Executive Secretary and Personal Assistant Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Executive Secretary, 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-028

Before you join: Participants should have at least two years of administrative, secretarial, team support or personal assistant experience and be comfortable using email, calendars, word processing and spreadsheets.

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

An executive secretary or personal assistant protects senior leaders' time, improves decision quality and keeps critical commitments moving. The role requires far more than diary management: it involves judging competing demands, controlling confidential information, preparing leaders for meetings, handling senior stakeholders and ensuring actions are completed. Small errors in scheduling, correspondence, records or protocol can create missed decisions, reputational damage and avoidable pressure for the executive and their team.

This advanced course develops the operating methods used by effective executive support professionals. Participants establish working agreements with executives, manage complex calendars, write concise senior-level correspondence, prepare meeting briefs and minutes, control documents and coordinate travel, events and office services. They also apply RACI, MoSCoW, Eisenhower Matrix, RAID logs and RAG reporting to support executive projects, priorities and decisions. Particular attention is given to discretion, stakeholder access, delegated authority, escalation and maintaining professional boundaries under pressure.

Instruction combines short tutor briefings with realistic cases involving board meetings, ministerial visits, client events, confidential personnel matters and executive project updates. Participants practise judgement through diary-conflict scenarios, message triage, meeting preparation, stakeholder requests and action tracking. They leave with a reusable Executive Support Operating Pack containing working-agreement, calendar-control, meeting, project-tracking and stakeholder-management templates adapted to their role.

The course suits experienced secretaries, executive assistants, personal assistants and office managers who support directors, senior leadership teams, country managers or public-sector executives. It is also suitable for professionals moving into higher-level executive support responsibilities.

What you will be able to do

  • Establish an executive–assistant working agreement covering authority, preferences, escalation and confidentiality
  • Manage complex executive calendars using time blocking, buffer design and meeting acceptance criteria
  • Draft BLUF-based emails, briefing notes and decision requests for senior stakeholders
  • Prepare meeting briefs, agendas, minutes and action logs that drive accountable follow-through
  • Apply document control, information classification and retention practices to sensitive records
  • Prioritise executive support work using Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW and Kanban controls
  • Track executive initiatives using project charters, Gantt charts, RAID logs and RAG reports
  • Produce a 90-day executive support application plan with measures and review milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence handling senior stakeholder requests and executive access
  • A repeatable method for resolving diary conflicts and competing priorities
  • Stronger writing for executive emails, briefing notes and decision requests
  • Practical controls for confidential information, records and delegated authority
  • Evidence-based development plan for progression into executive support roles

For your organisation

  • Better protected executive time through structured calendar and request controls
  • Fewer missed actions through disciplined minutes, action logs and reminders
  • More consistent handling of confidential records, visitors and stakeholder access
  • Clearer executive project reporting through RAID logs and RAG status updates
  • Reduced disruption from poorly planned meetings, travel and senior-level events

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can establish clear working arrangements that define executive preferences, authority and escalation.

  • Executive–assistant working agreement covering authority, preferences, escalation and decision rights
  • Stakeholder maps distinguishing sponsors, gatekeepers, decision makers and informed parties
  • RACI matrix for meeting ownership, approvals, follow-up and delegated actions
  • Confidentiality boundaries applied to personnel, board, commercial and personal information
  • Professional presence: voice, judgement, dress, discretion and response standards
  • Expectation-setting conversation using questions, summaries, agreements and review points

Participants can prepare clear, appropriately toned communications for executives and senior stakeholders.

  • BLUF structure for executive emails, briefing notes and decision requests
  • Drafting concise correspondence with purpose, action, deadline, owner and context
  • Tone calibration for senior leaders, customers, regulators and internal teams
  • Closed-loop communication confirming receipt, interpretation, commitment and completion
  • Telephone screening scripts that protect time while preserving stakeholder relationships
  • Message triage using urgency, consequence, authority and response-time criteria

Participants can control complex calendars while protecting executive priorities and preparation time.

  • Time blocking aligned to strategic priorities, energy patterns and fixed commitments
  • Calendar triage distinguishing immovable events, negotiable requests and delegated attendance
  • Buffer design for travel, preparation, recovery and decision-making time
  • Eisenhower Matrix applied to competing requests, interruptions and deferred work
  • Meeting acceptance criteria covering purpose, authority, preparation and expected decisions
  • Diary conflict resolution through options, trade-offs, escalation and clear communication

Participants can prepare and control meetings that produce documented decisions and completed actions.

  • Meeting brief template stating purpose, participants, context, decisions and risks
  • Agenda design using decision, discussion and information item classifications
  • Pre-read control: versioning, distribution deadlines, access permissions and acknowledgements
  • Minute-taking formats capturing decisions, actions, owners, deadlines and dissent
  • Action log management with RAG status, dependencies, reminders and escalation
  • Chair support through prompts, timekeeping, interventions and decision confirmation

Participants can organise records, travel and events using clear control points and contingency arrangements.

  • Document control using naming conventions, version histories and retention schedules
  • ISO 8601 dates and unambiguous file names for records retrieval
  • Information classification labels for public, internal, confidential and restricted material
  • Travel itineraries integrating visa requirements, transfers, contingencies and contact details
  • Event run sheets assigning timings, hosts, suppliers, equipment and contingencies
  • Expense evidence packs matching policy rules, approvals, receipts and cost centres

Participants can prioritise support work, delegate appropriately and maintain control of open commitments.

  • MoSCoW prioritisation separating must, should, could and won't commitments
  • Daily control system combining task lists, calendar blocks and waiting-for items
  • Kanban board limits that expose bottlenecks, ageing tasks and blocked work
  • Delegation brief using outcome, authority, deadline, constraints and check-back points
  • Interruption protocols for visitors, calls, instant messages and walk-up requests
  • Weekly review reconciling commitments, open loops, risks and executive priorities

Participants can coordinate executive initiatives through structured planning, reporting and change control.

  • Project charter defining scope, deliverables, milestones, roles, assumptions and constraints
  • Work breakdown structure converting executive initiatives into manageable work packages
  • Gantt chart sequencing dependencies, deadlines, decision gates and critical milestones
  • RAID log recording risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, owners and actions
  • Status reports using RAG indicators, exceptions, decisions required and next steps
  • Change control documenting requests, impacts, approval authority and updated commitments

Participants can manage senior stakeholder relationships, protocol requirements and difficult service situations.

  • Stakeholder engagement plan matching influence, interest, expectations and communication channels
  • Power-interest grid used to prioritise briefings, access and follow-up
  • Protocol for introductions, seating plans, titles, greetings and hosting duties
  • Cross-cultural communication checks covering directness, hierarchy, time and etiquette
  • Boundary management when colleagues seek access, exceptions or confidential information
  • Service recovery conversation addressing delays, errors, ownership and corrective action

Participants can support office operations using basic financial controls, supplier coordination and risk management.

  • Purchase requisitions matched to budgets, quotations, approvals and delegated authority
  • Budget tracker comparing committed spend, actuals, forecasts and available balance
  • Petty cash and expense controls using receipts, limits and segregation
  • Supplier coordination with specifications, service levels, confirmations and issue records
  • Business continuity contact trees, alternative venues and essential records
  • Risk register scoring likelihood, impact, controls, owners and review dates

Participants can maintain professional boundaries and implement an improvement plan for their executive support role.

  • Professional boundaries protecting availability, confidentiality, workload and decision quality
  • Assertive refusal using alternatives, rationale, escalation and respectful language
  • Stress signals monitored through workload, deadlines, interruptions and recovery patterns
  • Feedback requests structured around behaviour, impact, preferred change and follow-up
  • Personal development plan with capability goals, evidence and review milestones
  • 90-day application plan assigning priorities, actions, measures and sponsor support

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

What you take back to work

  1. Executive–assistant working agreement template
  2. Executive calendar control plan
  3. Meeting brief and action log pack
  4. Confidential information handling checklist
  5. Executive initiative RAID and RAG reporting pack
  6. 90-day executive support application plan

Who should attend

  • Executive Secretary — to strengthen judgement, executive partnership and control of senior-level commitments
  • Personal Assistant — to manage competing requests, confidential work and demanding executive schedules
  • Executive Assistant — to provide structured support for meetings, projects and stakeholder access
  • Senior Administrative Assistant — to move from transactional administration into executive support responsibilities
  • Office Manager — to coordinate senior office operations, suppliers, records and leadership events
  • Team Assistant — to prepare for supporting directors or a senior leadership team

Skills and tools covered

Executive diary managementSenior stakeholder communicationMeeting governanceConfidential information controlProject coordinationPriority management

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW prioritisation, RAID log

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short tutor briefings to introduce each method, followed by case work drawn from executive offices, leadership meetings, client visits and internal projects. Participants work in groups on diary conflicts, message triage, briefing packs, meeting records and project updates. Simulations test communication choices when requests compete for executive time or involve sensitive information. Individual application planning helps participants select controls, templates and working practices for immediate use with their executive or leadership team.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of administrative, secretarial, team support or personal assistant experience and be comfortable using email, calendars, word processing and spreadsheets. They should already understand routine meeting scheduling, correspondence and office procedures. Experience supporting a director, executive or senior manager is useful but not essential. No formal management qualification, project management certification or finance background is required. The course does not assume expertise in a particular software suite; participants can transfer the methods to their organisation's calendar, document-management and collaboration systems.

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

You should have at least two years of administrative, secretarial, team support or PA experience. You do not need a formal qualification or previous project management training.

Bring a laptop or tablet if possible, plus examples of non-confidential diary, meeting or workflow challenges you want to improve. Do not bring confidential papers, executive correspondence or restricted records.

It is designed for experienced executive secretaries, personal assistants, executive assistants and office managers. It also suits senior administrative professionals preparing to support directors or leadership teams.

General administration courses focus on routine office processes and basic organisational skills. This course concentrates on executive partnership, senior stakeholder judgement, confidential work, decision support and leadership-team coordination.

You will leave with templates for working agreements, diary control, meeting preparation, action tracking and executive project reporting. These can be adapted to your executive's preferences, your organisation's policies and your existing systems.

The course runs for five instructor-led days, 08:30 to 16:30, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Teaching moves from executive partnership and communication through calendar control, meetings, projects, stakeholder management and 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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