Course Description:

Working closely with senior managers and executives, the Executive Secretary or Personal Assistants must be able to perform administrative or managerial roles as well as provide support to the management team. They also need excellent computing and communication skills, as well as a range of specialist business skills. This course covers professional image, effective communication, business letter writing, dealing with difficult people, time and stress management, organizing meeting, and filling system.

Course Goal:

To enhance the participants’ Knowledge, Abilities and Skills necessary to discover and work towards achieving their personal best, to optimize their success through others, to learn how to save time and produce professional business correspondence with greater confidence

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. Understand what makes an effective PA/Executive Secretary
2. Contribute his manager’s success through aligned objectives
3. Analyze and maximize his use of time
4. Improve his communication skills
5. Take responsibility and manage crises
6. Achieve confidence through assertiveness
7. Continue personal development using an action plan
8. Work under pressure to achieve objectives
9. Understand the different methods used in storing information
10. Implement the easiest, safest method suitable for work environment
11. Successfully organizes meetings

Course Outline:

1. Professional Image
   1. Job definition and analysis.
   2. Identification of personality type.
   3. Increasing productivity.
   4. Developing a work plan.
   5. Upper management recognition.
   6. Influencing people.
2. Effective Communication
   1. What is communication?
   2. Communication barriers
   3. Use body language effectively
3. Business Letter Writing
   1. Understand the conventions of letter writing
   2. Plan letters to reduce writing time and produce desired results
   3. Get started easily
   4. Finish with impact
   5. Suit structure to purpose
   6. Write concisely and clearly
   7. Spot cliches, jargon and padding
   8. Adopt a friendly reader based style
   9. Constructive self-analysis.
4. Dealing with Difficult People
   1. Identify the types of difficult people
   2. Understand why difficult people are difficult
   3. Deal with difficult people
   4. Use your communication skills to:
      1. Control your behavior
      2. Select appropriate ways of behaving
      3. Influence others behavior
   5. Give and receive feedback effectively
   6. Improve performance and manage others
   7. Carry out disciplinary procedures and interviews
   8. Action plan of how to deal effectively with difficult people and get results
5. Time and Stress Management
   1. Analyze time usage.
   2. Work prioritizing and scheduling
   3. Travel arrangements.
   4. How to use telephone.
6. Organizing Meeting:
   1. What makes good meetings good / bad meetings bad?
   2. Obstacles to meeting effectiveness
   3. Key Characteristics of an effective meeting
   4. Meeting rules
   5. Meeting process
   6. Agenda setting
   7. Meeting evaluation
   8. Meeting room
   9. Recording devices
7. Filing System
   1. Needs of filing systems.
   2. Manual filing systems.
   3. Computerized filing systems.
   4. Access database: An introduction