Project Management Skills for Office Professionals

Course details

The course will motivate and instill confidence in PAs, administrators and secretaries who are involved in planning and implementing projects (e.g. events, seminars, new processes and the like). It enables you to learn and practise new skills in a risk-free environment and is matched to the typical size and complexity of the projects you are most likely to be asked to manage.

Is it right for me?

Suitable for office professionals who are new to the management of smaller to medium sized projects or who have had no formal training and want to have a formal grounding in project management at their level. This course is not suitable for delegates already proficient in the use of standard project planning techniques.

What will I learn?

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Recognise when to use your project management skills
• Avoid the most common causes of project failure
• Use a simple lifecycle and checklists to manage your project work
• Define the scope and constraints of each of your projects
• Plan each project using simple and easy to understand documentation
• Monitor, control and report on your projects using just a few key techniques
• Recognise when project handover and closure is required and what it involves

What will it cover?

When to use my project skills

• How to spot a project within your day-to-day work
• Small projects – how to avoid taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut
• Recognising the signs that lead to project failure

The Project Life Cycle

• Using a simplified four-stage approach to managing your projects
• Easy to use checklists to ensure only the necessary things are completed at each stage

Defining a Project

• Being clear about the scope, key objectives and deliverables of your projects
• Confirming your budget, timescales, tolerances and other constraints
• How to ensure what you do is ‘fit for purpose’
• Risks – the need to consider what could go wrong
• The importance of establishing a simple organisational structure
• Recognising and managing all your stakeholders

Project Planning

• Being clear about what needs to be done and by whom
• Creating a simple schedule that tells you when work needs to be completed
• Recognising where delays are acceptable, so critical tasks can be prioritised
• How to manage risks, changes and ensure ‘fit for purpose’ delivery
• Ensuring effective communication – recording, reporting and issue escalation
• Information management – what to store, where to store it and how to update it

Implementing the Project

• Ensuring process ownership is in place
• How to keep the monitoring and controlling of your project straightforward
• The importance of using a simple milestone plan
• Keeping stakeholders informed – using easy to read bar charts and RAG reports

Closing and Reviewing a Project

• Being clear about what to handover and when
• Considering whether formal acceptance of the project deliverables is required
• Measuring ‘actual’ against the plan – final reporting where needed
• Learning lessons - both positive and negative
• Using a simple checklist to complete project closure

Practical Exercises

You will carry out practical exercises during the course to gain useful experience of the project management process and related skills. You will be able to apply these skills in your workplace.

Personal Development

• Formulating an action plan