in an office setting, it’s believed that administrative skills are essential as they help one to successfully carry out their work with ease. Administrative abilities are a series of qualities that allow one to perform well and complete tasks on time. Such skills include communication skills, organisation skills, among others. These skills are usually grounded in making an individual and the business, or the organisation one works for represent more productive and organised work. Understanding how you can use these skills at work is vital. Geoffrey Ndahiro, an entrepreneur believes that people with these skills help maintain a smoothly run office and at the same time support the efforts of their supervisors and managers in different ways. He says these skills are vital and without them, an organisation can fail to grow, and in the end, this can affect the entire system including the employees themselves. With administrative skills, he says, one is able to offer support that enables a company or business to succeed depending on their targets. This, according to him can either be serving clients, or simply carrying out other activities related to an organisation’s scope of work. One of the most important administrative skills at work is communication. Ndahiro says this is a skill one needs to have for easier interaction with other people. “To be able to carry out your duties effectively, one has to share and discuss issues, ask for something as well as interact with others. It helps one to understand the needs of others and theirs as well,” he says. Aside from communication, there is also need for one to be a good listener, meaning that being a good communicator also means being a good listener. With emphasis on listening skills, Jane Nakaayi, the head of the department of languages at Riviera High School in Kigali says one needs to be in position to listen carefully to their co-workers regardless of their position at that organisation. In addition to communication, she says one should also be good at written communication, which she says is vital. This is because, in an organisation, administration requires and also involves a lot of writing which could include writing documents, emails among other written documents that may be needed. On the other hand, Nakaayi says when it comes to administrative skills; there is need for one to be conversant with the current technology. This is because one has to operate a variety of technological tools, ranging from the Microsoft Office to online scheduling of programs among others. Another important administrative skill is being able to plan and schedule things in advance. This could be proper management of appointments and developing office procedural systems. Different career online websites state that an organised team is essential for a business to run smoothly. This supports work to be done productively and that can only be achieved with organisational skills. Organisational skills refer to habits that keep your work on track and delivered on time. Becoming a master at office organisation can make you an extremely competitive applicant and valuable employee.
