The Changing CEO: Associate Relationship - Articles - Andrew Schwartz

Products - Articles

ReadySetPresent Articles can be purchased for $15.00 and are reproducible for a $1.00 royalty fee per copy. Once purchased, download instructions will be sent to you via email. (PC and MAC Compatible). You can purchase all additional royalty copies by clicking here or visiting the reprints page.

The Changing CEO: Associate Relationship
by Andrew E. Schwartz

Imagine a partnership at work. One member is outlining the agenda for the annual stockholders’ meeting, the other is managing the logistics. Their interaction might go like this:

"And then the Chairman will speak for about 20 minutes or so.”

“What about a projector with slides of new product and the new facility in the background?”

“Good idea, the Chairman can be pretty dry sometimes. Will you arrange that?”

“Certainly."

“Then the V.P. of marketing will give a presentation of this year’s marketing strategy. Also, there needs to be enough copies of the annual report for everyone attending.”

“I’ll give the V.P. of marketing a call and ask him if he needs any other materials for his presentation. I’ll also be sure the printer knows how many copies of the report must be delivered directly to the meeting.”

Does this scene characterize the relationship with your associate? Your boss?

The last decade has brought many changes to the traditional boss/associate relationship. We now see powers and responsibilities delegated to “executive assistants” that only ten years ago would have been the sole province of the boss. And there has been a corresponding rise in the prestige and influence of those associates chosen to fill such positions. The fact is that fewer women are willing to be career associates.

Qualified associates are hard to find and even harder to keep satisfied for any appreciable period of time. The most talented and enterprising are voicing the same concerns as a burgeoning number of their fellow employees: “What are the opportunities for growth and advancement?” That has become a popular question. Women who were associates in the 1960’s are now managers and vice presidents who function as role models for the current group of associates. On the other hand, some corporations continue notoriously resistant to employee advancement from clerical positions, leading to frustration and lowered incentive for people in these posts.

Many employers still tend to underestimate the necessity for skilled employees on their clerical staff, and to ignore the talents of those who are already doing the job. Like teaching and nursing, secretarial work is seen as a “women-only” job. Secretarial competence has been overlooked or taken for granted. Now that clerical workers are insisting on adequate compensation for long hours — and on raises that reflect their acquired skills — employers increasingly find themselves thrust into situations where they must re-examine the structure of these jobs.

Two avenues present themselves to employers who are trying to adjust to the “shifting sands” of the current job market. First, jobs may be redesigned so that associates feel better, more fulfilled, and more fairly compensated for their level of skill — while doing them. Second, the position of associate can become an acknowledged “stepping stone” position, a training ground for career advancement and upward mobility for those who have the desire and talent.

Ideally, the associate must be acknowledged as an integral part of the management team. When the boss drafts a letter, it is the associate who checks it for spelling, correct grammar and punctuation and types it up accurately and neatly to present a professional and appropriate image. He or she must also make sure of details such as researching to whom the letter must be directed for maximum effect and assuring its timeliness. Boss and associate are responsible for different parts of the same project—a team effort, a partnership. In this case, the boss initiates the action and the associate follows it through—both acts are essential to success.

In a true working partnership, both individuals feel confident of the talents contributed, and both feel respected and appreciated. It is a given that the associate views the boss this way or at least acts in a way that implies it. To reap the potential benefits of a boss-associate partnership, it is becoming more important that the boss cultivate ways of showing the associate that the road travels both ways. Higher wages, of course, are the most immediate incentive in attracting and motivating a skilled associate, but it is not by any means the only factor. In the case of clerical work, some relief from routine may be as great an incentive as a pay increase. For example, more interesting and decision-oriented types of work could be delegated to those associates who have shown themselves capable of handling it. Many employees are interested in the acknowledgment of their contributions and visible enhancement of their prestige in the corporate structure.

Ultimately, the key to managing a associate is the same as that of managing any employee: Reward efficient action and allow the person to grow to the extent of his or her own gifts.

All too often, bosses handle keeping a good associate as if their goal was the exact opposite. They withhold credit and intellectual stimulation. While this tactic may have been effective in the 50’s, in the 80’s it is guaranteed to make a capable associate want to move on. A “good” associate will stay in a boring and unchallenging position only long enough to master its function within the organization. Putting a “good” associate to best use is done by moving him or her on to further responsibility and creativity in areas where he or she shows particular affinity and ability.

The fact is that many bosses resist the temptation to promote a associate to a managerial or executive position because they think “I’ll never be able to replace her if she gets her promotion.” This limited and erroneous argument can cause an employee capable of making the transition to management to leave not just the boss, but the company in search of recognition elsewhere. Equally unfortunate, an employee capable of making a real contribution to the organization loses interest in the company’s growth when deadened by the never-ending routine of clerical and secretarial tasks.

Integrity, creativity and flexibility carry through from job to job. The wise manager must recognize that these attributes are the raw material from which success is fashioned. To keep a typist at her job in spite of her demonstrated ability to organize other people and manage projects is to waste her potential—even if she’s a terrific typist.

One tactic that can decrease a manager’s logistical fears of promoting a associate or clerk to management is to make the project of replacement and training the promoted associate’s responsibility. In this way, the experienced associate can share and transfer his or her knowledge. Valuable experience and information is not lost, and training time is shortened. The transition can be made smoothly and the associate being promoted can even have the responsibility of overseeing the trainee for a period of time while he or she takes on the new position.

If you are a boss, begin by analyzing your interaction with your associate. Do you have to spell everything out for him or her. Or is your associate capable of independent action? Has his or her alertness ever prevented a crisis or bailed you of a potentially messy situation? In other words, is your associate the kind of person you want on your team? If so, your task is to put him or her to the company’s best use.

Assisting The Upwardly Mobile Associate: Choose a special project that involves both the employee’s already proven abilities in organization and his or her attention to detail—one that you would ordinarily handle yourself if you had the time.

Make its goal clear to your associate.
Make it clear to everyone else involved (or affected) that your associate is doing this project under your auspices.
Set a reasonable time deadline—not too short, but not so open-ended that the task can be pushed back.
Offer your assistance as a reference person only.
Choose a time period when a special project will not interfere with a crunch deadline in another area.
Ask for progress reports.
If the project goes well, choose another with more challenges.
Analyze, both for your associate and for yourself, what his or her strengths and weaknesses are in the context shown in these projects.
Recommend your associate for an available promotion when you genuinely believe the quality of his or her work deserves it.

One of the hidden bonuses of being a boss who has the reputation of promoting from within is the high quality of clerical and secretarial help you can attract to your department. The enticement of a promotion into management will gain a constant stream of smooth transitions, quality writing, creative work, and a growing network of people who have worked with and for you within your organization.

Instead of worrying “How will I replace my associate,” you know exactly how you will do it. Additionally, you will be able to orchestrate his or her replacement at a time most convenient for your organization’s timetable and your workload.

Andrew E. Schwartz, CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates of Boston, MA a comprehensive management training and professional development organization offering over 40 skills specific programs and practical solutions to today's business challenges.

When ordering, if you need an extraction program to unzip the file please visit one of these sites below.
These programs all have free trials that can be used to unzip our files. Make sure you have your pop-up blockers disabled.

Winzip - http://download.winzip.com/winzip120.exe
Winrar - http://www.rarlab.com/rar/wrar380.exe

Purchase this article for $15.00.
Articles are Reproducible for a $1.00 royalty fee per copy.