Strategy is one of those words we hear constantly, but rarely stop to unpack properly. It often gets used interchangeably with being busy, being senior, or being close to decision-making. While those things may sit alongside strategy, they are not the same thing.
At its core, strategy is about making thoughtful, intentional choices that lead to measurable outcomes. It is about understanding where value is created, how your actions contribute to that value, and how to articulate that impact in a way the business understands.
For PAs and EAs, this can be a particularly nuanced conversation. Many assistants are already operating at an exceptionally high level, managing complex workloads, senior stakeholders, and significant responsibility. Yet very few have been given the space, language, or framework to view their work through a strategic or commercial lens. So when we say that managing a diary or working closely with a CEO does not automatically make someone strategic, this is not a judgement. It is simply an acknowledgement that strategy is a skill set, not a by-product of proximity or job title.
The idea of being a “business partner” often sits in the same category. It is a role many assistants aspire to, and rightly so. But business partnership requires clarity. It means being able to connect what you do to outcomes that matter to the organisation: time saved, money protected, opportunities created, risk reduced, and relationships strengthened.
If that feels difficult to articulate right now, it does not mean you are falling short. It usually means you have not yet been given the tools, exposure, or environment to frame your contribution in that way.
This is exactly the gap The Assistant Room membership was designed to close.
Translating Support into Strategic Impact
After years of conversations with assistants, executives, and businesses, one thing became consistently clear: assistants were delivering enormous value, but that value was rarely being measured, recognised, or amplified.
The Assistant Room exists to change that, not by asking assistants to “do more”, but by helping them redirect effort into higher-impact work, supported by the right infrastructure, relationships, and commercial awareness.
Below are some of the tangible ways Assistant Room members turn their work into clear strategic outcomes.
Time Saved: Creating Space for Higher-Value Work
Time is one of the most valuable resources in any organisation, and how it is used often determines how strategic a role can truly be.
One of the most immediate and measurable benefits of membership is time saved. Through access to the concierge desk alone, members save an average of 400 hours per year, time that would otherwise be spent researching venues, sourcing suppliers, negotiating terms, chasing availability, or problem-solving in isolation.
That reclaimed time can then be deliberately repurposed into work that requires judgement, context, and strategic thinking, work that genuinely contributes to the business, rather than simply keeping it moving.
Alongside this, the members forum operates as a collective brain trust. Instead of starting from scratch, members can draw on the experience of peers who understand the role and its pressures. Whether it is a supplier recommendation, guidance on a sensitive stakeholder issue, or insight into how others have approached a similar challenge, answers are often found in minutes rather than hours.
This reduction in friction shortens decision-making cycles and creates space for more meaningful contribution.
Direct Cost Savings: Protecting the Bottom Line
Strategic impact is not only about influence, it is also about financial outcomes.
The Assistant Room concierge team consistently negotiates meaningful savings on behalf of members’ businesses. These are not hypothetical efficiencies; they are real, documented results that would not have existed without membership support.
Recent examples include saving £98,000 on a single breakfast event for a member working for a property business, £23,000 on an away day for a legal firm, and regular negotiated savings of £50, £150, or £500 at a time; small individually, but significant in aggregate.
These savings rarely happen by accident. They come from expertise, relationships, and confidence in negotiation, all delivered quietly, professionally, and without additional workload for the assistant.
This is commercial awareness in action: knowing when value can be protected and having the support to act on it.
Opportunities Created: Strategy Through Connection
One of the most powerful, and often underestimated, outcomes of The Assistant Room membership is opportunity creation.
Through the forum, events, and informal introductions, assistants are regularly placed in environments where commercial opportunities naturally emerge. Conversations that start as requests for help frequently lead to introductions, collaborations, and new business.
In one instance, a member asked the forum for support with a specific business challenge. Another member recognised that her organisation could help and offered their services. That single interaction led to £20,000 of work for the business, an opportunity that simply would not have existed without the forum.
Members also meet at events and facilitate introductions between their organisations, their executives, and wider networks. These connections often extend beyond the assistant role, reaching senior decision-makers and opening doors to future collaboration.
This is strategy in practice: being present in the right spaces, listening carefully, and making intentional connections that benefit the wider business.
Risk Reduced: Learning From Shared Experience
Risk in a business context is not limited to compliance or financial exposure. It also includes making decisions without enough information, repeating mistakes others have already made, or navigating complex situations without support.
Through The Assistant Room community, risk is reduced through access to lived experience. Members regularly share not just what worked, but what didn’t, insights that are rarely available in formal training environments.
This collective knowledge helps assistants make better-informed decisions, avoid common pitfalls, and operate with greater confidence and clarity.
Learning and development plays a key role here too. Masterclasses and training sessions are shaped directly by what members ask for, ensuring that professional development remains relevant, practical, and commercially grounded.
Relationships Strengthened: Influence Built Over Time
Strong relationships are the foundation of effective support and sustained influence.
Through The Assistant Room membership, assistants build trusted peer networks where they can ask questions, share challenges, and exchange insight without judgement. This confidence carries back into the workplace, strengthening relationships with executives and stakeholders alike.
Externally, relationships formed through events and the community often become long-term professional allies, people who understand the role, the pressures, and the value assistants bring.
These relationships do not just make work more enjoyable. They make it more effective.
Strategy Is Built, Not Declared
Ultimately, strategy is not something you claim. It is something you build, intentionally and consistently, through the choices you make, the support you leverage, and the environments you place yourself in.
Excellence is not about ticking boxes. It is about creating impact.
The Assistant Room membership exists to support assistants in doing exactly that: providing structure, connection, and commercial context so strategic impact becomes visible, measurable, and sustainable.
If you are ready to approach your role with greater intention and to translate the work you already do into outcomes your business truly values, we are here to support you in your career.