OFFICE MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SKILLS MASTERCLASS

CHARLES COTTER

FOKAS CONSULTING

FNB CONFERENCING AND LEARNING CENTRE

APRIL 2015

TRAINING PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

• Personal Development

• Stress Management

• Professional Development

• Office Management and Administration

• Minute-taking

• Office space and environment management

PERSONAL MASTERY

• Personality type

• Your self-belief, esteem and self-efficacy

• Personal needs, strengths/weaknesses and preferences

• Personal motivation

• Passion and interests

• Personal and professional goals, ambitions and aspirations

• Resilience

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Organizational skills

• Tact and diplomacy

• Effective communication skills

• Maintain confidentiality in sensitive matters

• Display excellent judgment

DEFINING RESILIENCE

• Resilience in psychology refers to the idea of an individual'stendency to cope with stress and adversity.

• This coping may result in the individual "bouncing back" to aprevious state of normal functioning, or using the experience ofexposure to adversity to produce a "steeling effect" and functionbetter than expected

• Resilience is most commonly understood as a process, and not atrait of an individual.

• Resilience is a dynamic process whereby individuals exhibit positivebehavioural adaptation when they encounter significant adversity,trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress.

RESILIENCE BUILDING STRATEGIES

• Positive

• Focused

• Flexible

• Organized

• Proactive

DEFINING ASSERTIVENESS

• Assertiveness is the ability to express one’sfeelings and assert one’s rights while respectingthe feelings and rights of others.

• Assertive communication is appropriately direct,open and honest, and clarifies one’s needs to theother person. People who have mastered the skillof assertiveness are able to greatly reduce thelevel of interpersonal conflict in their lives,thereby reducing a major source of stress.

• The Assertiveness Continuum

THE ASSERTIVENESS CONTINUUM

MEASURING YOUR ASSERTIVENESS

• Do you have difficulty accepting constructive criticism?

• Do you have trouble voicing a difference of opinion withothers?

• Do people tend to feel alienated by your communicationstyle when you do disagree with them?

• Do you feel attacked when someone has an opiniondifferent from your own?

• Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to requests that youshould really say ‘no’ to, just to avoid disappointing people?

LEARNING TO SAY NO – “WHO’S GOT THE MONKEY?”

ASSERTIVENESS STRATEGIES

• Be Firm and Decisive - Say No if You Have To

• Ask For What You Want - Matter of Factly

• Achieve Your Goals

• Constructively Resolve Conflict

• Be Interested In the People Around You

• Believe in Yourself

CONSOLIDATION INTO A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PDP)

STRESS MANAGEMENT

• Defining stress

• Perception of stress

• The Four Common Types of Stress

• Causes of stress

• Outcomes of stress

• The Pyramid Approach

• Stress management strategies

PERCEPTION OF STRESS

• Importance: Refers to how significant the eventis to the individual.

• Uncertainty: Lack of clarity about what willhappen.

• Duration: The longer special demands are, themore stressful the situation. The same holds truefor stressors. Stress of short duration issometimes referred to as acute stress. Longduration of stress is sometimes referred to aschronic stress.

COMMON TYPES OF STRESS

• Time stress

• Anticipatory stress

• Situational stress

• Encounter stress

OUTCOMES OF STRESS

PYRAMID APPROACH

INDIVIDUAL STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

• Professionalism and Business ethics

• The attributes of professionalism

• How to Exhibit Professionalism

• Building credibility

• Creating trust within the team

• Core competencies of being a successful professional

• Networking and building business contacts

ATTRIBUTES OF PROFESSIONALISM

• Specialized Knowledge

• Competency

• Honesty and Integrity

• Accountability

• Self-Regulation

• Image

VALUE OF AN OFFICE PROFESSIONAL

In a survey of the Managing

Directors of the Top

5 000 businesses in the UK, they

concluded that having their P.A

made them more than 32% more

effective.

BUILDING CREDIBILITY

• The Credibility Formula as: Credibility = Integrity +Expertise.

• Achieving a distinguishable level of follower faith andloyalty is certainly not an overnight occurrence and can beachieved only through openness; committed peopleinvestment and a proven scorecard of leadership andperformance excellence.

• Leader behaviour, actions and decisions congruent withreliability, fairness, consistency and transparency areinstrumental values which can enhance follower perceptionof the leader’s reputation, standing and eventually, theirwillingness to follow and support that leader.

COVEY’S EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT

COVEY’S WIN-WIN MINDSET

TRUST ENHANCING STRATEGIES

• Open and transparent communication

• Mutual respect and tolerance for individualdifferences

• Demonstrated care and sincere interest

• Recognition for the value of each individualteam member

• Co-operation and shared commitment

CORE COMPETENCIES OF BEING A SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL

• Identify our most valuable skill sets

• Market our skills that are most in-demand

• Target who we want to market ourselves to

• Articulate our ability to solve an employer's problems and alleviate their pain

• Proactively start and engage in meaningful industry conversations

• Position ourselves as a subject-matter expert

• Know our worth

• Know our limits

NETWORKING AND BUSINESS CONTACTS

• “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

• Research has proven that those employees better equipped with thesocial skills necessary to network effectively and build sustainable,professional relationships with key organizational decision-makers, tend toclimb the corporate ladder substantially faster than those who lack thiscapability.

• Research indicates that between 50% and 75% of jobs are neveradvertised.

• So networking can be 12 times more effective than answering anadvertisement.

• Networking is a process of building strong and enduring relationships thatare mutually beneficial.

• Refer to network pointers and guidelines.

PROFESSIONAL VALUE AND WORTH

OFFICE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

• The necessity of management

• Defining management

• Management roles

• Management skills

• Management functions

• Management resources

THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF MANAGEMENT

• Management directs a business towards its goals

• Management sets and keeps the operations of abusiness on a balanced course

• Management keeps the organization in aequilibrium with its environment

• Management is necessary to reach the goals ofthe organization at the highest possible level ofproductivity

MANAGEMENT SKILLS

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION ROLES

MINUTE-TAKING FUNDAMENTALS

• The scope of minutes

• Tips and warnings

• The criteria of effective minutes

• Preparation (pre-meeting)

• Transcribing (during meeting)

• Writing minutes (after the meeting)

SCOPE OF MINUTES

• Where and when the meeting took place?

• Who was there and who was not?

• Who was the speaker and what did he/she say?

• What has been decided for the group (resolutions)?

• Who has agreed to do what?

• Who is responsible for implementing it?

• When should it be implemented?

CRITERIA FOR GOOD MINUTES

• Be factual and accurate

• Be short and to the point (concise)

• Clearly indicate the meeting proceedings and discussions

• Concentrate on resolutions and decisions taken at the meeting

• Show decisions clearly marked “agreed” by the CommitteeMembers

• Follow the agenda headings so that they are easily understood

CRITERIA FOR GOOD MINUTES

• Be written in full sentences

• Indicate how many members attended the meeting orlist their names

• State the time the meeting was opened and closed

• Be written in the past tense

• Be written in plain, easily understood language

• Be consistent in their format and content

MINUTE-TAKING (TRANSCRIPTION) PROCESS

OFFICE SPACE AND ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT

ERGONOMICALLY CORRECT CHAIR

OFFICE DESIGN

• Green Plants

• Lighting

• Aromatherapy

• Air Quality

• EMF Protection

OFFICE DESIGN

• Colours

• Music

• Breaks

• Organization - Feng Shui

MEANING OF FENG SHUI

• A Chinese system of laws considered to governspatial arrangement and orientation in relationto the flow of energy (chi), and whose favourableor unfavourable effects are taken into accountwhen siting and designing buildings.

• The art of placement – knowing what to putwhere and in what colours, shapes andmaterials, to create an environment thatfacilitates happiness, serenity, tranquility andharmony.

FENG SHUI OFFICE RE-DESIGN

CONCLUSION

• Key points

• Summary

• Questions

CONTACT DETAILS

• Charles Cotter

• (+27) 84 562 9446

• charlescot@polka.co.za

• LinkedIn

• Twitter: Charles_Cotter

• http://www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter