Proactive administrative support for a busy artistic director
Our Results
- Increased Creative Capacity & Business Growth
- Reduced Stress & Eliminated Anxiety
- High-ROI Investment
About CoDa Dance Company
CoDa is a disability-led dance company that creates critically acclaimed productions. It specialises in neurodisability and centres access and inclusion in every area of its work.
Brief
In her role as founder and artistic director of CoDa, Nikki Watson takes responsibility for programme development, choreography, artist training and partner relations.
During a particularly busy period for CoDa in 2024, it became clear Nikki was struggling. She was finding it difficult to keep on top of the administrative elements of her role in the timeframe the company needed. Further, trying to keep up with the administrative requirements meant she had less time and headspace to focus on the creative and strategic elements of her role that are key to the company’s success.
In part, Nikki was struggling because her workload was simply too big. Following a diagnosis of ADHD she also now knows she was struggling because organisational and administrative tasks do not play to her strengths.
It was the chair of CoDa’s board who suggested Nikki might benefit from a PA. Nikki was initially sceptical but agreed to explore options.
Executive PA Solutions stood out from the start because Nikki appreciated how straightforward it was to arrange a 30-minute call with Executive PA Solutions’ Managing Director, Sandy Hearn.
It was on this call that things started to click into place.
Nikki explained: “I told Sandy I knew I needed help, but I wasn’t sure what that help looked like. She listened to what I was saying, then suggested I meet one of her PAs, Liz, because she thought we would make a good partnership. I was astonished it was as easy as that. But as Sandy said: ‘That’s what we will do – we will make your life easier.’”
The call with Liz proved Sandy was right when she thought Liz and Nikki would work well together.
Nikki said: “I quickly realised Liz and I were going to get on. She’s the complete opposite to me in that she’s quiet and doesn’t jump in. But I knew I had her full attention, and she was a really good listener. In fact, through the whole process I felt listened to – and heard.”
Approach
On average, Liz spends five hours a week with Nikki and CoDa.
She achieves a lot in this time, and as Nikki said: “The biggest thing we all say throughout the whole company is it feels like she’s there a lot more than that.”
Liz handles all the administrative elements of Nikki’s role.
This includes diary management, where Liz brings a lot of value. For example, she sees when a meeting is going to be particularly demanding for Nikki and makes sure there is time scheduled afterwards where she can debrief or decompress.
Travel management is also taken care of, including managing all Nikki’s access requirements, which helps to ensure her trips run as smoothly and with as little stress as possible.
She handles Nikki’s expenses. Nikki is now confident she is claiming all the expenses she is owed, while the company has much better visibility of the true cost of her travel.
Liz manages Nikki’s email inbox. She handles all the low-level messages, and prioritises the others so Nikki knows what to deal with first. Rather than opening an inbox with an overwhelming number of unread messages, as would have happened in the past, Nikki now only has a handful that need her attention.
Liz also takes care of Board liaison by scheduling meetings, attending to take the minutes and then distributing them afterwards. It’s another significant strand of activity that would previously have fallen to Nikki.
From a practical perspective, when Nikki needs to delegate something to Liz, she sends her a voice note for her to pick up when she’s ready. To make sure everything stays on track, they have a weekly check-in where they update each other on the most important matters.
Nikki had initially felt she would struggle to let go of tasks, but Liz was good at suggesting things she could take on, which made it surprisingly easy.
In fact, as Liz’s value has become clear, Nikki trusts her to do even more than she had expected.
Liz’s experience and proactive nature means she stays on top of day-to-day matters without needing to ask Nikki for input.
Nikki also knows she can trust Liz with higher-level requirements. This includes handling sensitive correspondence. Nikki can give Liz an overview of what she wants to say and be confident Liz will be able to draft an intelligent and appropriate message.
Results
As a result of Liz’s input, Nikki’s capacity for creativity has increased significantly. She now has the time and headspace to focus on the critical elements of her role – developing new programmes, creating new choreography, maintaining existing partnerships and fostering new ones.
As a consequence, Nikki’s stress levels are down and the company has grown.
Reflecting on the experience, Nikki noted the success of the partnership is down to the relationship she has with Liz.
She said: “Sandy identified what and who I needed really quickly – she’s truly exceptional at finding the perfect fit. Liz is the yin to my yang. I can’t imagine what I’d do without her now.”
When asked to offer advice to those in the same position as her, she offered two thoughts.
The first is for anyone questioning the need for a PA: “Even though you might not think you need a PA, you do. It will make you better at what you do, and you will lose the low-level anxiety that’s always in the background.”
The second is for anyone concerned about the cost: “I know money is finite, but don’t let it be a barrier. It will free you up to bring more investment into your company.”
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