In Management Skills for Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, you'll learn...
- How to make decisions and solve problems on your own—quickly, creatively and confidently
- How to stay poised, confident and professional in any situation
- Professional time and project management techniques that help you get more accomplished each day
- How to cultivate your leadership qualities to get more done through others
- And much more!
Maybe the word “manager” isn’t in your title, but your boss expects you to function as one. Whether it’s managing projects, people or the politics of the organization, you’re expected to deliver. This intensive, two-day workshop will prepare you for the managerial responsibilities your expanding role demands.
WORKSHOP AGENDA
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Understanding the assistant’s changing role in a changing workplace+
- An overview of the current business trends and practices that are reshaping the role of the administrative assistant—and management’s expectations of you
- The key elements necessary for transitioning your relationship with your manager into a productive working partnership
- Problem solving, planning, coordinating: Taking inventory of the managerial responsibilities today’s executive secretaries and administrative assistants assume
Presenting a powerful image+
- What’s acceptable behavior and what’s not
- How to project an assertive, confident image no matter what the situation
- How to banish credibility-robbing words, gestures and mannerisms from your repertoire
- The career-boosting value of forming a mentoring relationship with a manager you respect and trust
Mastering the fine art of negotiation+
- Why it’s important to have a crystal-clear understanding of what you want to achieve from any negotiation
- Techniques for leveraging your position and enhancing your bargaining power
- How to achieve win-win negotiations even when the other side refuses to compromise
- Special issues to consider when you’re negotiating on behalf of your boss
How to play office politics to your advantage+
- Sizing up your organization’s political hierarchy—and understanding your place in it
- How to tap into the power that’s often hidden in the most unlikely places in an organization
Persuasion and consensus-building techniques+
- The 4 critical elements of communication that get results
- How to create a relationship with your boss in which you’re both operating from “the same page”
- How to get your point across clearly, confidently and persuasively
Conflict management+
- Understanding the causes of conflict—and 10 techniques for resolving it
- Why it’s important to focus on the problem—not the people—when resolving conflict
- The best way to let your boss know about problems or sensitive situations
Handling stress and pressure—in others and in yourself too+
- Learning to recognize and overcome the 5 most common causes of job-related stress
- The keys to avoiding job frustration and burnout
- Simple relaxation exercises you can do—even at your desk—to effectively reduce tension and stress
Working with difficult people+
- Tried-and-true strategies for dealing with even the toughest personalities and establishing harmonious working relationships with them
- Understanding the underlying causes of undesirable behavior and how to deal with them
Motivation, coaching and counseling+
- Discovering your style of leadership—and how it affects what you can get done through others
- Why providing workers with the spark for motivating themselves is more effective than trying to light a fire under them
- Do’s and don’ts for counseling staff members through job-related or personal problems
Teambuilding+
- How to become an effective liaison between your boss and the other team members
- How to assume a position of leadership even when you’re not the one in charge
- Identifying the major workplace personality types and understanding how each responds in various situations
- Recognizing your boss’s primary personality style and how to respond in order to work together as a productive pair
- The keys to effectively coordinating tasks and responsibilities
Problem solving and decision making+
- Interviewing techniques that help you make the best selection when you’re called on to be part of the recruitment team
- How to deal with vendors, clients, customers, subcontractors, consultants and others who routinely do business with your organization
- Creative approaches to overcoming the most common obstacles administrative assistants face
- Guidelines for making decisions without consulting your boss first
Getting to the heart of effective time management practices+
- Assessing your current situation: How do you spend a typical workday?
- Finding a planning/scheduling system that matches your work style
- The true difference between wasted time and time well spent
- How to set long-range goals that direct you in prioritizing your daily tasks
- The difference between urgent and important
- Dealing with interruptions, telephone calls, drop-ins and other major time robbers
Coordinating your daily activities with those of others in your office+
- The key to coordinating your routine daily tasks and special projects with your boss’s
- Following your intuition: Knowing when to take the initiative to get a job done before it’s even requested
- How to diplomatically let co-workers—and your boss—know when you can’t take on any more work
Project management basics+
- How to plan any project from start to finish
- How to juggle multiple projects, especially when you report to more than one boss
- Charting techniques for managing every stage of your project
- How to budget for and control costs
How to use deadlines to keep a project moving ahead+
- How to set realistic project deadlines
- Why announcing your deadline to your boss or to team members helps you achieve it
- The 3 keys to making missed deadlines a thing of the past
