Ok, it’s confession time. Have you ever worked with someone (or maybe you work with them now) that drives you up the wall?

‘We don’t see eye to eye’

‘I just don’t understand them and they clearly don’t understand me’

‘This isn’t going to work’.

Any of that sound familiar? I’m imagining your head nodding..

Partnerships in business can be tricky. Whether that is the partnership between co-founders, executive management, or external parties. There is one partnership in particular that I want to touch on though, and that is the partnership between an executive and an executive assistant.

This is one of the most critical partnerships in business. If you’re an EA, you completely understand the importance of this. If you’re an executive, you know just how much weight this carries and how it contributes to your success as an executive and in business.

I’ve been coaching a lot of people around interesting dynamics in their partnership with their executive — many people are getting very frustrated with each other. They feel like they don’t see eye to eye. They feel like they’re not on the same page, and that they’re so different that ‘this’ just won’t work.

Here’s the thing; just because you’re different doesn’t mean that there’s a disconnect.

What it means is you need to better understand your differences. You need to understand, individually, your own motivations and values, and also theirs. What drives you? What bugs you? What are you exceptional at? What are your blind spots?

You’ll then be able to find synergies and look for points where there is potential for friction — which is the first step to forging an incredibly powerful partnership.

Want to learn more? Let’s chat!