Passion.
I’ve been asked “What makes a good admin?” on several occasions. There are a lot of trite, pointless, and pre-packaged answers to the question: attention to detail, computer skills, ability to refill a candy dish, etc. I call bullshit on all of that. Really and truly, to be a good admin–hell, a good anything–all you need to do is care.
Don’t show up and do the minimum. Don’t skirt your way through your day hoping no one is watching you slack off. Don’t ignore the things that are too difficult or that you don’t quite have the skillset for.
If you don’t know how to do something, start learning or ask for help (or both). Have a task you don’t like? Suck it up, jackass, so does everyone else. Run out of things to do? Take the initiative to find something productive to do or say something to your team or your boss.
There are a set of really basic skills you need for any job. Key among them are the ability to communicate in some appropriate fashion with other humans and enough self-awareness to comprehend when something you’ve said, done, or worn is ragingly outside of local custom (and the spine to apologize for it or correct your wrongs).
Gotta say, though, that I’d happily work with a haXXor that nly txts who’s very passionate about his job or a chick in a porn star outfit that cares enough to learn how to do her job over a well-spoken, well-dressed person who floats through their day with their head up their ass anyday.
Okay, maybe I’d like the porn star outfit for other reasons. But I digress.
Good admins care about their jobs and the people they support. They learn what they need to know, and ask for help with the things they can’t handle. C’mon – the entire role of an admin is to support people. It’s not a self-serving position by any means. Support your boys and girls, or get your ass out of the chair and let someone who gives a shit take over.
No, I’m not bitter today. Why do you ask?
| posted September 25th, 2008 | tagged as admin |
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