Course overview
Administrative and secretarial professionals keep senior staff, teams and office operations organised when priorities compete, information is sensitive and deadlines cannot move. The role requires more than diary management and document production: it calls for sound judgement, professional communication, disciplined records control, effective meeting support and the ability to anticipate what colleagues need next. Weak administrative systems create missed actions, duplicated work, poor stakeholder experiences and avoidable pressure on managers.
This course develops the practical methods used to run an efficient administrative function. Participants learn to prioritise work using the Eisenhower Matrix and MoSCoW method, manage executive diaries, prepare agendas and minutes, coordinate travel and events, control records under ISO 15489 principles, and communicate with clarity across email, telephone and face-to-face channels. They also examine confidentiality, escalation, stakeholder management, document quality and workflow improvement.
Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic office cases, group exercises, communication simulations and practical planning. Participants work with scenarios such as supporting a board meeting, resolving conflicting diary requests, preparing a travel itinerary, handling sensitive correspondence and recovering an overdue action log. Each participant leaves with a reusable administrative operations toolkit containing practical templates, checklists and a personal application plan. Successful participants receive a certificate of completion.
The course suits administrative assistants, secretaries, personal assistants, executive assistants, office coordinators and team administrators who already perform core office duties and need a more structured, confident approach to supporting managers and teams.
