I have a highly capable personal assistant who handles my schedule, but she also jumps into customer disputes, coordinates with our IT vendor, and follows up on leadership team deliverables. She does not fit into any standard department on our Accountability Chart, and her cross-functional authority is confusing the team. Where does this seat sit, and how do we define it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A personal assistant who acts as an undocumented chief of staff is a major red flag for your organizational structure. While her high utility feels helpful to you, her undefined authority creates massive confusion, bypasses your department heads, and ultimately undermines your Integrator.

You must define her seat clearly on the Accountability Chart. Typically, an executive assistant or personal assistant seat sits directly under the Visionary or the Integrator, depending on who she primarily supports.

Her five roles must be strictly defined and bounded. If her roles are managing your schedule, travel, and personal administration, she should not be handling customer disputes or managing IT vendors. Those tasks belong under your Customer Service and IT or Operations seats.

When she jumps into other departments, she is acting as your proxy, which dilutes the accountability of your leadership team. It makes your directors feel micromanaged and prevents them from owning their seats.

Review her daily activities during your next Thinking Time session. Strip away the roles that belong to other departments and place them where they actually belong on the chart. If she has excess capacity after this cleanup, you can expand her administrative support roles or utilize her talents to assist other members of the leadership team, but always within a clearly documented seat.