Course Description
You'll learn ...
- Build and strengthen your "people skills"
- Manage multiple projects, responsibilities and bosses
- Get more done in less time
- And become an indispensable star assistant!
Boost your communication skills, your productivity, your professional development and your satisfaction! In this era of dramatic change in the business world, assistants have never been more challenged ... more stretched ... than they are today. You're expected to do whatever it takes to keep the "train moving" amidst the confusion brought on by re-engineering, restructuring, new technology-whatever changes you're up against. In this valuable conference, you'll learn new, practical skills that will enable you to manage your job and your career with new professionalism, new authority and new success.
Design your day to meet your unique needs. We've packed a lot of information into just one day ... so feel free to move in and out of these two tracks and 10 dynamic sessions. It's your conference-don't miss a thing!
Program hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
TRACK ONE: 5 Traits That Define Today's Top Assistants
Stepping into leadership
Despite your title (and your job description), your job may require you to lead others-to delegate, give directions, coach, facilitate meetings, motivate and even discipline. If these unfamiliar-and unofficial-leadership responsibilities make you uncomfortable, this session will help. Find out how mastering a handful of essential leadership behaviors and attitudes is your ticket to becoming a leader others look to for direction and willingly follow.
- How to take charge-even when you're not in charge
- When tasks pile up, know how to prioritize-and re-prioritize-to meet changing needs
- Assertive or persuasive-which is the better leadership trait?
- How doing the work and managing the work are two very different things
- The myth of "It's not my job so I don't have to do it"
Controlling office technology before it controls you
Why does it seem that the more technology we incorporate into our jobs to become more productive, the more stressful our lives become, the longer we work and the less we get done? In this session, we'll show you how to develop a new approach to the flood of information you receive every day. You can't handle it all! Learn how to make choices about the trade-offs and negative consequences of cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail and other technology-instead of blindly accepting them.
- Why and how technology causes stress-and what can be done about it
- 4 tips for instantly making e-mail more manageable
- Letting go of old habits-like printing everything and obsessively checking e-mail
- What is so easy to forget-but so important to remember-about technology
- Setting boundaries in a world of 24/7 connectivity
Sharpening your written voice
Do you speak one way but write another? Is your writing stiff, academic, wordy-nothing like the real you? After this session, you'll know how to convey the written "voice" you want people to hear ... the voice of the assertive, credible professional you really are. Master a natural, conversational style of writing that's clear and simple, demands attention and makes business writing easier and faster.
- Your one and only goal in business writing
- Matching your business writing to your personality
- The 30-minute rule for avoiding unacceptable writing mistakes
- 3 simple exercises you can do at your desk to sound more natural on paper
- Grammar does matter-established rules you must follow
Guerilla problem-solving
Do problems-even petty ones-always end up in your boss's lap even though you know you could solve many of them yourself? You can change this dynamic, make your boss's life easier plus improve your personal clout. This session will show you how, by altering your behaviors and attitudes, you can spark a change in the way your boss views you and works with you. Take on the role of office troubleshooter-with your boss's blessing.
- Getting started-understanding your boss's needs
- Information is power: How not to be perceived as withholding information
- Using "framing" to present the problem-and solution-in a way your boss will understand and accept
- Know the fine line between being assertive and being downright pushy
- How to approach your boss about taking on more problem-solving responsibility
Laying the groundwork for on-time projects
Have you ever struggled to meet a project deadline because of changes, people not doing what they're supposed to or unexpected roadblocks? It may appear you're being held accountable for factors and circumstances beyond your control. However, in this session, you'll learn you do have control when you rely on the basic project management tools we'll introduce. Individually, none is a silver bullet for your project management problems. But together they will keep you focused, on track and in control.
- Getting started-3 things to establish right off the bat
- 4 best practices that apply to even small projects
- Strong organizational skills: Always an asset, but essential in project management
- Your first priority as a project manager
- How to keep changes from wreaking havoc with deadlines
- The project plan: How simply having one doubles your chances of succeeding
TRACK TWO: Professional Development
Organize everything in your life
Do you waste minutes-even hours-looking for things? Do you and your boss ever have "words" when a file has been misplaced or a meeting overlooked? Do you have the feeling things are slipping through the cracks at home and the office? This session's for you. You'll gain great shortcuts and tips, designed and proven effective by assistants, for putting everything in order ... and, yes, keeping it that way!
- How the 80/20 rule will help you identify your most important tasks
- Back to the basics ... the unbeatable benefits of the tried-and-true "to-do" list
- Damming the paper flow to give your boss more uninterrupted time
- Dealing with correspondence ... shortcuts you and your boss can work out together
- 6 tips for developing a plan to get the most out of every day
Staying in sync with your boss
No two people are busier than the assistant and the boss. A constant avalanche of meetings, phone calls and deadlines leaves little time to talk-let alone communicate. Out of necessity, the most successful assistants have had to carve out their own ways of making the boss/assistant team work. You'll gain an hour's worth of their valuable insight in this session that you can use to give your boss/assistant relationship true lasting power.
- How to play the valuable role of liaison between your boss and other managers
- 9 important keys to maintaining an excellent working relationship with your boss
- Special strategies to use when the difficult person is the boss
- When working with multiple bosses ... establishing channels among multiple supervisors so they'll know the demands on your time
Juggling multiple projects with ease
Do you sometimes feel like you're being asked to wear more hats than you have heads for? Join the club! Administrative professionals are handling more projects than ever, yet few have had the time for training in project management. Attend this session, and you'll build valuable and sought-after business skills that will help you plan, organize, control and complete projects with efficiency and professionalism ... allowing you to tackle your very next project with greater confidence and see it through to positive results.
- Putting into practice a proven 6-phase project management process that works on any project ... large or small
- How to benefit from a task checklist to identify specifically what needs to be done and when
- When things go wrong ... 5 tips for proceeding in a way that maintains your credibility
- Coping with the stress and strain of multiple responsibilities
- How to use influence to get the job done, especially when you have responsibility without authority
Dealing with chronically impossible people
You walk into work every morning, and there that difficult person is ... the co-worker, the vendor or the VP who is making your life miserable. Your amateur psychotherapist friend has given you plenty of advice on improving the situation, but none of it has worked. It's time to stop beating around the bush. Attend this session and get straightforward techniques, tested and proven effective in the business world, for getting problem personalities under control.
- The 6 basic steps for dealing with all negative behavior
- How to deal with feelings of helplessness and anger when faced with difficult people and situations
- "What's this really about?" How to get to the root of the problem instead of battling the symptoms
- How to address a chronic disagreement and arrive at a mutually acceptable action plan for resolution
- How honesty and understanding will help you keep your cool when dealing with an out-of-control person
Everyday negotiation skills
If you're tired of getting the short end of the stick, you're ripe for this crash course on negotiation. And do you ever need it. Between the kids, the spouse, the vendors-even the boss-you can barely remember what it feels like to "have it your way." Practice these great new skills every day and before you know it, winning will become a habit.
- The principles of everyday negotiation
- How to turn the points of disagreement into a framework for resolution
- How your personality affects the way you "give and take"
- How to express yourself without accusation, sarcasm or hostility
- How a few simple words can work like magic in getting others to do what you want
Agenda
CONFERENCE AGENDA
Program hours: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
TRACK 1
Session 1: Stepping into leadership
Session 2: Controlling office technology before it controls you
Session 3: Sharpening your written voice
Session 4: Guerilla problem-solving
Session 5: Laying the groundwork for on-time projects
TRACK 2
Session 1: Organize everything in your life
Session 2: Staying in sync with your boss
Session 3: Juggling multiple projects with ease
Session 4: Dealing with chronically impossible people
Session 5: Everyday negotiation skills
***Track 1 and track two run simultaneously in adjacent classrooms, allowing students the opportunity to jump from one room to the other, alternating between the two tracks, in order to learn the information they are most interested in. Please call 866-540-9677 for further details on how this class is structured***
Comments
Registrations for classes must originate from either the United States or Canada.Cancellations and substitutions:Cancellations received up to five working days before the seminar is refundable, minus a ($10 for one-day event and $25 for two-day event) registration service charge. After that, cancellations are subject to the entire seminar fee, which you may apply toward a future seminar. Please note that if you don’t cancel and don’t attend, you are still responsible for payment. Substitutions may be made at any time.
Continuing Education Credit: Continuing Education Credits are based on program length and completion in accordance with the National Task Force for Continuing Education guidelines. Please contact your professional licensing board or organization to verify specific requirements.