The Senior Secretary Development Programme

OVERVIEW

The Senior Secretary holds a key position of influence and a powerful partnership with the senior management team. Success in this role has a direct effect on the success of executive operations. The senior secretary understands the role and pressures of management and even thinks that the team will achieve improved performance, outstanding results, and respect from superiors and the executive team.

OBJECTIVES

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

• Creating opportunities for your personal development and accepting the challenges when they arise
• Managing yourself, your subordinates, your colleagues, and your boss more effectively
• Developing the competence &  managerial aspects of your role
• Improving your confidence, assertiveness, and communication skills
• Managing the stress and pressure in an increasingly challenging environment
• Understanding your own and others' personality & their effect on behavior
• Make better and more effective decisions

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

Delegates who have several years’ experience and are comfortable with the requirements of their role and have the sense that they can take on greater responsibilities now or shortly.

COURSE CONTENTS

1. The Structure of the Workplace:

• Understanding corporate and organizational structure.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – what they are and how they work.
• Organizational politics.
• Organizational culture.

2. Team Working & Conflict:

• Relationships with staff.
• Ways to reduce role conflict.
• Leadership.
• Groups and teams.

3. Workload & Time Management:

• Qualities required of a Secretary/Administrator.
• Responsibilities and limitations.
• How to delegate.
• Prioritizing work.
• Personal organization.
• Planning aids.
• Scheduling tasks.
• Departmental targets.
• Defining work objectives.
• Setting targets.
• Performance indicators.
• Monitoring achievement of targets.
• Organizing work schedules.

4. Filing and Retrieval Systems, Mail, Stationery and Supplies, Standardized Forms, Telephone Answering etc.:

• Filing of information.
• Central Filing.
• Departmental filing.
• Methods of classification.
• Systems of filing.
• Electronic filing.
• Follow-up systems.
• File retention policy.
• Computer data storage and retrieval.
• Answering the telephone and greeting visitors.
• Planning for business trips.

5. Communication Skills within Office Teams:

• Interpersonal skills and responsibilities.
• The role of the Secretary/Administrator.
• Face-to-face communication skills.
• Communication barriers.
• The multi-cultural society.
• Non-verbal communication.
• Listening skills.
• Questioning.

6. Internal and External Customer:

• Working Relationships.
• Making Commitments.
• Dealing with Disagreements and Conflicts.
• Problem Solving.

7. The Role of Information Technology in the Office Setting:

• Computers.
• Software application packages.
• Subject-specific packages.
• The Internet explained.
• Information retrieval on the Internet.
• The World Wide Web.