Difference between an Assistant and a Project manager
Both executive assistants and project managers lead vital roles and have one purpose- to bring about the absolute best of their executives, they both possess amazing skills and qualities that, if and appropriately administered, are capable of bringing out the best in any organization or executive.
An Executive Assistant is a professional responsible for managing the schedules and communications of key executives in their company. Executive Assistants to perform a variety of administrative tasks, provide additional proactivity and tactical expertise to their role and support company’s senior-level managers.
Executive Assistant’s responsibilities include managing calendars, making travel arrangements and preparing expense reports. EAs are well-organized, have great time management skills and are able to act without guidance. An executive assistant coordinates and provides high-quality administrative support to the executive team. An executive assistant's role may also include analyzing documents, taking notes at meetings and any other administrative tasks that help the executive perform their job, preparing research reports, and occasionally supervising staff members. As such, executive assistants function as an integral and indispensable part of an office and can be found in any industry – government, education, retail, hospitality, recreation, and more.
Many executive assistants begin their career path as an administrative assistant, eventually being promoted into an executive assistant role. The best executive assistants are outgoing, have an eye for detail, and work well with a wide variety of personalities.
What makes a good Executive Assistant?
A great Executive Assistant is resourceful, innovative, and proactive to support their executive leaders. They think independently to make decisions under pressure, and have good communication skills to share information with their supervisor efficiently and effectively.
Responsibilities of an Executive’s Assistant
- Schedule appointments, maintain and update Executives' daily calendar.
- Coordinate travel arrangements, prepare itineraries, plan logistics, prepare and submit expense reports.
- Manage calls, inquiries, guests, and correspondence, and route accordingly.
- Uphold confidentiality.
- Manage complex office administrative work requiring the use of independent judgment and initiative.
The role of an executive assistant is crucial to the success of the executive and any company.
Project managers are organized, goal-oriented professionals who use passion, creativity, and collaboration to design projects that are destined for success. A project can begin and certainly is designed to fail, if there first wasn’t a plan to see it through, on time and within budget. The project manager’s first role is to make a feasible plan that achieves the goals and objectives of the project and aligns it with the organization’s overall business strategy. This involves creating a project schedule, securing the resources and defining the project goals, among other things.
According to APM
Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and the execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined finish; regardless of industry. Project managers are the first point of contact for any issues or discrepancies arising from within the heads of various departments in an organization before the problem escalates to higher authorities, as project representatives.
Project fruition is the responsibility of a project manager. This individual seldom participates directly in the activities that produce the result, but rather strives to maintain the progress, mutual interaction and tasks of various parties in such a way that reduces the risk of overall failure, maximizes benefits, and minimizes costs.
Responsibility of a PM
The project manager is accountable for ensuring that everyone on the team knows and executes his or her role, feels empowered and supported in the role, knows the roles of the other team members and acts upon the belief that those roles will be performed. The specific responsibilities of the project manager may vary depending on the industry, the company size, the company maturity, and the organizational culture. However, there are some responsibilities that are common to all project managers:
- Developing the project plan.
- Project stakeholders engagements
- Managing Communication among teams and stakeholders
- Assembling and Leading project team
- Assessing and Managing project risks
- Monitoring progress/ Managing the project schedule
- Assigning and Managing the projects budget
- Managing the project conflicts
- Managing the project delivery
- Reporting/ documentation
These tasks typically include:
- Planning what task needs to be done, when and who’s going to do it;
- Assessing risks involved in a particular project and managing these risks, before and when they arise
- Ensuring that making task are done according to the right standard;
- Motivating and leading the team of people involved in the project;
- Coordinating tasks to be done by different teams;
- Making sure that the project is running according to time and budget;
- Dealing with changes to the project as at when necessary;
- Making sure the project delivers its expected outcomes and benefits;
There are a whole range of skills you need to be a successful project manager, and they’re not necessarily all technical. They may be skills you already use in your day to day life as well as being job-specific abilities developed through education and training.
These soft skills and hard skills, which can range from leadership, being able to motivate and encourage others, have good communication and decision making abilities, to managing risk, budgeting and project planning.
Project management skills are transferable from one industry to another. The tools and techniques of project management are universal and a good project manager should be able to add value in any environment.
Soft Skills
- Leadership skills
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Team mentality
- Organizational skills
Hard Skills
- Time management
- Team management
- Risk management
- Stakeholder Management
- Industry-related technical skills
- Knowledge of project management software
- Project management certifications
Difference between an assistant and a project manager.
Project management is the future for administrative professionals. By definition, project management is “a process by which a leader and team plan for, implement, monitor, and evaluate a series of activities designed to produce a stated objective.” The striking differentiation between an executive assistant and a project manager is that the executive assistant is a support, an assistant while the project manager is a leader. The project manager gives structure to a project by applying a specific set of tools and principles.
So when deciding on who to manage your business or task, you have been informed enough to make quality decisions.
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