Advanced Planning & Communication

Planning and scheduling fundamentals

• Types of planning tools
• The key principles of effective planning, using the Wheel of Success
• How to stay one step ahead: getting things done before you are asked, and avoiding crisis situations
• Identifying and clarifying your priorities when dozens of people and tasks demand your attention
• Merging your priorities with your manager’s so you travel on the same track
• Setting attainable goals that stand the best chance of being met

Time management

• Basic principles of effective time management
• Identifying and eliminating time wasters
• Processes, habits and systems that optimise your effectiveness
• The difference between effective, efficient and perfect
• Barriers to effective time management, and how to overcome them

Managing your executive’s time

• Managing your executive’s time and workload
• Time-saving email management strategies
• Diary management: techniques for creating more time

Building a strategic partnership with your executive

• The assistant’s role as a strategic business partner
• Working “with” rather than working “for” your leader
• Discovering your executive’s daily priorities
• Forward thinking and self-leadership as an attitude for partnership success

Meetings

• The elements of an effective meeting, and the five essential tools of world-class meetings
• The agenda-setting process, and common meeting time wasters
• Taking minutes, and the responsibilities of meeting leaders and participants
• Ensuring buy-in and participant involvement
• Organising virtual meetings

Understanding organisational structure

• The relevance of organisational structure, and the types in common use
• Advantages and disadvantages of various structures
• Spans of control, and knowing where you sit in yours
• Policies and procedures of organisations
• Understanding and clarifying purpose, vision and mission

The administrative professional role

• Major roles and responsibilities of an office administrator or executive assistant
• Identifying your own role, and what your organisation actually requires of you
• The strategic role of today’s administrator
• Introduction to management theory and its practical application
• Working with others comfortably, and improving on-the-job performance
• Measurement techniques for office work

Modern administrative skills

• Harnessing the power of the mind through mind mapping
• Managing larger projects to meet deadlines
• Problem-solving techniques
• Becoming more proactive
• Working with more than one manager

Key learning areas

• Thomas-Kilmann conflict model. The five modes (competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating), practising shifts for high-stakes decisions and cross-functional projects
• Communication types and effectiveness. Written, verbal, nonverbal, group and public channels, matched to business situations by complexity and risk
• Stakeholder interactions. Mapping internal and external expectations, structuring messages with clear objectives, and etiquette for escalation and pushback
• Conflict management and dynamics. De-escalating, reframing issues, and fostering psychological safety
• Confidentiality and body language. Need-to-know principles, diplomatic deflection, and real-time nonverbal adjustments for credibility
• Assertiveness and diverse audiences. Tailoring core messages from executives to frontline while keeping them consistent

Administrative professionals are often the first point of contact between the organisation and the outside world. This module covers representing the organisation with diplomacy and strategic intent to clients, suppliers, regulators, media and the public.

• Adapting corporate tone and message for diverse external audiences
• Handling sensitive or high-stakes correspondence, including executive statements and client disputes
• Managing impressions through discretion, confidentiality and responsiveness
• Using communication as a strategic tool to build trust and long-term relationships
• Balancing transparency with tactical discretion in executive correspondence
• Managing incoming media enquiries, and supporting reputation and crisis communication
• Internal coordination: unified messaging between departments and leadership

• Document and data management with AI integration
• Prompting: getting consistently good output from tools like Copilot or ChatGPT
• Selecting the right AI tool for the task: creating documents, editing, researching, scheduling or automating
• Best practices for digital collaboration in virtual environments
• Ethical use of AI in the workplace, information security and the limitations of AI

Want to go further? The two-day AI Fluency course goes deeper for administrative professionals, and Microsoft 365 Copilot at Work covers Copilot through eleven hands-on labs. AI Fluency delegates receive a US$300 credit toward this course.