What differentiates exceptional administrators from the rest of the crowd? What does it take to be a star administrator? This course gives essential and in-depth practical techniques that will enable you to excel at your workplace. In this course, you will learn multi-disciplinary best practices such as how to be a better business writer and a master communicator.

This course also focuses on the importance of providing exceptional internal and external customer service and the impact of doing this. Moreover, you will thoroughly have the chance to discuss the effects of stress at the workplace and ways to turn stress to an advantage. You will also learn how mastering your effective usage of time will inevitably enhance your productivity and lower your stress level. Another topic you will delve into is organizing and running an effective and professional meeting. Finally, you will learn in detail, how you can improve your phone handling capabilities.

Course objectives

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

• Define and understand the role of the executive secretary and secretarial professional
• Implement verbal and written communication strategies needed for carrying out responsibilities in an effective manner
• Develop a service attitude and mindset aimed at the internal and external customer
• List the main causes of stress and apply the techniques needed to control them
• Apply time management techniques required for better office productivity
• Organize meetings effectively
• Handle telephone calls properly and professionally

Course outline

• The role of the executive secretary and secretarial professional
• Perception versus reality
• The 3Ds of successful administrators: dramatically and demonstrably different
• Competencies required for success
• What it takes to be a 'star' at work
• Identifying your role
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Improving credibility and gaining recognition
• Importance of having positive attitude
• Being assertive
• Selling your ideas to the boss, colleagues, subordinates and clients
• Preparing a professional presentation
• What constitutes professional business writing
• Style and layout
• Obtaining your objective with the reader
• Expectations of readers
• Serving the internal and external customer
• Understanding the needs of internal and external customers
• Removing services barriers
• Providing excellent service
• Breaking down the silo mentality
• Handling complaints
• Stress management techniques
• Causes and symptoms
• Identifying your stressors
• How stress affects performance
• Formulating a comprehensive stress management plan
• Managing time
• Identifying and eliminating time wasters
• Setting goals and priorities
• Using measures to control and improve your effectiveness
• Planning and managing time for self and others
• Preparing time logs and learning from them
• Organizing meetings
• Elements of an effective meeting
• Preparing the agenda
• Meeting common time wasters
• Taking minutes of meetings
• Responsibilities of meeting leaders and participants
• Using the telephone properly
• Professional telephone behaviour
• Rules for good listening
• Steps in professional handling of an incoming call
• Dealing with difficult callers
• Identifying common phone problems and formulating solutions

Who should attend

Administrators, assistants, executive secretaries, existing or prospective office managers, senior administrators and supervisors of junior level employees.

Course Methodology

This course uses interactive group and individual exercises, role plays and discussions. Inter-group discussions to share working experiences are also an important ingredient in the process. Skills are introduced and revisited at regular intervals throughout the course to facilitate reinforcement and to help participants remember them. The course also uses several self-assessment exercises to pin point areas of strengths and improvements as well as action planning to ensure practical implementation of the learning objectives.