course | Office Management and Administration

The Role of the Office Manager/Administrator

• Identifying your role
• Perception vs. Reality
• Competencies required for Success (The Competence Model of Skills, Behaviors and Values)
• What it takes to be an effective office manager/administrator
• Time Management Constraints – resources, systems, other people and self
• Handling requests and conflicting priorities

Team Working, Communication and Meetings

• Team Working and Team Roles
• Selling your ideas to the boss, colleagues, subordinates and clients
• Briefing Skills – giving, receiving and passing on
• Organizing and participating in meetings
• Notes, minutes and follow-up
• Preparing a professional report/presentation

Managing Working Relationships (Communicating and Supervising with Admin Staff)

• Delegation – giving and receiving
• Coaching and training colleagues and staff
• Communication and listening skills
• Building rapport
• Developing a network of working relationships (Influencing Skills)
• Assertiveness and conflict
• People problems and Problem People
• Helping others perform, practical motivation and criticism skills

Managing Time, Desk Management and Office Technology

• Planning and priority setting (Identifying and eliminating time wasters)
• Office layout and ergonomics
• Desk efficiency and etiquette
• Managing the paper-load and developing paperless systems
• Getting the best from Office Technology
• Communication Skills (Writing Correspondence – emails, letters, reports)

Managing Information and Budgets, Improving Customer Service and Systems

• Principles of information management – scheduling, filtering and digesting
• Interpreting and presenting statistical information
• Designing and using graphs
• Designing surveys, presenting findings and interpreting meaning
• Basic concepts of financial management (Monitoring budgets and variance)
• Improving customer service and systems – continuous improvement
• Having the right attitude
• Providing excellent service
• Handling complaints
• Understanding the needs of internal and external customers
• Action planning