Administrative Skills and Competencies: Yes

or No
 Administrative skills can help you to be well
organized, be a strong communicator and enhance
your customer service skills. While administrative
skills are certainly important in administrative roles
such as office managers and receptionists, they are
also helpful skills in nearly any job.
What are administrative skills?
Administrative skills are qualities that help you complete tasks related to managing a
business. This might involve responsibilities such as filing paperwork, meeting with
internal and external stakeholders, presenting important information, developing
processes, answering employee questions and more. There are many administrative
skills that help you perform these responsibilities in an efficient, quality way.
 Why are administrative skills
important?
 Administrative skills are important because they
keep business processes running smoothly. Any
successful, efficient organization should have both
administrative professionals who have strong
skills in this area, as well as individual
contributors who have good administrative skills.
 Examples of administrative skills
There are many soft and technical skills that contribute to a strong
set of administrative skills. While the technical skills required for
administrative tasks may vary from business to business (such as
proficiency with specific software or platforms), there are several
soft or “interpersonal” skills common among people with strong
administrative skills.
Here are a few examples of administrative skills:
 Organization Having an organized workspace, computer and
calendar can help you complete administrative tasks in a quality and
time-efficient manner. Administrative professionals might also be in
charge of organizing supply closets, filing systems, processes and
more.
 Communication is a crucial skill to have when
performing administrative tasks. You must be able to
communicate processes and information to others,
respond clearly to questions and requests and more.
You must also be able to use various types of
communication including verbal, nonverbal, written and
visual communication.
 Teamwork
Having strong teamwork skills can help you when
collaborating on administrative projects, developing a
new process, communicating and putting a new process
into place or delegating tasks. Being a good teammate
 includes practicing empathy, humility and being a good communicator.

 Customer service
In administration, it is common to answer questions for others or
perform certain tasks that others are unable to do themselves. These
responsibilities can be performed well with strong customer service
skills which include active listening, setting expectations and
communication.
 Responsibility
Tasks related to administration are often important to keeping a business
running efficiently. So, having the responsibility to complete tasks on
time and in a quality manner without much oversight is crucial
 TIME MANAGEMENT
 Because there are so many various responsibilities involved in
businesadministration, managing your time wisely is a key skill.
Maintaining your calendar, planning time to complete tasks and setting
proper timeline expectations are all parts of being a strong administrator.
How to improve administrative skills
 Improving your administrative skills can help you to have a stronger
work ethic by
completing tasks in a punctual and quality manner while working well
with others. Her are tips you might consider when working on your
administrative skills:
 
 Set personal career goals. Setting specific measurable goals to
increase some or all of the above administrative skills can help
you improve over time. It can help to meet with trusted friends,
colleagues or mentors to identify areas of improvement to
determine which skills you should prioritize.
 Get organized. Organization is an important part of being a good
administrator. Take time to make a clean, organized workspace
for yourself that can help you prioritize tasks, manage your time
well and respond quickly to others who need the information you
have.
 Mimic other strong administration skills. If you
have a colleague or manager that has strong
administrative skills that you find effective, try
adopting their practices in your own work. For
example, if you find that their style of note-taking
is especially helpful, you might also practice taking
notes in this way.
Prepared By:
ANNALYN H. ENDRINAL