Programme outline
Organisation awareness, IT skills, communication skills, organisational skills, time management, teamwork skills, and confidence, the need to be flexible. How to add value within the office without adding time or energy.

Who should attend?
Secretaries and personal assistants who wish to enhance their role.

Learning method
Group work, discussion, practical exercises, time for reflection and review.

Programme content

Day 1
Introduction and objectives
What are your personal objectives?  
What are your manager’s objectives for you on this course? 
Identifying the route map to working more successfully.
Communication skills  
How we communicate, the two-way process, what are the barriers to effective communication?  The importance of voice tone, body language and the words you choose. 
Customer care and telephone skills
Handling the difficult customer, the importance of voice tone and mirroring when dealing with customers inside and outside the organisation.
The techniques of listening actively and how get your message across.
E-mails
Bane or boon: the top tips for handling the information overload.
Planning and organising your working day
Setting priorities: how to meet deadlines, satisfy all the demands on time and how to manage the piled-up in-tray.

Day 2
Review of Day 1
What did we learn, what helped, what hindered, how are we working towards our objectives?
Team work 
Why teams? What is a team? Understanding the different types of teams, what makes a team effective, working together and understanding your role in teamwork.
Understanding management
How to read bosses. A practical exercise in how to match your behaviour to complement theirs. Coping skills for handling difficult situations and people at all levels.
Interpersonal skills
“Life is not difficult; it is just the people in it!” The basic behavioural skills needed to get the job done. How to influence and persuade: the techniques to bring people round to your way of thinking. Handling compliments, praise and criticism.
Action session
Participants review the programme and decide on what actions to take back to the workplace.