The Definitive Executive Assistant & Managerial Handbook

Leadership for PAs, Executive Assistants, Senior Administrators and Office Managers

Sue France

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781398602465
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398602472
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management

WINNER: PA Voice Awards 2015 - Best Book for a PA (1st edition)

With the world of work profoundly disrupted by artificial intelligence, machine learning and COVID-19, the role of the executive assistant is changed forever. Learn how to respond to these challenges and help create 'the better normal' while developing the leadership skills necessary to thrive in a senior administrative position.

From bestselling author and expert Sue France, The Definitive Executive Assistant & Managerial Handbook is the ultimate guide to management in the context of an administrative role. Placing an emphasis on both personal leadership and practical skills, this new edition of the award-winning book teaches readers to manage a team, develop the emotional intelligence to understand their colleagues, negotiate effectively and confidently manage a project. Equipped with these tools, readers will be ready to steer their teams to organizational success in any situation.

With new sections on best practice for managing remote workers and building a responsible relationship with new technologies, The Definitive Executive & Managerial Handbook is an indispensable guide for both ambitious PAs aiming for promotion and senior assistants who want to improve their skills.

Index

Italics denote information within figures or tables.

accommodating style negotiators 236–237

accountability 18, 54, 66

achievability 54, 71

achievements 122

action centred leadership 9–10

action-oriented roles see completer-finishers; implementers; shapers

action plans 154, 161, 263–264, 274

see also wheel of learning

active listening 6, 50, 90, 97, 125, 162–163, 240, 250–251

adaptability 11

adaptive child state 198, 200, 201

adjourning (mourning) stage 88, 91

adrenaline 44, 128, 270

adult state 196–197, 199, 200, 201, 202–203

advice giving 52

affinity bias 260

ageism 22

aggressive questioning 245

agile appraisals (check-ins) 137

agile project management 230–231

agility 11, 288–289, 290

aha! moments 154, 161, 176

alignment 29, 53, 185

allowable weaknesses 99–100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105

ambiguity 10, 43, 206, 271

amygdala (amygdala hijack) 78–80, 128, 129, 139, 209, 270

anchoring 74–75, 248, 250, 255–256

anticipation 28, 240

apologizing 80

application forms 121

appraisals (reviews) 9, 137, 139, 168–169

appreciation 38, 49, 141–142, 264

see also praise; recognition

aptitudes 120

‘are we ready’ coaching structure 154

artificial intelligence 230, 279

artificial lighting 110

Asana 18, 85, 231

assumption testing 216, 247

‘at cause’ 73

‘at effect’ 73–74

attention giving 22, 51

attitude 33, 87, 123

attribution bias 22

auditory representation (submodalities) 70, ...

Table of contents

• The Definitive Executive Assistant & Managerial Handbook
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 01 The leadership challenge
• Who or what is a leader?
• The Three O Model of Leadership
• Servant leadership
• Leadership skills
• Leading in the VUCA world
• Employee involvement
• The neuroscience of decision making
• Summary
• 02 How to motivate yourself and your teams
• Motivational theories
• Intrinsic motivational theory: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose by Daniel H Pink (2009)
• The threat (demotivation) and reward (motivation) system in the brain
• Minimizing threat and maximizing reward
• Signs of demotivation
• What are demotivators in the workplace?
• How to motivate yourself and others
• How to motivate remote workers
• How to motivate your boss
• Motivational listening
• Assessing yourself and your own motivators
• Summary
• 03 Developing emotional intelligence
• Leadership and emotional intelligence
• Developing emotional intelligence in leaders
• NLP and emotional intelligence
• Summary
• 04 Leading effective office based and virtual teams to success
• Definition of a team
• Team-leader role
• Team dynamics
• Characteristics of effective teams
• Stages of team development
• Creating a Team Charter using ‘Developing an internal assistant network’ as an example
• Belbin® team roles
• Summary
• 05 Employee experience from recruitment to performance
• Performance management
• Interviews
• Onboarding programme and standard operating procedures
• Performance management
• Summary
• 06 Coaching
• Mentoring
• Counselling
• Coaching
• Wheel of Learning/timeline
• Summary
• 07 How to communicate with different personality and behavioural styles
• Filters and perception
• The Flock Personality Model
• Conflict management
• Summary
• 08 Managing projects
• The neuroscience of project management
• Definition and terminology of project management
• Content
• Structure
• Stage one: define
• The five steps of project start-up: sequence of events
• Project overview
• Project approach
• Project team members
• Project approval
• Stage two: plan
• Stage three: execute
• Stage four: deliver/review/close
• Processes
• Summary
• 09 The art and science of effective negotiation
• Definition of negotiation
• Negotiation styles
• The key skills of a negotiator
• The stages of a successful negotiation
• Before the negotiation – preparation
• During the negotiation – opening statements
• Discussion (including tactics)
• Bargaining
• Agreement and action plan
• Summary
• 10 Change, resilience and brain power
• What exactly is ‘change management’ and how can you help it happen effectively?
• Leading change
• Theories of change management
• Summary
• Index