Role Guide: Executive and Admin Assistant
For Narqix specialists placed as an Executive Assistant (EA) or Admin Assistant. After reading you will know what you own, how your day runs, how you are measured, and the mistakes that cost EAs their accounts.
Track: Back Office & Admin · Role: Executive and Admin Assistant · Time to complete: 20 min
What this role is
An Executive Assistant protects a busy person's two most limited resources: their time and their attention. You handle what does not need them, you prepare what does, and you make sure nothing important is missed.
An Admin Assistant does the same work at a smaller scope: often several people, fewer judgment calls, more routine tasks. The craft is the same. The difference is how much you decide alone, which is always written in the client's Client Workflow Record.
What you own
| Area | What "owning it" means |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Swept on schedule, every email given one outcome, a daily digest sent |
| Calendar | No conflicts, buffers kept, every invite complete, confirmations sent, evening brief sent |
| Meeting prep | Agenda, attendee background, documents linked before the meeting |
| Travel | Options researched, held, booked only after approval, itinerary in one place |
| Vendors and suppliers | Quotes gathered, follow ups chased, renewals tracked |
| Follow ups | Nothing the client promised to others is forgotten |
| Light admin | Filing, simple research, data entry, document prep |
Your daily rhythm
Your exact hours follow your scheduled shift. The rhythm below assumes a 9-hour shift that overlaps the client's morning. Adjust the clock times, keep the order.
| Shift time | What you do |
|---|---|
| First 15 minutes | Check in by your campaign's check-in method. Read overnight messages. Post your start of day report. |
| Next 45 minutes | First inbox sweep. Calendar check for the next 48 hours. Fix conflicts before the client wakes up. |
| Hours 1 to 4 | Deep work on today's top priorities (prep packs, travel, vendor work). |
| Mid shift | Second inbox sweep. Logged break. |
| Hours 5 to 7 | Second work block: follow ups, data entry, filing, research. |
| Last 90 minutes | Final sweep. Tomorrow's calendar checked. Confirmations sent. Evening brief sent. |
| Last 30 minutes | Self-check of the day's work. End of day report. Check out. |
Coach's note: the best EAs start their shift before the client's day starts, so the first thing the client sees is a clean inbox and a clear plan. If your shift allows it, treat your first hour as "prepare the client's morning".
How you are measured
| KPI | Target |
|---|---|
| Tasks completed on time | 95% or more |
| Unprocessed emails after each sweep | 10 or fewer |
| Client messages acknowledged within the Communication Standard window | 95% or more |
| Calendar errors (double booking, wrong zone, missing link) | Zero |
| External meetings confirmed about 24 hours ahead | 100% |
| End of day report submitted | Every shift |
| Work sent back for rework | Under 5% |
| QA score on sampled tasks | 90% or more |
Tools (generic)
Email inbox with delegated access, calendar, shared drive, password manager, task tracker, team channel, video meeting tool, travel booking sites the client approves, e-signature tool, and your campaign's time tracker.
Handoffs
- You receive work from: the client (messages, voice notes, recorded walkthroughs), the client's team, and your Narqix lead.
- You pass work to: the client (decisions and drafts in the digest), the client's team members (forwarded items), vendors and outside contacts (scheduling, quotes), and your Narqix lead (escalations and out-of-scope requests).
Your authority
Every client sets limits in their Client Workflow Record. If the record is silent, use these defaults:
| You may do without asking | You must ask first |
|---|---|
| Accept or move internal meetings within the client's rules | Accept, move or decline anything with a VIP |
| Send scheduling, confirmation and receipt emails in your own name | Send anything in the client's name or voice |
| Book holds for proposed times | Book anything that costs money |
| File, label, archive | Delete anything |
| Unsubscribe from obvious promotions (if approved once) | Reply to legal, HR, investor, press or complaint emails |
Quality standards
- One outcome per item. Every email, task and request leaves your hands handled, assigned, waiting or parked on purpose.
- Recommend, do not just ask. Every question to the client includes your suggested answer so they can reply "yes".
- Time zones always named. "2:00 PM ET", never "2 PM".
- Read back risky actions. Money, deletion, mass sending, anything legal: confirm in writing first.
- Run the self-check before "done": Does it match the request exactly? Are names, numbers and dates checked against the source? Is it saved in the right place, with the right name and permissions? Did I update the tracker and the report? Would I be comfortable if the client's own customer saw it?
Escalation rules
Use the Escalation Ladder in Narqix Standards. For EAs the common cases are:
- Tell the client now: a VIP email that needs a same-day answer, a meeting that will be missed, a payment request that looks suspicious, a travel disruption.
- Tell your Narqix lead now: anything that may be a security incident (a phishing click, a wrong-recipient email, an unexpected login code), or any request outside the agreed scope.
- Put in the digest: everything that needs a decision but not today.
Never do this: never change a vendor's bank details, pay an invoice or buy a gift card because an email asked you to, even if it looks like it came from the client. Verify by a separate channel you already know (the client's team channel or a known phone number). Payment requests by email are the number one fraud attack on assistants.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the inbox as a to-do list | Important items get buried | Move actions into the task tracker; the inbox is a holding area |
| Asking open questions ("What should I do?") | The client has to think for you | Give two options and your recommendation |
| Booking in your own time zone by mistake | Missed meeting, embarrassed client | Set the calendar display to the client's zone; name the zone in every invite |
| Silent waiting | Client thinks nothing is happening | Acknowledge with an ETA, update before the ETA |
| Over-helping in the client's voice | Client is surprised by what "they" said | Draft, do not send, until that email type is approved |
| Forgetting promises the client made | Relationships suffer | Capture every "I'll send that over" from meetings into follow up tasks |
Check yourself
- Your client's VIP asks to move tomorrow's meeting. The client is asleep. What do you do?
- An email "from the client" asks you to pay a new supplier today using new bank details. What are your next three steps?
- What five questions make up the self-check before you mark anything done?
- Why should every question to the client include a recommendation?
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