NEWS
BR IEFING
Keep up to date with the latest news surrounding the role of the EA
EAs positioned to help CEOs’ top problem in
2020: digital transformation
A recent report by professional services
firm KPMG Australia has highlighted
that—for the third year running—digital
transformation is the top concern for
business leaders and CEOs.
According to the research, staying
ahead in the digital race has executives
restructuring their entire front, middle
and back-office systems. Meaning
EAs, with their unique understanding
of the whole organisation, are well-
positioned to advise their executives on
the best digital direction to take.
But according to the report,
organisations’ and their leaders’
attempts to tackle the latest tech are
failing. “Several generations of CIOs
have launched ambitious simplification
and digitisation agendas, yet the hard
reality is most of these transformation
initiatives have failed to deliver the
benefits,” the report reads.
“So, when a leader says: ‘I want to
transform my whole organisation into
something that’s future fit,’ it requires
complete organisational unification on
the mission. Such a job requires buy-in
from all levels of leadership, and
willing cooperation within and across
divisions.”
EAs’ presence at every level of
a business means they can feed
relevant information directly back
to their executive or leadership team
by advising on what strategies are
working, which aren’t and what
different departments need.
Another major hurdle preventing
digitisation efforts is a disconnection
with people, says the report. “Too
many transformation initiatives in
recent years have tended to forget
about staff.”
This presents yet another opportunity
for EAs. As ambassadors for their
executives and often speaking on their
behalf to the different layers of the
business, EAs can help get the entire
team on board by listening to their
concerns and helping connect staff with
the leadership’s ‘big picture’ goals. S
Soft skills will future proof the EA role
Artificial intelligence (AI), smart
scheduling software and digital
assistants are starting to see signs
of taking over the technical parts of
the EA role. In an effort to adapt and
future proof the EA role, soft skills are
becoming increasingly important.
A recent article by international
recruitment experts, Hays, spoke
10 Chief of Staff | Issue 1 2020
to over 500 EAs to uncover what
it takes to be an EA in today’s
disrupted environment. 72 percent
of respondents said soft skills like
organisation and time management
were essential to success, rather than
the technical competencies being
encroached on by new tech.
A recent Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development
(OECD) report predicts that 30 percent
of most jobs will radically change due
to technology and disruption in the
next 20 years. The findings highlight
a need for EAs to hone-in on the
functions that only people can provide
to remain relevant and attractive to
employers in the coming decade. S