An Executive Who Checks On Tasks That Were Assigned To You: How Do You Manage?

For starters, if you find yourself in such a situation, take a moment to breathe and ask yourself a few questions. This will help guide you toward the bottom of why your executive checks on tasks to see if you have completed them. From my own experience, I must say it was hard to understand at first. I worked with someone who checked on tasks to see if they were completed and kept accepting meeting invites and booking meetings on the side, even though that was my role as their support. It was more than trust.

At the time, the executive lacked communication; at times, he barely shared any updates and kept all the information to himself. You know, as I do, that makes doing our job proactively very difficult. With that said, I definitely could not work like that.  I felt I couldn’t provide professional support or put my good skills to use in such an environment. So, I decided to do a few things, hoping to turn this working relationship into a genuine business partnership.

I decided to schedule a candid conversation with the executive. Let’s say it’s no easy task, given that I was new in the role, leaving me with little leverage. I now have to walk in and tell him that this is not a good start to our new partnership. After all, the advice that everyone gives is, “it’s new; let your first three months go before you start providing your opinion and rock the boat,” or keep your mouth shut until the probation period is over. No, I can’t do that. Unfortunately, it does not work for me, as I like to create an environment that fosters honesty, integrity, and success right from the start. You must be brave enough to have those difficult conversations before any bad habits or wrong expectations take hold.

I created an agenda during our weekly 1:1 meeting to guide the discussion. I listed my concerns as points and sent them to him in advance to give him a chance to review and prepare his responses if any.

It was not an ‘as per usual agenda. I wanted to convey a polite message to him that I have concerns and find a way to ‘get there’ to work together to strengthen our business relationship.

The result of this was better than I expected. The executive shared how he had a bad experience with previous Executive Assistant support, which led him to lose trust and constantly double-check. The haze began to dissipate as it became clear he had historical issues with the prior Executive Assistant. This was a good thing. Knowing the root cause always helps.

I knew I had my work cut out for me. I need to get him to relax and trust that I will handle matters. Given the history, this was not going to be an easy task, and as such, it will take a while to see progress. While patience is not my best suit, I somehow needed to expedite the process. I dug deeper to find out all his pain points. I needed to find out where promises were not kept and narrow the gaps to gain his trust. How did I do that? I started by doing the following:

• I scheduled and protected our weekly 1:1 meeting. No matter what, we had to meet to keep the lines of communication open.
• I created a weekly agenda to address pending tasks and show that his time with me was not wasted.
• Tasks assigned during our 1:1 were followed by quick execution and an email update on what was accomplished, what’s pending, and what requires action from his end.
• When he brought up a pain point or an area where he needs help, such filing system, booking travel far in advance, or keeping track of important dates or meetings that require follow-up, I was quickly ready to take care of it and provided a sense of urgency to his requests.
• I brought up any meeting conflicts as they arose, so hopefully, he would (and eventually did) stop managing his calendar.
• The 1:1 calendar review was done three months in advance, and any conflict was dealt with on the spot. Although schedules were constantly shifting and changing, this practice gave my executive a feeling of comfort as he began to see my proactive outlook on the business and his productivity.

In short, it was a work in progress to build trust that takes a long time. There were moments when I was pretty frustrated, waiting for him to come around. The key was to be careful not to show my frustration.  Patience was a much-needed practice during that time.

If you ever end up in a situation like this, the best advice I could share with you in hopes that it would help you manage the situation until trust is built:

• Open communication always; be honest and gracefully candid
• Be a good listener
• Be observant; be on the lookout for pain points so you can fix them immediately. Be the hero that saves the day
• Be Reliable and dependable
• Consistency is key (do what you say you will do right away)
• Put in time and effort to show interest and care
• Address gaps and problem solve
• Be proactive and show initiative
• Always have a plan, be creative
• Be patient (you will need a lot of it)
• Hang in there; they will always come around
• Get to know your team members and what they do to help learn the business. It will be helpful to know your environment and those who can be your go-to for resources to get tasks done efficiently and quickly.

What’s your strategy in a situation like this?