, an assistant's value goes way beyond scheduling, coordinating travel, managing a leader’s inbox, and submitting expense reports.

Rather, when hired and developed professionally, Executive Assistants are force multipliers for the leaders they support. They operate very much like Chiefs of Staff, running the leader's office and helping drive strategic initiatives.

With that in mind, check out this Global Skills Matrix for Administrative Professionals. It drives discussion on career pathways, performance, and salary expectations for Administrative and Executive Assistants.

Administrative Professionals can use this Global Skills Matrix to:

• assess the level at which you are currently working
• create a career pathway with annual development goals that can get you to the next level

Executives, Senior Leaders & HR professionals can use it to:

• clarify career pathways, performance & salary expectations, growth & development opportunities
• develop job descriptions and hire administrators
• maximize administrator performance and utilization
• provide a structure for advancement

This week, I'm in Savannah, GA, at EA Ignite, where I am training Executive Assistants and Senior Level Administrative Professionals on the following:

• Working More Collaboratively With The Power of Questions
• Cultivating Strategic Partners Inside your Organization
• Executive Decision Making: Getting Decisions Right

EA Ignite is where seasoned Executive Assistants go to evolve their technology, leadership, and project management skills. Its training content challenges them on a higher level and helps Executive Assistants become force multipliers for the C-Suite Executives they support.

APC brings together office professionals from around the world for three days of unparalleled sessions and workshops by professional trainers. Next year's APC will be in Las Vegas, and once again, the APC Team will offer exclusive content in the following areas:

And by the way, each year at APC, I present The One-Day MBA where I share the practical and theoretical concepts from MBA courses that are most relevant for administrative professionals.

Here's this year's class photo. Aren't they a good-looking group?