Maggie Olson is the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, the premier destination for Chief of Staff education and development.
In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Maggie talks about how to be an excellent executive project manager.
CONNECT WITH MAGGIE
ABOUT MAGGIE
Maggie Olson is the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, the premier destination for Chief of Staff education and development. As the first Chief of Staff to a president at a Fortune 40 company — who led a multibillion-dollar business with 5,000+ employees — Maggie built the president’s Chief of Staff model from the ground up. Maggie has 20 years’ experience leading large teams and has spent her career focused on both customer and employee experience at companies including T-Mobile, Nordstrom, and Starbucks. In addition to operating the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course, Maggie is a fractional Chief of Staff focused on helping mission-driven, for-profit startup founders scale their businesses quickly. In her spare time, Maggie loves spending time outside with her husband, their animals, and their 1-year-old, Max!
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THE LEADER ASSISTANT BOOK
Download the first 3 chapters of The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of Game-Changing Assistant for FREE here or buy it on Amazon and listen to the audiobook on Audible. Also, check out the companion study guide, The Leader Assistant Workbook, to dig deeper.
LEADER ASSISTANT LIVE EVENTS
Check out our constantly updated schedule of events for admins and assistants at LeaderAssistantLive.com.
JOIN THE FREE COMMUNITY
Join the Leader Assistant Global Community for bonus content, job opportunities, and to network with other assistants who are committed to becoming leaders!
SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to The Leader Assistant Podcast so you don’t miss new episodes!
You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and Stitcher.
Join my email list here if you want to get an email when a new episode goes live.
LEAVE A REVIEW
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00.200 –> 00:00:04.700
JEREMY: Are you a strategic senior executive assistant thinking about what’s next?
00:00:04.700 –> 00:00:13.500
JEREMY: Whether you’re ready for a promotion or loving the job you’re in, Nova Chief of Staff’s certification course may be just the resource you’re hungry for.
00:00:13.500 –> 00:00:30.580
JEREMY: With over 400 students across 20 countries and rave reviews, students graduate from Nova’s hands-on, self-paced online course with the confidence, knowledge, and power to make the move to Chief of Staff for their executive.
00:00:30.580 –> 00:00:32.120
JEREMY: But don’t take my word for it.
00:00:32.120 –> 00:00:40.980
JEREMY: Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to find countless testimonials, the course syllabus, and lots of free resources to support you in your career journey.
00:00:47.636 –> 00:00:55.136
<v SPEAKER_2>The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.
00:01:04.308 –> 00:01:06.508
JEREMY: Hey, friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast.
00:01:06.508 –> 00:01:08.508
JEREMY: It’s episode 283.
00:01:08.508 –> 00:01:12.488
JEREMY: You can check out the show notes and links for this episode at leaderassistant.com/283.
00:01:15.508 –> 00:01:22.768
JEREMY: I’m your host, Jeremy Burrows, and I’m excited to be speaking again with my friend Maggie Olson from Nova Chief of Staff.
00:01:22.768 –> 00:01:25.068
JEREMY: And Maggie, welcome back.
00:01:25.068 –> 00:01:25.488
MAGGIE: Thanks.
00:01:25.488 –> 00:01:27.548
MAGGIE: Thanks for having me.
00:01:27.548 –> 00:01:42.528
JEREMY: So last time we talked in episode 281, we talked about leading and managing executive engagements, talked about how to prepare briefs, the different types, what should be included.
00:01:42.528 –> 00:01:45.268
JEREMY: Super, super helpful conversation.
00:01:45.268 –> 00:01:55.288
JEREMY: And yeah, if you missed that one, it’s episode 281, leaderassistant.com/281 to check out that episode.
00:01:55.288 –> 00:02:04.088
JEREMY: But today, yeah, we’re going to be speaking about how to be an excellent executive project manager.
00:02:04.088 –> 00:02:10.168
JEREMY: And I personally have project management experience.
00:02:11.748 –> 00:02:24.008
JEREMY: I was early on in my executive assistant career, I was an assistant for a few years, and I kind of shifted into sort of a hybrid project manager slash assistant role.
00:02:24.008 –> 00:02:26.588
JEREMY: And it was fun for a little bit.
00:02:26.908 –> 00:02:35.108
JEREMY: And then I got to the point where project managing a team for me was felt like babysitting.
00:02:35.108 –> 00:02:42.148
JEREMY: And so it was like, oh, you didn’t do your thing you’re supposed to do at this deadline and those kinds of things.
00:02:43.308 –> 00:03:01.308
JEREMY: And then I ended up becoming the founder’s assistant and really diving into the kind of founder, CEO, high level executive assistant role, which still involves a lot of project management and project managing, of course.
00:03:01.308 –> 00:03:04.068
JEREMY: So I feel like I still still use those skills all the time.
00:03:04.068 –> 00:03:05.988
JEREMY: It’s just in a different element.
00:03:05.988 –> 00:03:22.608
JEREMY: And so anyway, I think, yeah, I’m excited to hear your thoughts and from your experience and from your feedback you’ve received from the students in your course and just just how to be an excellent executive project manager.
00:03:22.968 –> 00:03:25.348
JEREMY: So yeah, let’s let’s dive in.
00:03:25.348 –> 00:03:26.388
MAGGIE: Yeah, absolutely.
00:03:26.388 –> 00:03:30.648
MAGGIE: And I think you’re right, Jeremy, like it’s it’s much different.
00:03:30.648 –> 00:03:37.868
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff role, the senior kind of high level strategic EA role is very different than just a typical project manager.
00:03:37.868 –> 00:03:41.128
MAGGIE: But what we’re doing is we’re doing executive project management.
00:03:41.128 –> 00:03:46.688
MAGGIE: We’re managing all of the things that our executive is a part of and all the things that make the back office tick.
00:03:47.928 –> 00:04:01.828
MAGGIE: And without a strong understanding or inherent ability or kind of the principles around project management, it’s just a struggle to keep track of everything.
00:04:01.828 –> 00:04:06.468
MAGGIE: Inherently, I don’t think you can be hyper organized without being a decent project manager.
00:04:06.468 –> 00:04:08.368
MAGGIE: So those two things definitely go hand in hand.
00:04:08.368 –> 00:04:15.408
MAGGIE: But what I think is the cool part about the Chief of Staff role and the senior EA role is it can look how you want it.
00:04:16.168 –> 00:04:27.828
MAGGIE: And often when I’m talking about the Nova Chief of Staff certification course and the Chief of Staff role in general, I tell people that you really do need to be very organized to be in either of those roles.
00:04:27.828 –> 00:04:31.068
MAGGIE: But the way that you’re organized can look so different.
00:04:31.068 –> 00:04:35.988
MAGGIE: So when I’m talking to students, I say like, okay, maybe your room’s a mess, that’s fine.
00:04:35.988 –> 00:04:40.408
MAGGIE: But how are you organized more than all of your friends in other ways?
00:04:40.408 –> 00:04:44.468
MAGGIE: Are you the one person that is planning all of your friends’ trips?
00:04:45.568 –> 00:04:49.828
MAGGIE: You’ve got the Excel spreadsheets, you’ve got all the itinerary, you’re coordinating with everybody.
00:04:49.828 –> 00:04:51.488
MAGGIE: That’s great, that’s hyper-organized.
00:04:51.488 –> 00:04:58.028
MAGGIE: Are you the one with color-coded notes for all your classes and different colored sticky notes?
00:04:58.028 –> 00:04:59.868
MAGGIE: But you don’t remember what you did yesterday?
00:04:59.868 –> 00:05:01.508
MAGGIE: Well, that might be a problem.
00:05:01.508 –> 00:05:03.368
MAGGIE: But you get the idea.
00:05:05.048 –> 00:05:16.608
MAGGIE: How you are organized is the most important part, and that’s the cool part about the Chief of Staff role, is you can set up systems and processes to work for you to accomplish what you need to do in the back office for your leader.
00:05:16.608 –> 00:05:29.928
MAGGIE: One of the best ways that a Chief of Staff can support their CEO or business leader is by literally catching all the things, and I oddly, untimely wrote about this on LinkedIn this morning.
00:05:29.928 –> 00:05:34.848
MAGGIE: So I’ll share a little bit here, but CEOs need to operate in the vision space.
00:05:34.848 –> 00:05:44.928
MAGGIE: They need to be able to have tons of ideas all the time, good ideas, bad ideas, potentials for collaboration and partnership, things with people and leadership.
00:05:44.928 –> 00:05:51.868
MAGGIE: What are all the things, relationships, product, that CEOs should be staying in that vision and idea space?
00:05:51.868 –> 00:06:02.088
MAGGIE: As a Chief of Staff, one of the ways you can add the most value is by setting up systems and processes to allow your leader to stay in that vision space.
00:06:02.088 –> 00:06:16.588
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff should have the tools created that basically enable all of the things that your CEO may throw at you to have a place to land without your leader needing to do much more than just share them with you.
00:06:16.588 –> 00:06:24.648
MAGGIE: This can be, and we’ll dive into the how here, but this can be simple or more formal, categorized lists that the Chief of Staff manage.
00:06:24.648 –> 00:06:32.108
MAGGIE: Then after that, they can slide into more robust planning documents once they’re flushed out and prioritized.
00:06:32.108 –> 00:06:43.408
MAGGIE: But the point here really is that CEOs stay in the idea space and Chiefs of Staff manage, organize and often follow through on execution for their leaders.
00:06:43.528 –> 00:06:47.088
MAGGIE: Today, we’re going to focus on Executive Project Management.
00:06:47.088 –> 00:06:57.168
MAGGIE: But first, I think that it would be a good idea to talk about how we can be excellent executive project managers for ourselves first.
00:06:57.168 –> 00:06:57.988
MAGGIE: What does that mean?
00:06:57.988 –> 00:06:59.828
MAGGIE: I have three things for you.
00:06:59.868 –> 00:07:02.228
MAGGIE: One, build a walking deck.
00:07:02.228 –> 00:07:07.128
MAGGIE: Jeremy, I don’t know if we’ve talked about a walking deck before on our podcasting here.
00:07:07.128 –> 00:07:11.188
JEREMY: I think it might have been briefly mentioned, but not in depth for sure.
00:07:11.188 –> 00:07:11.468
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:07:11.468 –> 00:07:11.768
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:07:11.988 –> 00:07:17.128
MAGGIE: I think we may have an episode coming up down the road where we dive even deeper into a walking deck.
00:07:17.128 –> 00:07:24.148
MAGGIE: But this was a concept from a leader of mine, Katie Oakland that I had years ago.
00:07:24.148 –> 00:07:36.068
MAGGIE: Essentially, if you’re a PowerPoint user or a Google Slides user, we can absolutely have the conversation around why I think slides are helpful versus project management software.
00:07:36.068 –> 00:07:42.648
MAGGIE: But you want one place to hold 95 percent of the things that you reference or update repeatedly.
00:07:44.908 –> 00:07:53.168
MAGGIE: Basically, that could be short-term and long-term calendar views, your agenda templates, your travel templates, your rhythm of business because that definitely changes often.
00:07:53.168 –> 00:07:55.588
MAGGIE: Your meeting follow-ups, your leader engagements.
00:07:55.588 –> 00:08:03.348
MAGGIE: We talked previously on a podcast around all of the engagement activity that Chiefs of Staff can support.
00:08:03.348 –> 00:08:08.228
MAGGIE: Pipeline views, your brief outlines, your meeting prep, executive team decks.
00:08:08.228 –> 00:08:15.728
MAGGIE: Maybe your most recent staff meeting deck is in there because you’re referencing it every day for the next two weeks till the next staff meeting.
00:08:15.728 –> 00:08:20.888
MAGGIE: The things that you reference or update repeatedly go into this walking deck.
00:08:20.888 –> 00:08:27.868
MAGGIE: What doesn’t go in there are one-offs, big projects that require their own place or projects that just get too big.
00:08:28.908 –> 00:08:32.168
MAGGIE: And that you’re not referencing enough in your walking deck.
00:08:32.168 –> 00:08:34.588
MAGGIE: A walking deck will enable you to move faster.
00:08:34.588 –> 00:08:36.688
MAGGIE: It will be a little more friendly for your computer.
00:08:36.688 –> 00:08:39.268
MAGGIE: Less things open, faster processing.
00:08:39.268 –> 00:08:42.288
MAGGIE: It will likely always be open on your computer.
00:08:42.288 –> 00:08:47.788
MAGGIE: I think it’s always a good idea to close down at the end of the night, close things, let them sleep and wake up again the next morning.
00:08:47.788 –> 00:08:50.968
MAGGIE: But it’s likely always open during work hours.
00:08:50.968 –> 00:08:56.108
MAGGIE: You can create sections in these decks like, here’s my agendas and here’s my rhythm of business templates.
00:08:56.628 –> 00:09:05.968
MAGGIE: You will not have to spend valuable time hunting, finding, opening, closing things constantly and forgetting where they live.
00:09:05.968 –> 00:09:11.148
MAGGIE: I also love, love, love adding archive sections to almost everything I do.
00:09:11.148 –> 00:09:14.468
MAGGIE: All my folders, there’s an archive folder within those folders.
00:09:14.468 –> 00:09:16.588
MAGGIE: You just drag and drop in this deck.
00:09:16.588 –> 00:09:22.948
MAGGIE: Also, old sites, drop it down into your archive section, delete it once you don’t need it anymore.
00:09:22.948 –> 00:09:29.888
MAGGIE: That’s tip number one on how to help ourselves start to be excellent executive project managers.
00:09:29.888 –> 00:09:34.328
MAGGIE: The second would be all around e-mail organization.
00:09:34.328 –> 00:09:42.108
MAGGIE: Now, I use Outlook and I know that everybody listening does not necessarily use Outlook, but it’s pretty common.
00:09:42.108 –> 00:09:47.908
MAGGIE: A few things that I do here, I use categories and rules, but I don’t overuse folders.
00:09:47.908 –> 00:09:52.168
MAGGIE: The reason is Outlook’s algorithm is very, very good at finding things.
00:09:52.168 –> 00:09:58.908
MAGGIE: If you overuse folders, it becomes harder to find all the separate e-mail threads within all of your folders.
00:09:58.908 –> 00:10:01.848
MAGGIE: Personally, I like categories a lot more than flags.
00:10:01.848 –> 00:10:20.108
MAGGIE: Now, I know we’ve got a ton of amazing executive assistants listening, so I may not be telling you anything new here, but categories, you can have endless categories, you can color-code them, and you can coordinate as many as you want in terms of mapping out different tasks and responsibilities.
00:10:20.248 –> 00:10:24.748
MAGGIE: So here’s an example of how I use categories plus rules together.
00:10:24.748 –> 00:10:31.068
MAGGIE: Let’s say that we have a category that’s green and we call it waiting to hear back.
00:10:31.068 –> 00:10:38.908
MAGGIE: As Chiefs of Staff, we’re always sending emails shooting Jeremy a note, hey Jeremy, can you let me know if this verbiage is approved?
00:10:38.908 –> 00:10:41.488
MAGGIE: I got to wait on Jeremy.
00:10:41.488 –> 00:10:54.828
MAGGIE: Set a rule where every time you CC yourself on an email, that email stays in your inbox and it changes to the green category, and the green category is called waiting to hear back.
00:10:54.828 –> 00:10:58.728
MAGGIE: Now in your inbox, you know exactly what you’re waiting on from other people.
00:10:58.728 –> 00:11:05.248
MAGGIE: They’re categorized a certain color and you know that you don’t have to action them, but you’re needing to keep an eye on them.
00:11:05.248 –> 00:11:06.128
MAGGIE: That’s one way.
00:11:06.128 –> 00:11:07.308
MAGGIE: There’s so many different ways.
00:11:07.308 –> 00:11:16.388
MAGGIE: I’m not going to spend too much more time on email organization because we all use different platforms, but think about how this example could apply to the email platform that you use.
00:11:16.388 –> 00:11:22.208
MAGGIE: Jeremy, do you have any email tips and tricks for how to be a great executive project manager for yourself?
00:11:26.548 –> 00:11:30.008
MAGGIE: Are you ready to elevate your career in 2024?
00:11:30.008 –> 00:11:37.688
MAGGIE: I’m Maggie Olson, founder of Nova Chief of Staff Certification, the first of its kind online course for aspiring and existing Chiefs of Staff.
00:11:38.448 –> 00:11:50.548
MAGGIE: With curriculum taken directly from on-the-job responsibilities, Nova’s self-paced learning modules provides you with hands-on experience, so you can feel competent and confident moving into a Chief of Staff style role.
00:11:50.548 –> 00:11:53.548
MAGGIE: It’s the perfect next step for executive assistants.
00:11:53.548 –> 00:11:59.188
MAGGIE: Head to leaderassistant.com/nova to learn more, grab the syllabus, and enroll today.
00:12:02.868 –> 00:12:05.288
JEREMY: Oh yeah, my first tip is don’t use Microsoft.
00:12:05.288 –> 00:12:05.848
JEREMY: I’m just kidding.
00:12:07.828 –> 00:12:24.408
JEREMY: No, I write all about email management in Chapter 12 of my book, The Leader Assistant, and so definitely check that out if you’re wanting some similar but different tips on email management for yourself or your executive.
00:12:24.408 –> 00:12:33.648
JEREMY: Because as assistants, especially like C-suite level assistants, often we manage our executives’ inbox as well.
00:12:33.648 –> 00:12:34.068
MAGGIE: Exactly.
00:12:34.068 –> 00:12:39.328
JEREMY: It’s even more important to have good tactics when it comes to email management.
00:12:39.328 –> 00:12:47.608
MAGGIE: Yeah, and it’s something similar that I say for new chiefs of staff who are wanting to take on projects outside of their…
00:12:47.608 –> 00:12:53.808
MAGGIE: Like they’re wanting to take on company projects and help fill a gap and find this software or work on an extra project.
00:12:53.808 –> 00:13:08.548
MAGGIE: I always suggest that you focus on kind of cleaning up and understanding and creating a well-oiled machine for your own back office first for that executive before you take on other projects outside of the back office for your leader.
00:13:08.548 –> 00:13:11.928
MAGGIE: It’s the same thing with this kind of conversation.
00:13:11.928 –> 00:13:19.348
MAGGIE: Even though it feels like it’s a time suck and it never feels like there’s enough time, take an hour to set up, read Jeremy’s chapter.
00:13:19.348 –> 00:13:21.648
MAGGIE: What chapter was it again, Jeremy?
00:13:22.508 –> 00:13:22.788
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:13:22.788 –> 00:13:36.388
MAGGIE: So dive into the resources that you have, set up some things to help you be as organized as possible because you’re going to be so much more effective and less frustrated kind of hunting and pecking for things when you don’t have that organization.
00:13:36.388 –> 00:13:36.608
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:13:36.608 –> 00:13:36.888
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:13:36.888 –> 00:13:47.708
MAGGIE: So the last thing on the first, let’s focus on us and how to be great for us is set up a wins folder, however you want to do it.
00:13:47.708 –> 00:13:53.748
MAGGIE: Maybe it is in your email, maybe it’s in your share drive folders, but set up a wins folder for yourself.
00:13:54.808 –> 00:14:00.868
MAGGIE: Let’s make this awesome project manager component for your own benefit too.
00:14:00.868 –> 00:14:16.808
MAGGIE: So anytime you get an email from your boss or you complete a great project, or you have a solid review, or even somebody just says it was really nice working with you on this project, drag and drop, move it to your wins folder, wherever that folder is.
00:14:16.808 –> 00:14:27.828
MAGGIE: Start this today if you haven’t already started doing this, or repopulate the one that you started a year ago and you forgot about, and in six months, you will have some nuggets to look back on.
00:14:27.828 –> 00:14:31.148
MAGGIE: If you’re updating a resume and you’re like, gosh, what are the projects I’ve done?
00:14:31.148 –> 00:14:32.328
MAGGIE: Oh my gosh, that’s right.
00:14:32.328 –> 00:14:43.648
MAGGIE: Thank goodness I dragged and dropped this whole email summary of this project with metrics and stats here because I can then use it in the future to help myself.
00:14:44.588 –> 00:14:50.588
MAGGIE: I’m sure Jeremy, you’ve talked about wins folders in the past too, but it’s a quick one, quick and good.
00:14:51.188 –> 00:14:53.448
JEREMY: Yeah, love it.
00:14:53.448 –> 00:14:58.928
MAGGIE: Okay, so let’s switch gears and talk about why project management is important as a Chief of Staff.
00:15:00.368 –> 00:15:07.948
MAGGIE: I’m going to share a scenario and people listening can think about if this is their leader.
00:15:07.948 –> 00:15:10.408
MAGGIE: You have a very busy leader.
00:15:10.408 –> 00:15:12.928
MAGGIE: Sometimes it feels like new idea whiplash.
00:15:12.928 –> 00:15:16.248
MAGGIE: There’s a new idea thrown out at every turn right and left.
00:15:16.248 –> 00:15:23.068
MAGGIE: Your team is trying to execute on your leader’s wishes, but they’re getting mixed messages about what’s most important.
00:15:23.068 –> 00:15:28.928
MAGGIE: It’s also hard for you to follow what your leader’s saying because there’s a million things flying all over the place.
00:15:28.928 –> 00:15:34.548
MAGGIE: You wish you had a clean, neat, easy list of all the leader’s priorities in rank order.
00:15:34.548 –> 00:15:36.288
MAGGIE: Does this sound familiar to anyone?
00:15:36.288 –> 00:15:37.468
MAGGIE: Because I think it’s pretty common.
00:15:43.868 –> 00:15:45.988
JEREMY: Definitely can relate to that.
00:15:45.988 –> 00:15:46.408
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:15:46.408 –> 00:15:53.848
MAGGIE: It’s one of those things that good leaders are crazy vision idea-throwers.
00:15:53.848 –> 00:16:00.268
MAGGIE: We have to figure out how to support those people so that, as I mentioned earlier, they can stay in the idea space.
00:16:01.668 –> 00:16:16.568
MAGGIE: As a chief of staff, you’re going to add incredible value if you can help articulate, guide, track, and lead the business forward for your leaders’ most important priorities and capture all the other things that maybe don’t seem important, but they need a place to live.
00:16:16.568 –> 00:16:20.028
MAGGIE: How do you do this from start to finish?
00:16:20.028 –> 00:16:30.468
MAGGIE: First, I would suggest starting with informal but organized, categorized lists for literally all of your executives brain dump things.
00:16:30.468 –> 00:16:38.748
MAGGIE: Ideas, collaborations, partnerships, people, leadership, relationships, product, your categories might be a little bit different.
00:16:38.748 –> 00:16:40.268
MAGGIE: You can track this wherever you want.
00:16:40.268 –> 00:16:43.248
MAGGIE: If you’re using a walking deck and you want to pop them into PowerPoint, great.
00:16:43.248 –> 00:16:48.248
MAGGIE: If you’re using a shared Google Drive, Google Sheets, perfect.
00:16:49.428 –> 00:16:56.568
MAGGIE: Then start noticing if certain things are thrown out, certain ideas are thrown out repeatedly more than others.
00:16:56.568 –> 00:16:58.208
MAGGIE: Note this, take note of it.
00:16:58.208 –> 00:17:06.168
MAGGIE: Start realizing that, gosh, they’ve talked about hiring those two new people like four times in the last three weeks.
00:17:06.168 –> 00:17:11.728
MAGGIE: This is your opportunity to add strategic value during your one-on-ones with your leader.
00:17:11.728 –> 00:17:15.768
MAGGIE: And what that would look like is there’s a few things.
00:17:15.768 –> 00:17:21.228
MAGGIE: In a normal one-on-one setting, you’re bringing up, you’re bringing up, hey, I’ve heard you mention this.
00:17:21.228 –> 00:17:24.228
MAGGIE: Here’s the things that I’ve captured this week from you.
00:17:24.228 –> 00:17:26.928
MAGGIE: Do you want to chat through any priorities?
00:17:26.928 –> 00:17:30.568
MAGGIE: Just want to let you know that I’ve observed that we’ve chatted about this three or four times.
00:17:30.708 –> 00:17:35.108
MAGGIE: Is there anything I can do to help launch or move this along or execute?
00:17:35.108 –> 00:17:38.388
MAGGIE: Those are conversations you should be having.
00:17:38.388 –> 00:17:46.108
MAGGIE: That’s a little bit more of the informal, but organized place for things to land, your categorized lists.
00:17:46.108 –> 00:17:57.388
MAGGIE: Now, over time, you can flush these ideas out with your executive and they can work their way into a president’s key priorities document or something similar that’s a bit more formal.
00:17:58.728 –> 00:18:13.708
MAGGIE: I also recommend, we actually have an exercise in the course that does just this, that you orchestrate a specific forum with your leader to have brainstorming sessions about the most important priorities on your leader’s plate.
00:18:13.708 –> 00:18:29.568
MAGGIE: That probably looks like quarterly sessions where you chat through your president’s key priorities and you more formally capture them, rather than just a place for things to land on a day-to-day basis like we were talking before.
00:18:29.568 –> 00:18:39.548
MAGGIE: Before I move on, Jeremy, anything to chat through there and I’ll definitely share what this president’s priorities document could look like and things to keep in mind.
00:18:39.548 –> 00:18:42.588
JEREMY: No, I think you’re doing great and I’m soaking it all in.
00:18:42.588 –> 00:18:42.988
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:18:42.988 –> 00:18:43.888
MAGGIE: Awesome.
00:18:44.708 –> 00:18:49.928
MAGGIE: What does this president’s radar, key priorities, obviously the title is interchangeable look like?
00:18:51.648 –> 00:18:57.808
MAGGIE: Again, I’m a fan of Excel, excuse me, PowerPoint, Microsoft.
00:18:57.808 –> 00:19:00.828
MAGGIE: Jeremy has me laughing about his Microsoft comment.
00:19:00.828 –> 00:19:02.868
MAGGIE: I love Microsoft, but I’ve grown up on it.
00:19:03.668 –> 00:19:09.828
MAGGIE: Also, Apple lover never fit with my Microsoft corporate world.
00:19:09.828 –> 00:19:10.368
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:19:10.368 –> 00:19:18.048
MAGGIE: But when we think about PowerPoint, yes, you can keep things in software management platforms.
00:19:18.308 –> 00:19:24.788
MAGGIE: And there’s tools and gosh, there’s going to be so many more coming to the market with AI every day.
00:19:24.788 –> 00:19:34.348
MAGGIE: But the problem that I ran into is having things that are quick and easy to share with executives the second they need them.
00:19:34.348 –> 00:19:43.688
MAGGIE: Up to this point, I have not found any kind of a project management software where you can just export and it’s polished and presentation ready.
00:19:44.268 –> 00:19:50.168
MAGGIE: Now, again, the level of formality isn’t necessarily important for everybody.
00:19:50.168 –> 00:19:59.828
MAGGIE: But in the world that I came from, supporting a Fortune 40 president and boards and all of that, polished, elevated, braided materials were important.
00:19:59.828 –> 00:20:10.208
MAGGIE: And PowerPoint allows you or Google Slides allows you to have a very nimble and flexible project management template that’s always ready to share.
00:20:10.208 –> 00:20:12.768
MAGGIE: And so it doesn’t take you more hours to create that part.
00:20:12.908 –> 00:20:17.148
MAGGIE: But we can totally debate that on another podcast, too.
00:20:17.148 –> 00:20:35.188
MAGGIE: So when we think about what does this slide look like, your kind of top priorities, president radar, you want to have a priority rank for the amount of time or just the initiative, how your leader sees that initiative, that priority.
00:20:35.188 –> 00:20:36.348
MAGGIE: Do they see it?
00:20:36.348 –> 00:20:37.948
MAGGIE: Not everything can be number one.
00:20:37.948 –> 00:20:41.588
MAGGIE: So this can be one of the most telling conversations with the leader.
00:20:42.468 –> 00:20:43.688
MAGGIE: Where do you rank everything?
00:20:43.688 –> 00:20:45.628
MAGGIE: Okay, they’re all number one.
00:20:45.628 –> 00:20:47.948
MAGGIE: Let’s revisit this one.
00:20:48.248 –> 00:20:49.208
JEREMY: They’re all urgent.
00:20:49.208 –> 00:20:50.008
MAGGIE: They’re all urgent.
00:20:50.008 –> 00:20:51.128
MAGGIE: Everything’s urgent.
00:20:51.128 –> 00:20:53.788
MAGGIE: All 27 things should happen this week.
00:20:53.788 –> 00:20:54.148
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:20:54.148 –> 00:20:55.248
MAGGIE: And then a description.
00:20:55.248 –> 00:20:56.468
MAGGIE: What is the key priority?
00:20:57.008 –> 00:20:58.988
MAGGIE: How would you describe it?
00:20:58.988 –> 00:21:04.168
MAGGIE: Additional details, which is really just like describing that priority.
00:21:04.168 –> 00:21:07.208
MAGGIE: And then what are the touch points?
00:21:07.208 –> 00:21:13.268
MAGGIE: Maybe it’s a meeting or a weekly summary that drives this key priority forward.
00:21:13.268 –> 00:21:19.288
MAGGIE: So to back up a bit, this document is for the things that we flushed out as major priorities and important.
00:21:19.288 –> 00:21:24.108
MAGGIE: They’re not for all the millions of ideas that your leader is throwing at you every day.
00:21:24.108 –> 00:21:27.068
MAGGIE: This is the document where those ideas graduate to.
00:21:27.068 –> 00:21:30.108
MAGGIE: They’ve now become a very important priority for your leader.
00:21:30.108 –> 00:21:37.248
MAGGIE: And this document can also come out of that, maybe quarterly session where you just deep dive into your leader’s most important priorities.
00:21:37.408 –> 00:21:54.308
MAGGIE: So when you have an extremely important priority, there should be some form of a touch point, a meeting or a weekly summary or something where the leader is receiving the information that they need to understand the progress and the status of their initiative.
00:21:54.308 –> 00:21:56.268
MAGGIE: You should have a lead on this document.
00:21:56.268 –> 00:21:58.448
MAGGIE: So for each initiative, who’s the lead?
00:21:58.448 –> 00:21:59.848
MAGGIE: It can’t be you for everything.
00:21:59.848 –> 00:22:01.228
MAGGIE: It can’t be the Chief of Staff for everything.
00:22:01.228 –> 00:22:03.908
MAGGIE: It can’t be the CEO for everything.
00:22:03.908 –> 00:22:05.588
MAGGIE: This is important part of delegation.
00:22:05.688 –> 00:22:11.248
MAGGIE: Does this item live within operations or can it a little bit, for example?
00:22:11.248 –> 00:22:13.608
MAGGIE: Then what are the next steps with dates?
00:22:14.748 –> 00:22:15.948
MAGGIE: This meeting needs to be scheduled.
00:22:15.948 –> 00:22:18.148
MAGGIE: This daily session needs to happen.
00:22:18.148 –> 00:22:19.328
MAGGIE: Double-check invite lists.
00:22:19.328 –> 00:22:36.708
MAGGIE: These are just some ideas, but a flexible document to make sure that you can share with your leader at any time, and that helps your leader stay focused on their most important initiatives, even when they have so many ideas all the time.
00:22:38.948 –> 00:22:39.588
JEREMY: Super helpful.
00:22:39.588 –> 00:22:40.148
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:22:40.148 –> 00:23:11.848
JEREMY: And what are the challenges, or what are the speed bumps that you see when people put this together, and they have this walking deck, they have this project management systems and processes in place, and the team they’re working with or the executive they’re working with, doesn’t really want to abide by it or really seems disinterested.
00:23:11.848 –> 00:23:12.648
JEREMY: Does that make sense?
00:23:12.648 –> 00:23:13.508
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:23:13.508 –> 00:23:21.308
MAGGIE: You know, I think the hardest thing to do sometimes is to track down your leader and to have them commit to that working session with you.
00:23:22.388 –> 00:23:25.228
MAGGIE: And gosh, there’s a lot of ways we go about that.
00:23:26.408 –> 00:23:35.448
MAGGIE: But I think consistency is very important, showing what a final product could look like, reminding the leader that their team needs direction and clear direction.
00:23:35.448 –> 00:23:44.968
MAGGIE: And this is something that’s going to really help from a kind of wide team scope to collaboratively understand the priorities of the team.
00:23:45.248 –> 00:23:51.788
MAGGIE: It is definitely tough to get the leader to hold that time on the calendar for you.
00:23:51.788 –> 00:24:06.068
MAGGIE: But I think that with anything, the more consistent we are with these sessions and the more consistent we are with vocalizing to our leader, the why and the what and the how of the importance of things like this, that’s really the best we can do.
00:24:06.068 –> 00:24:10.328
MAGGIE: And after that, we cannot control other people.
00:24:10.328 –> 00:24:13.608
MAGGIE: And I try to share that with people because it can be a little freeing.
00:24:13.608 –> 00:24:14.908
MAGGIE: We can do everything we can.
00:24:14.908 –> 00:24:16.428
MAGGIE: We can have great systems processes.
00:24:16.428 –> 00:24:17.208
MAGGIE: We can be flexible.
00:24:17.208 –> 00:24:18.068
MAGGIE: We can test and learn.
00:24:18.068 –> 00:24:20.168
MAGGIE: We can throw this one out and this one in.
00:24:20.168 –> 00:24:32.168
MAGGIE: If your leader is not in a place where they want to or have the ability to sit down and have a conversation with you or adopt a new tool or process, there’s sometimes there’s nothing else you can do.
00:24:32.168 –> 00:24:36.628
MAGGIE: And so it’s time to move on to the next strategy or the next tactic to try to hurt all the sheep.
00:24:37.288 –> 00:24:39.208
JEREMY: Yeah, makes sense.
00:24:39.208 –> 00:24:41.208
MAGGIE: Yeah.
00:24:41.208 –> 00:24:42.548
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:24:42.548 –> 00:24:42.808
JEREMY: Cool.
00:24:42.808 –> 00:24:50.268
JEREMY: Well, any other project management tips or is that all for this episode?
00:24:50.268 –> 00:24:58.208
MAGGIE: You know, the last thing I was going to mention is just for these specific forums where you’re, okay, I’m going to, I want to do this brainstorming session with my leader.
00:24:58.208 –> 00:24:59.508
MAGGIE: I think this would be really effective.
00:24:59.788 –> 00:25:10.888
MAGGIE: If that’s you listening, the steps that I would suggest taking to make that happen is, one, set up the meeting, two, record the conversation, three, also take great notes.
00:25:10.888 –> 00:25:15.808
MAGGIE: And in those notes, maybe it’s like the time of the recording so that you can jump back there.
00:25:15.808 –> 00:25:20.548
MAGGIE: Obviously, like ask good questions, be prepared with that project management template.
00:25:20.548 –> 00:25:28.128
MAGGIE: And as I usually mention, please email us at hello at novachiefofstaff.com to get a version of our PM template.
00:25:28.128 –> 00:25:32.448
MAGGIE: We are more than happy to share that with you totally for free.
00:25:32.448 –> 00:25:34.268
MAGGIE: And then you basically start to get organized.
00:25:34.268 –> 00:25:36.408
MAGGIE: You figure out what you can own from this list.
00:25:36.408 –> 00:25:41.588
MAGGIE: You figure out a process to keep it going and process will help with that executive commitment.
00:25:41.588 –> 00:25:50.188
MAGGIE: You help the leader’s team stay focused and then you review this document consistently and you’re really, really flexible with changes.
00:25:50.188 –> 00:25:51.448
MAGGIE: So good luck.
00:25:51.968 –> 00:26:04.468
MAGGIE: This is not a small undertaking, but hopefully you have picked up a few things that can help in your journey to becoming or continuing being an executive, an executive, excellent executive project manager.
00:26:04.468 –> 00:26:05.828
MAGGIE: There we go.
00:26:05.828 –> 00:26:07.248
JEREMY: Love it.
00:26:07.248 –> 00:26:07.548
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:26:07.548 –> 00:26:08.808
JEREMY: Well, thanks again, Maggie.
00:26:08.808 –> 00:26:12.468
JEREMY: Great tips and practical tricks and tactics.
00:26:13.508 –> 00:26:25.248
JEREMY: We’ll put those links in the show notes at leaderassistant.com/283 so people can reach out and yeah, request that template and learn more about Nova Chief of Staff.
00:26:25.248 –> 00:26:27.588
JEREMY: So thanks again and we’re excited.
00:26:27.588 –> 00:26:34.128
JEREMY: We’ve got a few more episodes in The Hopper to talk about some more exciting topics in the future.
00:26:34.128 –> 00:26:34.788
MAGGIE: Awesome.
00:26:34.788 –> 00:26:35.408
MAGGIE: Thanks, Jeremy.
00:26:46.059 –> 00:26:48.719
<v SPEAKER_2>Please review on Apple Podcasts.
00:26:55.175 –> 00:26:56.855
JEREMY: goburrows.com.
