Executive and Personal Assistant Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-OA-026

Before you join: Participants should have at least two years of administrative, office coordination, personal assistant or executive assistant experience.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Senior executives depend on assistants who can turn competing requests, incomplete information and sensitive issues into clear action. At advanced level, the role extends beyond diary management: it involves protecting executive time, preparing decisions, coordinating stakeholders, maintaining confidentiality and ensuring commitments are followed through. Poorly managed priorities, unclear communications and weak meeting discipline can create missed deadlines, reputational risk and unnecessary pressure on leaders and their teams.

This course develops the judgement, systems and communication discipline required of an executive or personal assistant supporting senior leaders. Participants learn to run an executive office, apply priority-management methods, build decision-ready briefings, control complex calendars, manage meetings and events, coordinate travel, and handle confidential information. The course also addresses professional presence, difficult conversations, stakeholder management, delegation boundaries and managing upwards with appropriate tact.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic executive-office cases, diary-conflict simulations, meeting preparation tasks, communication drafting and peer review. Participants work with scenarios involving board meetings, ministerial visits, client escalations, international travel changes and confidential people matters. They leave with a practical Executive Office Operating Toolkit containing reusable templates, checklists and planning models that can be adapted immediately for their executive, department or organisation.

The course suits experienced executive assistants, personal assistants, senior administrative professionals, office managers and business support staff moving into high-trust roles. It is also relevant to professionals supporting directors, country heads, programme leaders, chief executives, board chairs or senior public officials.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply Eisenhower and MoSCoW methods to prioritise executive requests and protect diary capacity
  • Build an executive office operating plan with service standards, routines and escalation routes
  • Produce decision-ready briefing papers using issue, options, recommendation and action structures
  • Coordinate complex calendars, meetings and travel through dependency mapping and contingency planning
  • Draft concise executive communications for stakeholders, meeting follow-up and sensitive situations
  • Manage confidential information using classification, access control and secure records practices
  • Use stakeholder maps and RACI matrices to coordinate commitments across senior teams
  • Create a 90-day professional development plan for sustained executive support performance

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence challenging unrealistic requests and proposing workable alternatives
  • A clearer professional boundary between delegated authority and executive decision rights
  • Faster preparation of briefing papers, agendas, action logs and executive correspondence
  • Stronger credibility with senior stakeholders through reliable follow-through and discretion
  • A documented development plan for progression into senior executive support roles

For your organisation

  • Better protected executive time through disciplined prioritisation and diary controls
  • Fewer missed actions after senior meetings, visits and stakeholder commitments
  • Higher quality briefing materials that support faster, better-informed decisions
  • Reduced confidentiality risk through consistent handling of sensitive documents and communications
  • More reliable coordination between executives, teams, clients, officials and external partners

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define an executive support operating model with clear services, boundaries and routines.

  • Executive assistant remit, delegated authority and decision-rights boundaries
  • Service catalogue defining recurring support, response times and ownership
  • Office operating rhythm covering daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly routines
  • RACI matrix for executive office tasks and shared support responsibilities
  • Escalation routes for urgent requests, conflicts and sensitive matters
  • Professional judgement when representing an executive without overstepping authority

Participants can prioritise executive demands and maintain a controlled, purpose-driven diary.

  • Eisenhower Matrix applied to executive requests, deadlines and interruptions
  • MoSCoW prioritisation for competing meetings, deliverables and stakeholder demands
  • Diary architecture using focus blocks, decision windows and protected preparation time
  • Triage questions separating information requests, decisions, approvals and delegations
  • Capacity planning for travel, meetings, recovery time and contingency
  • Saying no constructively through alternatives, trade-offs and escalation

Participants can coordinate multi-party schedules, high-stakes meetings and travel contingencies accurately.

  • Dependency mapping for attendees, documents, venues, technology and decision deadlines
  • Time-zone planning using local dates, daylight changes and travel buffers
  • Meeting purpose statements distinguishing decisions, discussion, briefing and relationship-building
  • Agenda design linking each item to owner, timing and intended outcome
  • Travel itineraries integrating visas, security requirements, transfers and backup options
  • Contingency plans for cancellations, delayed flights, absent speakers and technology failures

Participants can prepare concise materials that enable timely executive decisions and communications.

  • Issue-options-recommendation structure for concise executive decision briefings
  • BLUF writing method placing the bottom line first
  • One-page briefing format covering context, risks, recommendation and required decision
  • Correspondence triage by urgency, sender influence, sensitivity and response ownership
  • Drafting executive emails with purpose, action, deadline and accountable owner
  • Quality checks for facts, names, dates, attachments and approval status

Participants can prepare, record and follow up senior meetings using clear governance controls.

  • Terms of reference defining purpose, membership, authority and reporting lines
  • Board and committee paper schedules aligned with submission deadlines
  • Consent agenda technique for routine items requiring no discussion
  • Minutes recording decisions, rationale, actions, owners and due dates
  • Action log maintenance using status, dependency, risk and escalation fields
  • Post-meeting follow-up messages confirming decisions and outstanding commitments

Participants can manage senior stakeholders while representing executive priorities professionally and tactfully.

  • Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, relationship strength and expectations
  • Communication preferences captured through executive and stakeholder profile notes
  • Managing upwards with evidence, options, timing and respectful challenge
  • Expectation-setting language for delayed responses, unavailable executives and competing priorities
  • Difficult conversations using the DESC model for clear, respectful requests
  • Relationship recovery after missed expectations, errors or misunderstandings

Participants can protect sensitive information and respond appropriately to ethical and confidentiality concerns.

  • Information classification using public, internal, confidential and restricted categories
  • Need-to-know access decisions for papers, calendars and executive correspondence
  • Clean-desk and clear-screen controls for shared office environments
  • Secure document handling through version control, permissions and retention rules
  • Conflict-of-interest indicators involving gifts, relationships and privileged information
  • Escalating suspected breaches through documented facts and approved reporting channels

Participants can plan executive events and formal visits with appropriate protocol and operational control.

  • Event critical path covering objectives, guests, venue, programme and approvals
  • Run-of-show documents assigning timings, cues, contacts and contingency actions
  • Protocol considerations for senior officials, board members, clients and delegations
  • Seating plans based on hierarchy, relationships, accessibility and host requirements
  • Briefing packs containing biographies, talking points, logistics and security details
  • Post-event evaluation using attendance, outcomes, issues and follow-up actions

Participants can sustain professional performance under pressure while maintaining appropriate boundaries.

  • Professional presence through preparation, composure, credibility and follow-through
  • Boundary-setting scripts for out-of-hours requests and inappropriate delegation
  • Stress signals identified through workload patterns, errors and emotional responses
  • Weekly review routine for commitments, priorities, unfinished work and upcoming risks
  • Delegation checklist distinguishing tasks to retain, share, assign or escalate
  • Feedback requests using specific examples, desired changes and review dates

Participants can create a practical improvement plan for their executive support service.

  • Current-state review of diary, meetings, communications and stakeholder service
  • Gap analysis against executive expectations, risks and recurring pain points
  • SMART objectives for improving response times, preparation quality and action closure
  • Ninety-day plan with milestones, owners, evidence and review dates
  • Success measures tracking meeting readiness, action completion and stakeholder feedback
  • Personal operating principles for consistent judgement, discretion and professional conduct

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Executive Office Operating Plan template
  2. Priority and diary triage matrix
  3. Decision-ready briefing paper template
  4. Senior meeting agenda and action log pack
  5. Executive travel and event contingency checklist
  6. 90-day executive support improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Executive Assistant — supports senior leaders with complex priorities, stakeholders and confidential work
  • Personal Assistant — needs stronger systems for diary control, correspondence and executive support
  • Senior Administrative Officer — coordinates senior-level work and prepares formal communications
  • Office Manager — manages office routines, executive services and cross-team administration
  • Board Secretariat Officer — prepares meetings, papers and actions for boards or committees
  • Business Support Professional — is moving into a high-trust role supporting senior management

Skills and tools covered

Executive diary managementSenior stakeholder communicationMeeting and event coordinationConfidential information handlingDecision briefing preparationManaging upwards

Tools and standards

Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW prioritisation, RACI matrix, DESC model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by cases drawn from executive offices, public bodies, banks, multinational firms and programme teams. Participants analyse competing diary requests, prepare executive briefings, run meeting-planning scenarios and draft communications for sensitive situations. Group exercises examine practical choices around confidentiality, stakeholder expectations and escalation. Simulations test responses to travel disruption, urgent requests and conflicting priorities. Each participant completes application planning using their own role, executive support requirements and workplace routines.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of administrative, office coordination, personal assistant or executive assistant experience. They should already be comfortable using email, calendars, word processing, spreadsheets and virtual meeting platforms. Experience supporting a manager or coordinating meetings is useful, but direct board-level experience is not required. The course assumes participants can communicate professionally in writing and contribute to group discussions. No formal qualification, project management certification, legal training or specialist software expertise is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have prior administrative, coordination, personal assistant or executive assistant experience. They do not need a formal qualification or previous board secretariat experience.

Participants should bring a laptop if possible and examples of non-confidential diary, meeting or workflow challenges they face. Do not bring sensitive papers, personal data or restricted organisational documents.

It is designed for experienced assistants and administrative professionals supporting senior managers, directors, executives, boards or programme leaders. It also suits office managers moving into direct executive support.

This course focuses on high-trust support for senior decision-makers, including managing upwards, briefing preparation, stakeholder expectations and confidentiality. General administration courses usually place more emphasis on routine office processes and basic software tasks.

Participants build reusable templates and a 90-day improvement plan based on their own office routines. The methods can be applied to diary triage, meeting preparation, correspondence control and stakeholder coordination immediately.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, simulations, group work, drafting tasks and individual application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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