Personal assistants and office managers often end up running the practical side of a project — coordinating timelines, chasing resources, keeping everyone aligned — without ever being trained as project managers. Arab British Fellowship Training Academy designed this training course to close exactly that gap, showing how the organizational and interpersonal skills PAs and office managers already have translate directly into strong project support.

Participants work through gap analysis, risk analysis and stakeholder mapping, then apply project management models such as the project life cycle, PRINCE2, the 7S and 6C models. Beyond the frameworks, the course builds the mindset needed to keep a project on time, on budget and to specification, while avoiding conflict between teams.

Who Should Attend?

• Personal assistants and executive assistants.
• Office managers.
• Project assistants involved in planning and organizing current or future projects.

Knowledge and Benefits:

After completing the program, participants will be able to master the following:

• Redesign a resume to reflect project-relevant experience from an EA, PA or office manager profile.
• Identify the transferable skills that make PA and office manager profiles well suited to project work.
• Learn core project terminology and the technical and soft skills needed to start a project.
• Get an overview of key project management models, including the project life cycle, PRINCE2, the 7S model and the 6C model.
• Recognize the pressures and constraints that affect project management in a given industry.
• Practice through hands-on exercises on planning and feasibility studies, applying the right mix of technical knowledge and soft skills.

Module 1: Why PA and Office Manager Skills Fit Project Work

• Why executive PA and office manager skills are ideal for project management.

Module 2: Project Management Foundations and Terminology

• What project management is, and an overview of key models and terms.
• Understanding the project life cycle model.

Module 3: Planning a Project From Definition to Goals

• Planning a project and understanding its associated model.
• Defining and researching a project through SWOT analysis, cost-benefit analysis and goal setting.

Module 4: Frameworks in Practice — PRINCE2

• An overview of the PRINCE2 methodology and how it is applied in practice.

Module 5: Building the Right Skillset and Project Team

• The best combination of soft skills a project manager needs, backed by good PM skills and experience.
• Understanding the project team and how it fits together.

Module 6: Managing Time, Resources and Constraints

• Managing time and resource constraints on a project.
• Working within broader project constraints.

Module 7: Tracking Progress — Gantt Charts and Critical Path

• Showing project progress, monitoring and control using Gantt charts, critical path analysis and other methods.

Module 8: Tools and Technology for Project Management

• An overview of project management IT software.

Module 9: Risk, Crisis and Closing the Project

• Crisis management within a project context.
• Final and post-completion audits, and completing project management and execution properly.

Module 10: Learning From Practice

• Case studies from real project situations and how to deal with them.
• A detailed review of the project lifecycle from start to close.