How to Get the Best Out of Your Executive Assistant (Without Burning Them Out)

Most leaders know their Executive Assistant is essential.

But not all leaders fully understand how to use that partnership well.

When your EA is empowered, aligned, and trusted, everything around you runs more smoothly: your schedule, your decisions, your energy, and yes, your results. When they aren’t, they end up stuck in admin churn instead of supporting your bigger goals.

Here are a few things I’ve seen make the biggest difference:

Share the “why,” not just the task.
Context changes how decisions get made. If your EA understands the mission behind your priorities, they’ll protect the right ones instinctively.

Loop them in earlier.
We prevent more problems when we see things at the planning stage instead of after they’re already messy.

Let them design systems.
Great EAs aren’t just “doers.” We see inefficiencies others miss. Give space for system improvements and watch bottlenecks disappear.

Be honest about bandwidth.
When you’re overloaded, say so. We can only protect capacity if we know where it’s at.

Treat confidentiality like a sacred agreement.
That trust is what allows us to support you at a deeper, more strategic level.

An EA isn’t just another role on the org chart. Done right, they become your thinking partner, stress reducer, logistics strategist, and protector of focus.

And when both sides invest in that relationship, the ripple effect reaches the entire organization.