Administrative Assistant: Strengthening Skills, Enhancing Performance

The role of the administrative assistant has changed considerably. Whereas employers once primarily expected excellent language skills, proficiency in office software and the ability to carry out tasks, companies now seek professionals who can plan, coordinate and keep teams’ day-to-day work running smoothly.

If you already work in this role, you know that it often lies at the heart of the organisation. You are the go-to person: someone who anticipates needs, finds solutions, handles unexpected situations, eases tensions, organises priorities and keeps work moving forward.

Every day brings a growing range of challenges: digitising documents, optimising processes, purchasing equipment, managing digital tools, organising data effectively, coordinating across departments and adapting to new ways of working.

This course is designed specifically for administrative assistants, secretaries and office managers who are already in post and wish to strengthen their skills, become more efficient and enhance their strategic role within the company.

Practical, up to date and grounded in workplace realities, it provides tools that can be applied immediately to meet the evolving demands of the role and fully establish yourself as a key contributor to the organisation.

The programme focuses on the following areas:

• Organisation and planning

• Internal communication and collaboration

• Client reception and support

• Personal effectiveness and self-management

• Prerequisite: Participants must currently be employed in a relevant position or have prior experience in a similar role.

• Administrative assistants, executive assistants, secretaries, administrative coordinators and office managers who wish to broaden their expertise and enhance the skills they use in their day-to-day responsibilities.

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

• Understand the key principles of administrative management

• Effectively fulfil the responsibilities of an administrative assistant

• Apply relevant concepts, tools, methods and solutions to everyday administrative tasks

Module 1 Organisation and planning

Duration: 3.5 days

Understand the importance of the administrative assistant’s role

• Understand your role and responsibilities as an administrative assistant as the foundation for effective organisation and planning

Understand the importance of effective work organisation and daily planning

• Analyse and plan tasks

• Set priorities

• Set deadlines

• Focus on what matters most

File and archive data in a consistent and structured way

• Manage day-to-day information effectively

• Reduce complexity

• Choose planning methods and working tools

• Structure your personal filing system

Organise your working day effectively

• Identify everyday obstacles: time wasters and how to tackle them

• Think effectively by focusing on solutions

• Maintain concentration

• Coordinate telephone conversations

• Say no while maintaining mutual respect

• Understand different personality types and how best to organise your work

Understand the importance of administrative preparation and follow up for meetings

• Understand the facilities and equipment required for different types of meetings

• Collect and compile agenda items

• Draft an agenda and minutes for a departmental meeting

• Monitor deadlines as part of an implementation plan

Use practical tips to carry out specific tasks with ease

• Prepare relevant presentations

• Use an electronic calendar effectively

• Organise project administration — covered very briefly and adapted to the target audience

• Set up a folder hierarchy for electronic documents

• File and archive electronic and paper documents

• Identify requirements when purchasing technical equipment

Module 2 Internal communication and collaboration

Duration: 1.5 days

Understand managers’ and colleagues’ expectations for communication and collaboration

• Follow information flow processes: obtain information and share it

Communicate effectively with colleagues within the organisation

• Structure messages to achieve mutual understanding

• Ask questions, request feedback and receive it

• Set deadlines and know how to ensure they are respected

• Write clear and understandable emails

• Lead or take part in regular briefings and debriefings

• Keep your commitments

Module 3 Welcoming and assisting clients in person and by telephone

Duration: 1.5 days

Understand the fundamentals

• The basic principles of welcoming and assisting clients

• The impact of the welcome you provide on the company’s image

Behave professionally in person and on incoming and outgoing calls

• Develop your personal approach and self-confidence

• Welcome and assist clients professionally

• Pass on communications quickly and effectively

• Suggest solutions or alternatives to clients

• Help build client loyalty

Handle difficult situations and identify opportunities for improvement

• Understand the key principles of assertive communication to manage sensitive interactions and difficult clients while remaining composed, for example by defusing aggression

• Understand international conventions and commonly used terminology.

Module 4 Day to day self management

Duration: 0.5 day

Manage stress and pressure

• Understand stress and workplace stress, their causes and consequences, and their symptoms

• Assess your own sensitivity and reactions to stress

• Understand and apply techniques to manage stress and restore concentration and performance

• Manage your emotions

• Implement techniques to achieve a work–life balance

• Regularly review your own working practices and how the organisation operates as part of a continuous improvement process

Module 5 Individual coaching

Duration: 1 hour

• Dates will be agreed with participants according to their needs and scheduled before the examination.

Module 6 Examination

Duration: 1 hour

• An online test covering the knowledge acquired during the programme, together with a practical case to solve and present to the trainers.

To provide participants with the opportunity to put their learning into practice, the modules are spread over time, ideally at a pace of one to two days per month.

Through its content and staggered schedule, this programme enables participants to broaden their knowledge and develop their skills without spending extended periods away from work. Action plans implemented between training sessions support the ongoing application of learning in the workplace.

The certification programme begins with an assessment of each participant’s context, needs and existing competencies and concludes with a written assessment of the knowledge and skills acquired.

The programme is complemented by one-hour individual coaching sessions.