Chapter Programs

Constructing Your Career is a series of 12 training modules developed just for IAAP chapters to use at their monthly meetings, in lieu of other learning options. Each module comes with a description for marketing it, an easy-to-use Facilitator’s Guide, a reproducible Participant’s Booklet, a PowerPoint slide program, instructions for the trainer, and is eligible for 1 recertification point. Information is provided on how to apply for recertification credit. 

Understanding the Administrative Professional’s Changing Role in the Changing Workplace – A look at the changing skill sets being required of successful admins today

Significant change in the workplace brings many challenges for administrative professionals on a personal, functional and organizational level. In the past, you went to work, did the same job and likely remained with a company a good part of your work career. You knew the people you worked with and often socialized with them after work. Today, people change jobs frequently and need to learn new skills to keep current. Employees must adapt to a global workplace where the people they work with may not always sit near them … or be in the same office … or even in the same parts of the world. One of the consequences of this is that building strong administrative skills is more critical than ever.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize how the roles and responsibilities of administrative professionals are changing
• Identify trends in the workplace
• Identify “best practices” in admin skills today

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Building Relationships Across Space and Time – Cultivating and maintaining virtual relationships requires looking at and responding to teammates and partners in new ways

The need for virtual business teams—work groups made up of people with complementary skills, common purpose and interdependent goals, but who are separated by geography, time zones and sometimes language and culture—will increase dramatically in the future. The changes in technology make building relationships both easier and more complicated. In this session, you will learn some of the most current tips and techniques for building strong, professional relationships across space and time.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand their personal communication skills
• Identify the best practices of virtual teams
• Recognize how their organization can benefit from social networking
• Recognize social media buzzwords
• Utilize the most frequently visited social media platforms

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Expanding Your Vision: Seeing New Things in New Ways – Admins must start seeing the big picture and thinking in terms of innovative solutions – here’s how to start the process

Traditionally, admins have focused on the details and often worked in isolation of corporate goals and strategies. Today, admins must not only understand the “big picture,” but they must become part of it by helping organizations fulfill their missions and remain competitive.

In order to do this, admins must be able to offer creative ideas and innovative solutions to existing problems. They must think strategically, solve problems and made strong decisions.

In this session, you will examine the skills and strategies needed to see new things in new ways!

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of creativity
• Identify the two phases of idea development
• Apply creative thinking techniques
• Recognize how to change problems into opportunities
• Weigh the risk of implementing new ideas

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Getting to the Heart of the Matter – Root cause analysis gets you to the heart of the problem and helps you identify the risks, make better decisions, and get better outcomes

As the roles and responsibilities for administrative assistants increase, one of the most important skills you can develop is the ability to think critically and solve problems. Using the information in this session, you’ll learn how to “get to the heart of the matter” in order to recognize the problems, identify the root cause and provide a strong solution.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the goal of risk analysis in business
• Utilize the two basic operations of risk analysis
• Implement scenario planning techniques
• Understand how to use various analysis tools

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The Invisible Promotion – Instead of begrudging the new responsibilities and tasks you’ve been assigned, use them to “upgrade” your career – rewrite your job description and think big

The game has changed! Everyone needs to assess their current worth to their employer. Instead of relying on what you’ve done in the past, you must focus on what you can do to help the organization thrive in the future. Learn how you can take your “invisible promotion” and turn it into something that will make your employer sit up and take notice of your unique skills and valuable contributions.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Develop a personal strategy for managing change
• Eliminate the mistakes that can come with an invisible promotion
• Use effective time management techniques
• Delegate effectively

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Mobile Devices and the Office – As mobile devices grow in number and importance, learn how to integrate them with traditional communication methods

Mobile devices have become ubiquitous. There are smartphones, laptops, notebooks, tablets and more to come. How do these things interface (if they do), allow for more remote work (like telecommuting and using contract agents) and modify work hours and work volume?

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Discover how these technologies are changing the way and even the time that we are working
• Discuss how these technologies enable flexibility of schedules that increase morale and productivity, and review the data that supports this concept
• Look at what is coming in the future and how the new technologies could once again revolutionize the way we get things done

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The Unique Role of a Multi-Manager Administrative Assistant – Tricks of the trade for supporting multiple managers…and making it work – for you and them

Many admins today support more than one manager – in fact many support several managers. This requires them to do some juggling to get everyone’s needs met, including that of the admin. Yet, this isn’t a skill that is taught in business classes or even on the job. People are just “supposed” to know what to do and how to do it. From the standpoint of the admin, it’s a little like herding cats. Each manager is doing his/her thing. No one thinks about the hub of the office - the admin. So maybe now is the time for admins to take control!

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the essential habits of multi-manager admins
• Recognize some of the biggest challenges for multi-manager admins and how to overcome them
• Understand the importance of “managing up”
• Recognize signs of multiple-boss madness
• Identify the importance of managing office politics

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Tracking and Scheduling with Microsoft® Office – Make two common admin tasks - tracking and scheduling - easier with tips for using MS Office

As admins, it is obvious that organization skills are a large part of the most critical skills to success. It can be the difference between being good at your job and being the best, making you invaluable to the organization. Understanding how to use technology to improve your skills and automate tasks can improve your efficiency and overall productivity, freeing up time to work on other high-priority tasks. Two important tasks that are growing in importance are tracking and scheduling.

At the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Discuss how the top MS Office and other Microsoft® products can improve scheduling and tracking skills: Outlook®, Excel®
• Recognize advanced tips and tools to help track and schedule others in Outlook®

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SharePoint® Collaborative Software from Microsoft® - Learn how to use SharePoint to collaborate with team members, both on site and off site

Microsoft® SharePoint® is a free downloadable collection of services that works with Windows Server®. For SharePoint® 2007 and prior versions, it is referred to as WSS; for the 2010 version, it is referred to as Foundation.  Its purpose is to provide a means to enhance knowledge management within companies by providing the technological means to distribute information, knowledge and opinions to the right people at the right time.

At the end of the session, participants will become familiar with various capabilities within SharePoint®:

• SharePoint® Sites
• Meeting Workspace Site
• Document Workspace Site
• User Web Sites
• Document Library
• Forms
• Alerts
• Content Searches
• Wiki Page Libraries
• Blogs
• Surveys
• And more

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Succession Planning and Career Development – Prepare yourself and others for future roles within the organization by keeping job descriptions up to date, using the mentoring process, and planning for your professional development

Succession planning is one of the last things people and organizations think about when, in fact, it should be one of the first. In this session, you will learn how career development discussions, updated job descriptions, effective Learning Management Systems, mentoring and other processes can help prepare someone to take over your duties so that you move into more responsible positions and advance your career.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of succession planning for themselves and their organization
• Recognize the four phases of career success
• Identify the difference between coaching, mentoring and managing
• Identify what is and is not appropriate for a mentoring relationship
• Utilize techniques for updating their job description
• Find resources to enrich their careers

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Virtual Meetings, Virtual Teams: How the Move to Virtual is Affecting Admins – Virtual teams call for admins to have a new way of thinking, planning, and executing

Going virtual in lieu of face-to-face interactions saves time, money and hassles. Although there are numerous positive benefits, what effect does it have on the administrative assistant who must arrange the meetings, track assignments and budgets, hold folks to deadlines and blend all the pieces together into one seamless end product? It’s hard enough when everyone is co-located, but virtual adds another layer of complexity.

In this session, we will shatter the myths of virtual teams and look at the key aspects and best practices used by admins when working on and with virtual teams.

Upon completion of this module, participants will be able to:

• Recognize the myths of virtual teams
• Understand the characteristics of successful virtual teams
• Identify the most frequent challenges faced by virtual teams
• Discuss technology issues of virtual teams
• Keep virtual team meetings on track

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Where Do I Fit? Admins in a Team Environment – Moving from a manager-to-admin-support environment to one where the admin plays a pivotal role as a team contributor and project coordinator means that admins need to redefine their roles

Most admins were trained to independently respond to the needs of an individual (or two). Now, an admin isn’t doing someone else’s work; they often have their own projects to manage, their own teams to coordinate and their own accountability. So how do workers know where they fit in while working in a team environment and discover exactly what they are responsible for? This session will provide admins with knowledge of how to be just as successful in this new world of teams and increased responsibility as they have been in their role of working directly with one or two managers.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the new role admins are playing in their organizations
• Understand the new skill sets that must be developed
• Recognize the need for strong business acumen
• Identify the abilities needed for leading and managing a team
• Recognize the importance of seeing the big picture and paying attention to the small details

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