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Let's Be Honest About Where Things Stand
The admin profession is one of the most important roles in any organisation, and one of the most under-invested in when it comes to professional development. Most companies will happily spend thousands on leadership programmes for their managers while their EA, the person who actually keeps the operation running, gets a LinkedIn Learning subscription and a pat on the back.
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That's not good enough. And if you're reading this, you probably already know that.
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The good news: the landscape is shifting. Chiefs of Staff are becoming a recognised leadership role. Executive Assistants are being invited into strategic conversations. Office Managers are being seen as operational leaders, not just the person who orders stationery. But to take advantage of this shift, you need to be intentional about your career development.
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This guide is designed to help you do exactly that, whether you want to deepen your expertise in your current role, transition into a Chief of Staff position, or chart an entirely new path.
Where are you now?
Before you can plan where you're going, you need an honest picture of where you are now. That means assessing your skills, identifying your strengths, understanding your gaps, and getting clear on what you actually want (not just what everyone else expects).
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We've built two free tools to help you do this:
The Connected Leader Assessment
Rate yourself across the leadership competencies that matter most for admin professionals, communication, stakeholder management, strategic thinking, operational excellence, and more. At the end, you get a personalised growth roadmap showing exactly where to focus your energy. It takes 10 minutes and it's completely free.
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Discover Your Core Values
Your values are the compass for your career. When you know what drives you, every decision, from whether to take that promotion to whether to leave a toxic workplace, gets clearer. This interactive exercise walks you through identifying your five core values and defining what they mean for your working life.
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​Three Paths Forward for Admin Professionals
There's no single "right" career path for EAs and Office Managers, but most career growth falls into one of three directions:
Path 1:
Become Irreplaceable in Your Current Role
Not every career move has to be a title change. Some of the most successful and fulfilled admin professionals are the ones who've made themselves truly indispensable — the person the CEO can't function without, the one who gets pulled into strategic conversations because their insight is that valuable.
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This path is about depth: mastering stakeholder management, building executive presence, developing strategic thinking skills, and becoming someone who shapes decisions rather than just executing them.
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Resources for this path:
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→ Take the Irreplaceable Audit
Path 2:
Transition to Chief of Staff
The Chief of Staff role is the natural evolution for many experienced Executive Assistants. It formalises the strategic work you're probably already doing, project coordination, stakeholder alignment, operational leadership, and gives it a title, a seat at the table, and a mandate.
But the transition isn't automatic. It requires deliberate skill-building in areas like project management, data-driven decision-making, cross-functional leadership, and organisational design. It also requires making yourself visible in the right ways and advocating for the role within your organisation.
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Resources for this path:
→ Read: How to Transition from EA to Chief of Staff
Path 3:
Pivot Into Something New
Some admin professionals reach a point where they want to move into an entirely different function, operations, project management, HR, events, or something else entirely. The skills you've built as an EA are incredibly transferable, but making the jump requires positioning yourself correctly and filling any gaps.
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Resources for this path:
The Skills That Actually Move Your Career Forward
Generic "office skills" training won't get you where you want to go. The skills that differentiate top-performing admin professionals, the ones who get promoted, who get invited into strategy meetings, who build careers they're proud of, are leadership skills applied through an admin lens.
Skills Framework:
Strategic Thinking
Seeing the bigger picture, anticipating needs, connecting dots across the organisation
Stakeholder Management
Managing up, building trust with multiple leaders, navigating politics without getting political
Communication & Influence
Presenting ideas clearly, pushing back with confidence, writing with precision
Operational Excellence
Systems thinking, process improvement, project coordination at scale
Leadership & Self-Management
Setting boundaries, managing energy, building executive presence, developing others
Career Ownership
Advocating for yourself, building your professional brand, creating a development plan
How to Actually Do Something About It
Reading about career development is easy. Doing something about it is harder. Here are the most practical ways to invest in your growth:
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Free options:
Take the Connected Leader Assessment to get your personalised roadmap. Read our blog for practical advice on managing up, setting boundaries, and building your career. Watch our YouTube channel for short, actionable videos. Listen to the podcast for longer-form conversations and insights.
Paid options:
Enrol in an online course for structured, self-paced learning on a specific skill area. Join the Clarity Sprint for intensive career coaching. Book 1:1 mentoring with Meg for personalised guidance on your specific situation. Join The Inner Circle community for ongoing learning, early access to new resources, and connection with other admin professionals.
Talk to your employer:
Many organisations will fund CPD training for their admin team, they just need to be asked. Our courses are CPD accredited, which makes it easier to build the business case. If you need help making the case to your manager, we can help with that too.
​Ready to Invest in Yourself?
Your Career Isn't Going to Grow Itself
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The admin professionals who build fulfilling, well-paid, respected careers are the ones who take ownership of their development. Not the ones who wait to be noticed. Not the ones who hope someone will send them on a course. The ones who decide they deserve better, and then do something about it.
Start with the free Connected Leader Assessment. Ten minutes. A clear picture of where you are. A roadmap for where to go next.