Fight it, wrestle with it, deny it if you will; there are very few certainties in life but one of which is change. Change can be exciting, but for many it is frightening. Another basic certainty in life is that we have an instinctual impulse to remain safe. Change sometimes feels unsafe.
We are living in a fast-moving world of change, moving between instincts. New technology promotes change and when that technology threatens, or even suggests a threat to our livelihood, it is fairly natural to withdraw, deny and fight it.
Technology has been attempting to make the life of the assistant to the business person easier since Italian, Pellegrino Turri, invented carbon paper in 1801. Sometime later, the advent of word processing and the decline of typewriting meant that any number of copies could be produced on demand. So the exciting innovation of carbon paper was dead. Leap forward a few years and we have Laptops, iPads and Smartphones promising voice recognition assistance so that the days of a personal assistant may be thought to be numbered.
If we simply see our role in the future as providing the sort of services that we are traditionally known for, then we are in denial about the inevitability of change. In which case, we should indeed be anxious. If we see technology as too complicated and daunting, then our very future is threatened.
However, our Admin Support Team does not think of technology in that way. We are excited about technology that allows us to communicate in real-time, anywhere in the world; technology that allows us to research and access limitless realms of information. Thanks to LinkedIn and other social media channels, we can have a much better understanding of the backgrounds of others that can then allow us to fathom how synergistic relationships may be formed.
Never has there been so much information available at the light touch of a keyboard or from a voice command. We should take responsibility for improving our own skills, take the time to embrace and master the technology as it surfaces, enabling us to make a real difference in our industries.
When you can add a higher level of value the future looks both promising, exciting and profitable.
