Take what you can to the new assistant if there is time. If not, do it yourself. :smx4:

 

Expanding on what SteveO said (and he is correct), you need to learn to delegate appropriately, take credit for your delegation, and give credit to those you delegate to.

Any time the owner asks you to do something, assume that it is your responsibility to ensure that it gets done, and gets done properly. But, this doesn't mean that you need to do it yourself.

Get into the habit of meeting with the new assistant at least once a day (even if for only 15 minutes). Use this time to delegate tasks from the boss, follow-up on tasks that had previously been delegated, and assist with any tasks the assistant is having trouble with. If the assistant doesn't know the best way to book plane tickets, teach her, so that in the future you can trust her with that task. It may take an hour or two of your time now, but will save you many hours in the future.

The key here is to turn this into a win-win-win situation. To do that, you need to:

1) Ensure that the owner understands that everything he comes to you for, you are 100% responsible for ensuring it gets done. While you might not do it yourself, you will ensure it gets done and gets done properly;

2) Ensure that the owner understands that you are effectively delegating tasks. Let him know when you farm out tasks and who you farm them out to; but always make sure he knows you are taking responsiblity for stuff getting done. When the boss realizes that he can trust you to handle the stuff that you delegate, he will start to think of you as someone who can "manage." Whether that's managing people, projects, schedules, money, or whatever, this is your chance to prove that you can effectively manage, even if you're not directly doing the work. This will help your career;

3) Most importantly, ensure that the assistant (and everyone else) is getting credit for *everything* she does. While you can take credit for strong management and delegation, *never* take credit for someone else's work. You'll soon learn that handing out credit is the key to getting others to want to do things for you. If they know that you will give them all the credit in front of the boss (and you will!), they will happily do things for you.

Remember, win-win-win...

- The boss wins because he *never* should have to worry about stuff getting done.
- You win because you now get credit as not just a great employee, but also as a great manager.
- And those you delegate to win because they get all the credit for a job well done.

I've managed a lot of great people, many of whom have gone on to become great managers and leaders themselves. The one thing that the best of them had in common was that they were successful in delegating and getting others to happily do things for them. Remember, if you have 10 people you can effectively delegate to, your boss will think of you as having the value of 11 people...

 

He likes what you do and trusts you. I worked as a Property Manager for an owner that also used me as an accountant, an attorney, and a secretary too. He liked the way I thought and trusted me. He would want me to do things for him his assisant should do or things he had hired other people to do and I when was in a crunch on a project or whatever, I would simply let him know what I was working on and ask him to prioritize what he really needed me to do.

The concept was, do you want me to delay collecting monies owed to you or to type a letter? Do you want me to review this lease so you can get the new tenant signed or do you want me to call and let Larry know you will be at the party? Every time I asked him what I should do, he would have me do the task I was skilled for and go to the person he hired to do the letter, or the call, or whatever it was, but it didn't stop him from coming to me. If he could have me do "it" for him he would.

And that never changed until I left his employ.

 

Actually, think of it the other way around...

He trusts you to deal with all of his *personal* stuff, which says a lot about his trust in you!

 

Been there!

See, when you said he wanted you to do his reservations I saw him standing over your desk wanting you to drop what you were doing and he would tell you what he wanted while he stood there and watched you do it, and your statement above makes me think I was right. Unfortunatlely this leaves no room for delegation. That's why I said to ask him to prioritize your tasks.

I think trust is truely the key. He knows he can trust you and that's all that matters.

Sometimes people just have unrealistic expectations. I had situations where my boss was giving me a laundry list of things he wanted me to do, and on more than one occasion he asked me in one conversation to do a, b, c, d, e, f and in the same conversation ask me if I had "a" done yet! I get stressed just remembering it!

 

And this will help you drive in the fastlane and not need to be in his employ.:smxF:

 

When he does that, just say, "Ah, good, I've been wanting to teach [name of admin] how to do that...I'm going to show her how to do it, and will make sure it gets done correctly." Then walk over to the admin and start delegating...

 

That is good.