About the course

The roles of office professionals have evolved over recent years to include additional responsibilities and require advanced skills, such as the ability to tackle complex tasks, build relationships, deal with conflict and make difficult decisions. Office professionals must be emotionally intelligent leaders, be prepared to take risks, be creative, be team players, represent their managers and departments, and communicate effectively.

This interactive, discussion-based course will give participants the opportunity to learn and develop these skills. Participants will return to their workplaces empowered and able to contribute even more effectively to the success of their organization.

This workshop, facilitated by our lead facilitator, has been developed specifically to benefit female office professionals and covers key topics to enable female professionals to thrive in their organizations.

Course Objectives

• By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
• Take on independent or leadership roles, work in teams when needed, and interact confidently with peers, direct managers and executives
• Utilize excellent communication skills to be even more impactful in the workplace
• Structure their workload for optimal performance and results, using effective time management strategies
• Build effective relationships with direct managers by adapting to different working styles
• Manage conflict as well as understand and influence colleagues using Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Course Outline

1. Building on existing skills
   1. The role of an office professional in the 21st century
   2. Communication skills and techniques
   3. Confidence as a tool
   4. Assertiveness in the workplace
   5. Time management under pressure
   6. Organizational skills
2. Managing the workload
   1. Task planning
   2. Prioritizing the workload
   3. Understanding the business – the big picture
   4. Taking control of the workload
   5. Change management in the work environment
   6. Effective goal setting
3. Communicating effectively
   1. Active listening
   2. Effective business letter writing
   3. E-mail writing
   4. Minutes writing
   5. Note writing
   6. Report writing
4. Powerful presentation skills
   1. Creating presentations
   2. Winning the room
   3. Presentation styles
5. Managing relationships
   1. Image and perception management
   2. Effective working relationships
   3. Working styles
   4. Identifying styles
   5. Adapting to work styles
   6. Having valuable meetings
   7. Being a team player
   8. How and when to delegate
6. Emotional intelligence
   1. Understanding and influencing behaviors
   2. Expressing needs and opinions with clarity
   3. Giving and receiving feedback
   4. Resolving conflict
   5. Utilizing empathy to achieve a common goal