Manager and PA - an assertive team
Featured in the The Assertiveness Skills Pack training manual
By Joanna Gutmann
Category: Communication Skills
Credit price: 2 download credits (Single user)
When asked what changes they would like to make to their job, many Personal Assistants (PAs) respond with ‘more responsibility’. Ask their managers what they want from their Pas and, more often than not, the response is ‘for them to take on more’. This training activity takes the form of exercises or discussion questionnaires. This format avoids the PAs being daunted by the presence of their managers, and also supports the private nature of some of the discussions. The exercise, ‘What do you want?’ is an icebreaker and should be treated lightly, although not flippantly. Some groups take it very seriously, whereas others make suggestions like ‘good-looking’. Either way, it is the comparison of priorities that provides interest. PAs are usually far more accurate at guessing the requirements of the other party, and the reasons for this often provoke lively discussion.
Managers and PAs discuss the effectiveness of their partnership, assess their current communication style and make plans for future change and improvement.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to improve the working relationship between managers and personal assistants.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 12 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:50:00 |
| No of Pages: | 10 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers with managers and PAs who wish to open up line of communication in order to work more effectively together. All participants should have completed, ‘Rights in assertiveness’, and must have taken part in, ‘Behaviour styles’, or have undergone basic assertiveness training, to provide them with the background information and understanding to support this activity.
Download the training activity, Manager and PA - an assertive team as featured in the Fenman training manual; The Assertiveness Skills Pack