Business grinds to a halt without them ...

Administrative Professionals are the cornerstone to any business or professional institution and without them an organisation simply grinds to a halt.

The North Bay Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals hosted a day of professional development for Administrative Professionals Wednesday, and participants discovered levity and creativity were key areas they all need to work on.

Keynote speaker Rosita Hall, a certified Laughter Leader, led an electrified morning session challenging participants not to lose track of themselves or what is important to them when it comes to work.

“When you define yourself by the job title or position you lose out on so much.”

“We are all so busy doing that we forget to just be,” she states.

Hall also says it is hard to cope at work if a person views their employment as just a job.

“It is not healthy, in my opinion, to just have a job. It is not good to make a living ... get the pay check and pay the bills ... you need to be creating a living ... You deserve to have a career that reflects your very being.”

She says there is a great deal of stress and demand placed on people at work these days that employees are walking around in quiet desperation, and that it is imperative that people stop hiding behind the masks they place on every morning and begrudgingly go to work.

“The soul would rather die than show up being something that it’s not.”

Hall says that there is no quick fix to making life run smoother at the office because everyone is different and so folks have to be open to look at them to find out what works for them.

“Everyone is looking for the recipe there isn’t one, we are all individual and so we can’t do it that way,” she says.

“They need to go to self reflection ... you can read all the books you want but they are not the answer.”

“Most people know what they want to do ... they just don’t want to do it.”

She says most people don’t make changes in their lives and get stuck in a rut because they are afraid of the unknown and stepping outside of their comfort zone.

“We put on these masks and we just go to our job,”

“A lot of it is fear ... what if I get it wrong ... well you just try something new.”

She told the group that each day they need to show up to work authentically rich by tapping into their uniqueness.

“Go out and have some fun at your jobs,” she states.

“Tap into the power that you have ... you won’t want to get off that rollercoaster cause it is so much fun.”