Although many people assume that Executive Assistants are right under their bosses in an organizational chart, this isn’t always true. 

We like to think of the EA as the umbrella that covers the core team. Why? Because  the EA protects the time and focus of every other team member. 

The EA serves in a way that makes the lives and positions of the core team members sync up, in a momentum-building kind of way. 

When your core team is stable, you can create the systems and processes you need to scale. 

Here is how we imagine the ideal org chart.

There are five members of the ideal core team: 

The Visionary CEO. That’s you. You’re the one who makes up the ideas most of the time. You’re the dreamer. Your heart is on fire for that thing you do. 

To quote Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” 

You found out. And you have the vision as a mission to charge ahead. 

The Operations Director is next. They take your crazy idea and give it legs. They make it real for you. As the Visionary CEO, you have the idea of what you want your new creation to be. You have parameters for how you want it to work. The Ops Director helps you figure out how to make that vision come alive.

The Process Coordinator makes the new thing you just created happen. They’re the ones who document it. They create the systems around it. They’re the ones who keep it operationally functioning. 

The Success Catalyst makes whatever “it” is better. What is “it”? EVERYTHING! A Success Catalyst makes your product better because they’re the ones who are on the front lines in your Facebook group or in your email ticketing system.

They are helping the customers when they’re lost, confused, frustrated, and don’t know what next step they need to take. They often are the ones that give valuable insight to everyone else on the team.

**Notice** that it is NOT you, the business owner, over ALL of these roles.

It is the Executive Assistant serving as an extension of you and collaborating with the team on your behalf.

EA is the most important role because it makes the flow between you and your team happen with ease. They serve the other roles in many cases, again, as an extension of you. 

In the early days when you served as a Team of One, you were the one who served in all core team member roles. 

When you have the right EA in place, they could also serve as a success catalyst (as the organizational chart indicates) for a season. 

They can also help you with operations — for a season. Maybe they even take over operations at some point.  This growth track is not uncommon for a highly-qualified, outcome-driven EA.

Your EA can also serve as a process coordinator — for a season. This gives you room in your schedule to do work that is the best use of your time. 

The EAs role is NOT intended to replace all other roles so you can just be the visionary. 

Even with an EA, you should seek to build a team. This core team will create stability in your business. 

After all, a table with one leg is like a pogo stick. You always need to be in motion to keep it from falling over!

When the table has four legs standing strong to hold up the top, you create stability. This is what your core team will do with and for you.

If you’re at the top of your org chart and hating it, apply for a FREE strategy call with a member of our team today.

P.S. If you know it’s almost time for an Executive Assistant and want to be prepared, jump over to the podcast Diary of A Doer,Episode 024: Why You’re Not Ready to Hire (And What to Do About It).