Programme overview
Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Simulation
Introduction
Senior leaders lose hours each week to unmanaged calendars, overflowing inboxes, poorly prepared meetings and requests that reach them without any filter. When executive support is purely reactive, decisions slow down and confidential information is handled inconsistently. This Core Concept masterclass equips executive assistants and office professionals to run the executive office as a managed service: prioritising the leader's time, controlling information flow, preparing decision-ready material and protecting confidentiality. Participants practise under timed in-tray conditions and leave with an Executive Support Operating Plan built around their own executive's priorities.
Course Objectives
- Agree the scope, decision rights and working rhythm of the executive partnership using a RACI-based support charter
- Prioritise the executive's time and incoming requests with the Eisenhower Matrix, time-blocking and a weekly planning cadence
- Manage inbox, calendar and task flow in Microsoft 365 so that nothing reaches the executive without triage
- Prepare meeting packs, briefing notes and correspondence that follow plain language principles
- Handle confidential information, gatekeeping and difficult requests with defined controls and assertive language
- Produce an Executive Support Operating Plan ready to agree with the executive
Target Audience
- Executive and personal assistants supporting senior leaders or leadership teams
- Office professionals coordinating the diary, correspondence and meetings of a department head
- Administrative officers taking on executive support responsibilities
- Team assistants supporting several managers with shared calendars and workloads
- Front-office coordinators responsible for visitor, request and information flow to leadership
Course Outline
Day 1: The Executive Office and the Support Partnership
- Executive Assistant Role Map: Administrative, Coordinating and Business Partner Tiers
- Executive Working-Style Profile and Preferences Questionnaire
- Support Charter and RACI Matrix for Executive Decision Rights
- Time-Audit Log of the Executive's Current Week
- Office Workload Baseline: Request Volume, Turnaround and Rework
Day 2: Productivity and Communication Frameworks
- Eisenhower Matrix for Triage of Executive Requests
- Getting Things Done (GTD) Capture, Clarify and Organise Workflow
- ISO 24495-1 Plain Language Principles for Executive Correspondence
- Goleman Emotional Intelligence Model Applied to Executive Support
- Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Modes for Competing Priorities
Day 3: Running the Executive's Day
- Calendar Architecture: Time-Blocking, Buffer Rules and Meeting Standards
- Inbox Triage Rules, Folders and Delegate Access in Microsoft Outlook
- Meeting Pack Assembly: Agenda, Pre-Reads and Action Log
- SBAR Briefing Note Template for Decision Requests
- Task Tracking and Follow-Up in Microsoft Planner and To Do
Day 4: Confidentiality, Pressure and Problem Cases
- Information Classification and Clean-Desk Controls Based on ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A
- Gatekeeping Scripts and Assertive Refusal Using the DESC Model
- Generative AI Use Rules for Drafting with Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Diary Clash and Last-Minute Change Escalation Protocol
- Handover and Absence Cover Pack for Business Continuity
Day 5: In-Tray Simulation and the Executive Support Operating Plan
- Timed In-Tray Simulation: Prioritising a Leader's Morning Backlog
- Board Meeting Eve Simulation: Late Papers and Changed Attendance
- Executive Office Service Standards and Turnaround Targets Drafting
- Executive Support Operating Plan Drafting
- Peer Review Panel and Plan Presentation
Skills You Will Gain
- Executive Diary Management
- Request Prioritisation
- Meeting Pack Preparation
- Briefing Note Writing
- Confidential Information Handling
- Assertive Gatekeeping
- AI-Assisted Drafting
- Absence Cover Planning
Why Attend This Course
- Return to work with an Executive Support Operating Plan built around a real executive's priorities and working style
- Handle a heavy, shifting workload with a tested method for deciding what reaches the executive first
- Decline low-value requests while keeping working relationships with senior colleagues intact
- Compare practices with assistants and office professionals from other sectors and countries
Conclusion
Effective executive support is a managed service with clear decision rights, priorities and controls, not a list of tasks completed on request. The course moves from mapping the support partnership and auditing the executive's time, through productivity, communication and conflict frameworks, to the daily routines of calendar, inbox, meetings and briefings, and the confidentiality and pressure situations that test them. The in-tray simulations on the final day turn this into an Executive Support Operating Plan that participants agree with their executive on return.