Why Being Tech Savvy Matters

What does it mean to be “tech savvy” and why is technical expertise critical for admins today? Learn from an expert on this subject, Vickie Sokol Evans, and start sharpening those hard skills.

Recorded at APC 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.

Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." Keeping pace with the latest technology tools as an admin is essential to staying relevant and future-proof in a rapidly changing business climate. Vickie Sokol Evans, Founder of Red Cape, and a Microsoft trainer at APC and EA Ignite, sat down with Zynetta Canning-O'Neill at APC 2024 to talk about what it means to be tech savvy, and why it matters now more than ever. Zynetta speaks first.

00:00:43                     

Zynetta: Thank you so much for being here. We're going to dive right into some awesome questions that I've created for you. So what does it mean to be tech savvy in today's digital landscape?

Vickie: I love that question. First of all, one of the things that I see on job descriptions all the time is they're looking for a tech-savvy assistant, period. They don't explain what it means. And we've even had people – I know people that will go for a job. They get the job. They get fired because they don't have the tech skills, but it's not their fault because it didn't describe what "tech savvy" means.

00:01:23

So if you're an executive or someone in HR and you're a hiring manager and you're defining – you're saying, "We need a tech-savvy assistant," you have to explain what that means to you. So we have a tech-savvy assistant core skills and advanced skills document. I'm happy to include a link with the podcast. It's a way for assistants and for managers to both, together, identify what it means in that position to be tech savvy. Does it mean Google Workspace? Does it mean Microsoft skills? Does it mean knowing how to fix the printer? Do I have to be – if I'm the assistant and I have a Windows PC and then the executive's on a Mac, it's just assumed that the assistant is going to support the Mac executive, and so that just needs to be defined.

00:02:12

If you're asking me what it means, there are so many tech skills. Really, it's the manager and the assistant and the HR to define what is the expectation. 

Zynetta: And I love that because I've been in that position myself, where I've become IT all of a sudden, and I'm like, wait a minute? How do I fix this thing? Actually, we had our IT department offsite, so it was that much harder and took many more steps to try to solve the problem. That's what we do. We do solve problems as EAs and as administrative professionals.

00:02:47

But then you have the non-tech-savvy executives, and they are great at what they do, but with the simple things, like maybe Google Assistant or just speaking to Siri, sometimes that doesn't come as easy. So I think that's great that you have implemented an easy, one-stop shop, I should say, for EAs and admin professionals to understand what that means. So when they are looking for work and seeking job opportunities, they know what to say in that interview. 

Vickie: Right. It just reminded me. So if someone is going to be an assistant at an advertising agency, social media skills are going to be required. But if you're going to work for the government, or for a corporation, they don't want you on social media. So if someone knows social media really well, are they tech savvy? We don't know. We don't know what job they're going for.

00:03:40

There's so much tech out there; it's hard to keep up. So really, we just need to see: What is the priority? What do we need to focus on? I'm going to repeat this, I'm sure, a lot of times today in the interview. The goal is to get one percent better every single day in whatever technology you're required to use, or in your next role. 

Zynetta: Yeah, for sure. Bettering yourself any chance you can is the key to success. I love that. And I think also being vocal and using your voice in the interview to ask these questions: "What are you looking for when you say 'tech savvy,' sir?" Because if they're not explaining it up front, then you can't be honest and find out if it's a good fit for you, because you're interviewing them just as much as they're interviewing you.

Vickie: I got goosebumps. Here's the thing – and a lot of times companies don't provide training. They expect you to have the tech-savvy skills, full stop, but technology is not a full stop.

Zynetta: It doesn't stop.

Vickie: No, it doesn't stop.

Zynetta: It keeps growing.

Vickie: So, in the interview, what I would suggest and recommend is: "What is expected of me as far as core skills? What is the company rolling out? What's being upgraded?" AI, obviously, is a brand-new technology that's in our lives now. So I do recommend asking: "How do you keep your employees' skills up to date with regard to technology?" And if they don't have a path or a way to keep their skills up to date, then their skills are going to be stale. So I would definitely speak up about that.

00:05:14                     

Zynetta: I love that. So let's jump into this next question: How does tech savviness impact job prospects and career advancements?

Vickie: I think, along the same thing, is if you are – so here's the thing. It's easy to open up Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and Google Apps and start using them. But without any training at all, we're only using 10-30% of an application's capabilities. That's true for our phones, for the technology in our cars. I sold my SUV after the kids grew up. When I wrote out the description, I looked up what my car had. I found out that I had a heated steering wheel in my car. I had no idea. I was like, "Oh, that steamy pizza button is a heated steering wheel." [laughter] I had no idea.

00:06:05

So if you think about all the technology that you put in your hands, we're only using a small percentage. So the goal is to attend as many conferences like this as possible, to stay up to date on the technology that matters to you. That way, when you're up for promotion or an advancement, you are continually keeping your skills up to date. Speak up and volunteer to host a lunch and learn. You retain more when you teach other people. 

I've been teaching technology since the 1900s, specifically 1997. 

Zynetta: Don't worry. I was born in the 1900s. That's where we're from.

Vickie: And the only reason I got into training technology is because I wanted to master it myself. So if you truly want to master technology and be ready for the next career goal, teach other people. So even if you think like, "Oh, doesn't everyone know how to apply a category in Outlook or create a search filter in Outlook?" No, they don't. Host a lunch and learn. Get together with your team and say, "What do we each know? What tip can we share with each other?"

00:07:12                     

Zynetta: I love that. It kind of goes in with this next question: In what ways can being tech savvy enhance personal productivity? Now, obviously, the steering wheel – I love that story, because if only you knew. I mean, you're from Texas. You might not have needed it.

Vickie: It's like 50 degrees or 40 degrees or 30, whatever.

Zynetta: It's nice to know what you have available in your wheelhouse, literally.

Vickie: Right. Well, here's the thing. So today I taught Intermediate Outlook Tips, and I taught this button on the ribbon called – gosh, I can't remember. It's called "find time." So "scheduling poll" is what it's called in Outlook. So I'm showing this and it's been around for five years. And someone came up to me and said, "I had no idea this existed. I was using Excel and trying to map out who can meet. I can actually send out a poll and people can respond and it auto creates the meeting request?"

00:08:07

Same thing when I was working at Microsoft as a business analyst. There was a button on the ribbon called "tables" and I'm a business analyst working 12-hour days in Excel. Had I known there was a big button – and I'm certified in Excel. I'm an expert. Had I known about that big button, I would've saved at least three weeks of time, and I could've been home with my newborn son, Will. He's now 18. And I am an expert. 

When any of us trainers here at these conferences teach these tech tips, what it does is it validates what you already know. Nothing is better than validation, like, "Oh, I knew that one," because it allows your brain to rest. And then the next tip that you learn is something new, and it fills in those gaps. 

00:08:54

So as you keep attending these sessions, you are going to shave hours of time in improving your productivity, hands down. 

Zynetta: Yeah, I love that. Like you just mentioned, knowing what you're doing. If you only knew that that button was there in the ribbon, you would've saved so much time. And I always say, a lot of EAs and administrative professionals are a little nervous about AI coming into the scene. "Is my job safe?" I think of AI as my assistant. Thank you for saving me some time so I can get more stuff done, because that's what we do for everyone else.

So [by] becoming familiar with the technology, you can improve communication and collaboration in the workplace. Would you agree with that? 

Vickie: Absolutely. Anything that's going to improve the way you work, the quality of your work, saving time, shortcuts, hands down, yeah.

Zynetta: Okay, so let's get into another part of this conversation. Now what kind of risk of not being tech savvy in an increasingly digital world – how can that affect someone?

00:09:55                     

Vickie: So I am manager, and so I work with a lot of teams. I have people on my team as well. First of all, I need to have trust in my employees that when I hand them a task or assignment, that they're going to get it done in the fastest way possible, and there's going to be high quality. We can't have anything leave our company that is not high quality, so it's a matter of trust and also taking anything off your manager's plate. We obviously know that executives, their hourly rate is substantial, so any time you can take an hour of time, two hours of time, you can quantify that. That's a risk. If you can't help your executive save time or produce high-quality results, you could lose your job or miss out on promotions.

00:10:45                     

Zynetta: Yes. That's why, like you mentioned earlier, it's important to ask the right questions during your interview. And even when you have the job and they're like, oh, tech savvy. Now AI is on the scene. We need to be clear on what that means and what tools you need to learn. If it's coming to the APC Conference, if it's going out to take more educational program or training, you can do so to learn what you need to.

Vickie: And get certified. So I would highly recommend getting certified, because then you're using 80% of the technology, and that validates your skills, too. Okay, I know you have another question.

Zynetta: I'm done with my questions. We're going to go to a community question. We've had listeners submit questions and they wrote one for you. "What do you think is the biggest technology trend administrative professionals should be aware of for the future, and how can we start preparing for it now?" What advice would you give them, Vickie?

Vickie: Okay, so obviously AI right now. AI is the prevalent thing. I would say even if your company is not using – this is our garage year. For decades, I've been saying, "Somebody's in the garage, creating a technology that we're going to marvel how we ever lived without [it]." When GPS came out, I didn't understand its significance. Now I can't live without it. When SMS texting came out, I didn't understand why I would need to text someone. I've got email. Now I can't live without texting.

00:12:01

Now that AI is out – people have been in their garage for the past 10-15 years creating AI. This isn't something that – we're going to marvel how we ever lived without [it]. This is our garage year. Every single person listening to me right now needs to be curious and learn about AI. Use it in your personal life. There's the Copilot app. I teach Copilot. Spend time investigating it. Please raise your hand. Go to IT and say, "I am so interested in learning this before my executive." Typically, IT departments roll out technology to executives first, instead of assistants. I think that's backwards. We have to do it. We have to give AI to assistants so that they can support and train their executives in real time. I am adamant about that. 

00:12:50

Raise your hand. Speak up. Even if you're like, "I don't even know the IT department. They never do this. They're never going to ask me." Please knock on their door. Ask to be part of the focus group. Get Copilot first or Gemini or ChatGPT first and play. 

Zynetta: IT will appreciate you for that. You're taking one thing away from them to have to handle. I think they're honored to share the knowledge.

Vickie: They need help. They are inundated right now because they're dealing with cybersecurity. They're doing testing. The new version is coming out. People are coming up to me like, "We don't even have Microsoft 365." They're so swamped. I want you to be the squeaky wheel. This is the time to do it.

Zynetta: I love that. Vickie, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me here on "The Admin Edge." Tell everyone listening how they can find you online.

Vickie: Yeah, so the first thing I would say is redcapeco.com is our website. I invite you all to join the Outlook for Delegates LinkedIn group. We have the Outlook Product Team at Microsoft. They are members of that group. It's a private group just for outlook delegates. I will definitely approve you guys for joining that. Please join the Outlook for Delegates group. I'm in there on LinkedIn, and then redcapeco.com.

00:14:03                     

Zynetta: Awesome. Thank you so much for your time.

[music playing]

Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to "The Admin Edge," produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with video and audio production at our events by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you'd like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at ASAPorg.com/podcast.