What are 5 SMART goals for your executive assistant?

Having an executive assistant is like getting business world superpowers. Your workload becomes more organized and your days become more productive when you have a partner who can handle tasks on your behalf. Having hands-on help enables you to deliver results more efficiently.

To maximize the benefits of this invaluable support, The secret to working best with an executive assistant (EA) is setting SMART goals. We don’t just mean setting goals that are clever: SMART stands for tasks that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

We created 5 SMART goals you can delegate to your executive assistant today. Each goal responds to a different support bucket and is easily customizable to your specific needs. 

Table of contents

• What is an executive assistant?
• What are SMART goals?
• Setting SMART Goals for Executive Assistants
• What other professional growth goals can you delegate to your EA?

What is an executive assistant?

What is an executive assistant? An Executive Assistant (EA) is an employee who supports an executive. Although EAs used to be solely associated with administrative operations, the position has evolved to the point where today’s executive assistants sometimes handle company-wide operations, such as project management organization, oversee specific daily operations, and even guide customer lead success.

What are SMART goals?

SMART goals are a framework for setting goals clearly and comprehensively. SMART goals allow executives to delegate tasks effectively by clearly outlining the expectations for the desired results.

SMART is an acronym:

1. Specific: Elaborate on context: What do you want to accomplish? Why is it important? Who is involved? Where is it located? Which resources or limits are involved? Overcommunication is key.
2. Measurable: Include criteria for measuring progress and determining when the goal has been achieved. This criterion answers questions like: How much? How many? How will I know when the goal has been accomplished?
3. Achievable: Set realistic and attainable goals. While it’s good to stretch your direct report’s abilities, it’s also important to ensure that the goals are achievable. Make sure to take the available resources into account. 
4. Relevant: This section ensures that your goals are impactful and necessary. Are these goals aimed at achieving OKRs or KPIs? What is the reason for setting these goals?
5. Time-bound: Set a deadline. This creates a sense of urgency and helps prevent procrastination. It answers the question: When will this goal be completed?

Delegating works best when executives are clear about what they expect, deadlines are indicated, and they provide their EA with enough context. It shouldn’t be a time-consuming task (it would defeat the purpose of delegation itself) but it should be done with the intentionality of saving time later in the process. 

Setting SMART Goals for Executive Assistants

Your Viva Customer Success Manager can set up SMART goals for your EA depending on your specific use cases. 

Executive assistants work as operational arms for executives. EAs manage tasks from start to completion by making decisions and executing flawlessly. This is why setting SMART goals is crucial for success. The more information provided to your EA, the more chances they have to perform as expected and deliver results that impact your productivity positively.

We’ll use Viva’s buckets of executive support to set sample SMART goals that will help you and your EA achieve maximum output in these areas:

1. Email management
2. Calendar management
3. Meeting support
4. Travel planning 
5. Team engagement

Each bucket of support has a specific goal that you can use today to delegate this task to an executive assistant. If you prefer, you can edit each goal to meet your specific needs and requirements. For each SMART goal, we’ve provided an example of a non-SMART goal to provide greater context. 

We also recommend this comprehensive guide of 10 tasks to delegate to an executive assistant.

1. Email management: A SMART goal for executive assistants

Delegating inbox management to executive assistants is one of the tasks that executives struggle with the most. This task requires a great deal of trust and a capable executive assistant with critical thinking who can make thoughtful decisions. That’s why this is #1 in our SMART goals guide. 

When delegating email management, avoid setting a non-SMART goal. A non-SMART goal may look like this: “Make my email work better.” 

“Work better” can mean different things to different people. For example, it may mean reaching inbox zero; whereas, your EA may think “work better” means just adding color-coded tags but not deleting any unread emails. At the end of the timeframe (which wasn’t specified), your EA can have a clearly organized inbox but your expectation was to have zero unread emails. 

A SMART email management goal has a specific outcome, like asking to categorize incoming emails with color-coded tags. It will also have a measurable and time-bound outcome like completing this task for 100% of read emails by EOW. For such a critical delegation task as email management, be sure to include the reason behind your request—such as “to ensure no crucial communication is missed”—along with clear expectations for execution.

Here’s the difference between a vague, non-SMART goal and a clear, actionable SMART goal for email management:

❌ “Make my email work better”

✅ “Set up a system to organize my inbox by categorizing all my emails using the Eisenhower matrix and color-coded tags. Make sure that all emails categorized as urgent reach me by EOD and ensure I’ve responded in 24 hours. Aim to reduce the number of unread emails (urgent and important) by 50% by EOM.”

2. Calendar management: A SMART goal for executive assistants

Calendar management is what many executives need the most from their executive assistants. Double bookings or missed appointments are the most common pain points that executives face and want to eliminate once they hire an EA. 

A non-SMART goal for calendar management would be something like “Keep my schedule organized” with no further context, instructions, preferences, or feedback. That type of goal would set the EA up for failure and waste the executive’s time. A non-smart goal is vague and does not specify how to measure success.

For much better calendar management delegation, set a SMART goal that clearly defines what the biggest priorities are, identifies the executive’s personal preferences, and indicates what sort of calendar invitations can be deferred to direct reports or eliminated entirely.

Here’s the difference between a vague, non-SMART goal and a clear, actionable SMART goal for calendar management:

❌ “Keep my schedule organized.”

 ✅ “By EOW, organize my calendar to categorize every appointment or block of time by priority (high, medium, and low). Deliver a monthly report to assess the achievement of this goal, analyzing successes and challenges encountered during implementation.”

3. Meeting support: A SMART goal for executive assistants

Meetings can take up a large portion of an executive’s day. If execs are left to fend for themselves, meetings can quickly become a black hole of unproductivity.

Effective meeting support can make a significant difference in productivity and it’s one of the reasons why executives choose to work with executive assistants. Nonetheless, executives may struggle with delegating meeting support effectively. 

Instructing to “help with meetings” might be too vague a task; it lacks the measurable aspect as well as a time-bound detail. A SMART goal for meeting support should provide clear expectations and a timeline for each task, associated with meeting preparation and follow-up.

Here’s the difference between a vague, non-SMART goal and a clear, actionable SMART goal for meeting support:

❌ “Support with meetings.”

✅ “Achieve efficient meeting management by implementing clear agendas, recording comprehensive minutes, and identifying actionable items for every meeting conducted. Ensure that these practices are consistently applied across all meetings by the end of the quarter, with measurable progress tracked through increased participant satisfaction and productivity gains.”

4. Travel planning: A SMART goal for executive assistants

Travel planning can become burdensome for executives, especially when there are so many factors to consider or last-minute changes to address. The more busy the executive is, the more difficult it is to keep track of all the small details that travel planning entails. Most executives who plan their own travel end up doing so at the last minute, often scrambling to get to their destination seamlessly. 

Properly planned travel arrangements ensure that executives can focus on their work without worrying about logistics.

Asking your executive assistant to plan your travel requires SMART goals to ensure that all your preferences and budget requirements are met. This is especially true for the first few times that you delegate travel planning. A seasoned executive assistant who’s been with you for a long time can plan your travels without much context or input because they’ve done so many times before. This wouldn’t be the same for someone who is newly managing an exec’s travel plans.

A SMART goal for travel planning should include clear instructions and criteria for success.

Here’s the difference between a vague, non-SMART goal and a clear, actionable SMART goal for travel planning:

❌ “Plan my next trip to San Francisco.”

✅ “Implement, by EOM, a systematic approach to planning every business trip using a preferences database and adhering to company travel policies.

5. Team engagement: A SMART goal for executive assistants

Executive assistants can play a vital role in fostering team engagement by organizing regular check-ins and team-building activities.

A non-SMART goal for team engagement would be to “remember work anniversaries and birthdays,” which is not specific and does not provide a clear way to measure success or what the desired outcome really is. 

A clear and defined goal shouldn’t restrain your EA from thinking creatively, especially in tasks like team engagement. The instruction can still leave room for brainstorming ideas but also be measurable, time-bound, and specific. 

Here’s the difference between a vague, non-SMART goal and a clear, actionable SMART goal for team engagement:

❌ “Remember work anniversaries and birthdays.”

✅ “Implement a way to keep track of work anniversaries and birthdays, assigning a gift for each occasion adhering to an established budget, beginning in June 2025.”

What other professional growth goals can you delegate to your EA?

Beyond daily tasks, your executive assistant can take on responsibilities that contribute to their professional growth while supporting your biggest priorities. Investing in their development not only strengthens their skills but also increases their long-term commitment to your company.

Here are ways to delegate meaningful work that helps your EA grow:

1. Develop their expertise in new areas

If your EA enjoys managing your social media presence, consider ways to help them deepen their skills:

• Enroll them in an online course on digital marketing or personal branding.
• Introduce them to your CMO for mentorship or strategic insights.
• Encourage them to collaborate on cross-functional projects aligned with their interests.

2. Involve them in hiring and recruitment

Your EA can take ownership of key hiring tasks, such as:

• Writing job postings.
• Screening resumes and shortlisting candidates.
• Conducting initial interviews.
• Managing and evaluating candidate assessments.

3. Delegate high-impact responsibilities

When your EA is involved in strategic work, they become an extension of your leadership. Start by delegating:

• Board meeting preparation – Have them draft the first version of your meeting deck.
• Candidate vetting – Ask them to shortlist 5–10 candidates before you get involved.
• Event planning – Let them take charge of logistics for company events.
• Investor meeting prep – Have them create pre-meeting briefings to keep you fully informed.
• Meeting management – Start by delegating one of your recurring meetings, then expand as they gain confidence.
• Project coordination – If you have too many direct reports, have your EA track progress and provide key updates.

By setting professional growth goals for your EA, you create a win-win scenario—helping them build new skills while freeing yourself to focus on higher-level priorities.

Conclusion

When goals for your executive assistant are vague or unrealistic, productivity suffers, and expectations become unclear. Without specific and measurable targets, your assistant may struggle to prioritize tasks, leading to inefficiencies and missed deadlines. If goals are not achievable or relevant, they may waste time on low-value work instead of focusing on tasks that drive real impact. Without a clear timeline, progress can stall, making it difficult to track performance and adjust as needed.

At Viva, our Customer Success Managers (CSMs) help ensure that SMART goals are seamlessly integrated into your experience working with an EA. They provide guidance on setting clear, effective objectives, monitor progress, and offer ongoing feedback to keep everything on track. This support ensures that your assistant is aligned with your priorities, continuously improving and delivering maximum value to your business.

At Viva, we are committed to being helpful to startup executives by hiring, training, and overseeing remote executive assistants with ongoing feedback and upskilling. Book a call today to find out how our services can be tailored to your company and role.

Desiree de Leon

Desireé de León is a bilingual writer and SEO specialist who’s crafted copy for everything from SaaS startups and B2B brands to radio spots and consumer campaigns. She began her career in advertising and scriptwriting, and once wrote for a radio station before falling in love with the rhythm of search-driven content. Desireé has a habit of Googling everything (twice), and she has a soft spot for poetry, which makes sense: she was born on International Haiku Day.