Maximize Your Efficiency: Leveraging AI and Automation as an Executive Assistant

A few years ago, if you’re anything like us, artificial intelligence (AI) probably felt like a futuristic concept to you—something visible on the horizon, but not yet a part of your daily life. Fast forward to now and tools like ChatGPT have brought AI into the hands of the masses. ChatGPT alone boasts as many as 180 million users, signifying that AI is no longer just something people are aware of, but something they actively use. 

What’s less clear, however, is how people feel about this technology. An increase in use has not altogether chased away people’s fears about AI—and it’s no different for Executive Assistants (EAs). With the rise of this technology, you’ve probably asked yourself questions such as, “Will AI replace Executive Assistants?” or “What’s the future for Executive Assistants? How do we work alongside AI?” But more and more, EAs are coming to understand that when used effectively, AI can be hugely beneficial to your day-to-day working life. 

How Can AI Make Your Life Easier as an EA? 

AI is a particularly useful concept for anyone whose role involves a lot of manual organization. So it’s no wonder that the role of the EA is one that’s undergoing a lot of positive transformation through AI. As an EA, you’ll be able to vouch for the fact that an immense amount of your time is taken up by planning and organizing. Tasks like managing schedules, booking flights, organizing accommodations, and planning meetings are not only very time-consuming, but they’re also at the mercy of human error. When your to-do list is already a mile long, a cancelled flight or meeting room mix-up can equal a ruined day. Handing over this kind of organizational responsibility to automation can be a big weight off your shoulders.  

What Are the Best AI Tools for Executive Assistants? 

By now you might be wondering “How can I use AI as an Executive Assistant”? Well, the good news is that AI tools for EAs are being rolled out all the time. A great example is when organizing in-person meetings for a dispersed workforce. The need to get people from different locations in one room can be frustratingly difficult to manage. Not only do you have to find a space that works for everyone, but you also have to organize individual journeys using multiple airports, car services and hotels, and that’s only after you’ve found a date and time that works for each attendee. Because of this, a single meeting can easily turn into hours of work for you, in fact, TROOP recently reported that planning these types of meetings can take up 25% of an admin professional’s workweek, according to our State of In-Person Meeting Planning report. This is time that could be better spent elsewhere. 

Tools like TROOP, for example, use AI to cut down on hours of research time when planning a meeting. Meeting planners don’t have to manually research meeting destinations or flight and accommodation options individually. It’s all laid out within one platform—so you can finally close those forty-six separate tabs!                             

Similarly, with so many strings to the EA bow, task management and prioritization can sometimes feel like a whole job in itself. With frequent requests coming from multiple stakeholders (often all with a deadline of “right now!” and a priority level of “high!”) having an automated process for managing expectations, prioritizing tasks and overseeing actions can be a life-saver. AI-assisted platforms like Trello help you to automate meeting confirmations, check off to-do list tasks, and generate reminders. 

Then of course there’s ChatGPT, which can write your meeting agendas, summarize information for you, and even help to decide on the best time for a virtual meeting depending on everyone’s time zones. These kinds of tools essentially take care of necessary but tedious administrative work, thereby freeing up more time for tasks that can’t rely solely on AI. 

How Can AI Help You to Improve Your EA Skills and Qualifications?

AI’s biggest selling point: it allows you to focus on the things that are most important—things that require a human touch. The role of an EA is not to be a human calendar or schedule reminder; it’s to be someone with excellent interpersonal skills, someone who can make smart decisions under pressure, and someone with deep emotional intelligence. When freed from hours of tedious admin work, you’re able to work on the skills that make you truly exceptional—and employable. Skills like cultural awareness, public speaking and tech literacy are all things that EAs can - and should - be adding to their roster, but you can only do this if you have the bandwidth. In this way, you shouldn’t fear the rise of automation and AI, but see it as a means to expand your own knowledge. Not just of the technology itself, but of anything that makes your job more efficient.  

Learn More at the EA How To Webinar

Want to learn more about specific automation and AI tools that can make your job easier and make you more efficient? 

Join our webinar with EA How To: The AI Tools I Use Every Week on Wednesday, July 31st at 1 pm EDT/10 am PDT. In this free webinar, hosted by EA How To Founder, Alicia Fairclough, we'll explore some of the best AI tools for streamlining EA processes.