Here’s a great, simple trick a friend shared with me for sharing the joys of admin stuff at work.
As you likely know all too well, women often get saddled with more than their fair share of the admin work at work. Things like taking notes, scheduling meetings, planning events, etc.
My friend shared that, similarly, in business school, she noticed women often getting appointed main-schedulers to find time to help with the multitude of group meetings that business school apparently entails. Scheduling groups took a surprising amount of time – time she could have spent on substantive work.
So, she made it a habit to say during a group’s first meeting, “Let’s trade off. I’ll schedule our first meeting. Tom [i.e., any guy there], you good taking the next one?”
This approach strikes a great, realistic balance of being a team player – and also making sure men do the same amount of work as women at the office.
Think about situations you could do something similar.
“Sure, I’m happy to take notes today. Let’s trade off from here on out – Chris, you got the next one?”
“Ah, thanks. I actually scheduled the last lunch meeting and am a bit tied up drafting the presentation for Client A. Jay – can you schedule this one?”
Show you’re a team player, remind people of the substantive work you’re doing if necessary, and appoint a guy to help spread the joy of this type of work!
Have any other good tips for dealing with the types of request that land on your plate because you’re a woman? If so, share below!
We often go over a lot of tips like this in my six week time management program where women share tips they’ve found to work. It’s an absolute blast, and my next program kicks off in just over a week if you want to hop in and join us.
