5 Steps to Building Trust

When working with an administrative assistant, trust is an important factor for an efficient relationship—on both ends. Here are 5 steps to building this sense of trust, based on content written by Robert W. Bly:

1. Start from a position of trust. You hired this individual for a reason.

2. Be consistent. Do not say one thing and then do another. People have difficulty trusting individuals who are constantly changing their minds or are not following through.

3. Listen with an open mind and respect others’ opinions. Do not think of your administrative assistant as an assistant but rather as another voice. He or she will also have opinions, and the difference in perspective could be significant.

4. Admit your mistakes. If you blame others for your mistakes, you will have a hard time gaining their trust and assistance in the future.

5. Give credit where credit is due. Recognize your administrative assistant’s role in the workplace. There are a lot of tasks that would remain incomplete without him or her.

Thank you to Robert W. Bly for his contribution to this article.