Welcome to Monday and (dare I say it?) a countdown to Christmas!
Last week I had the absolute privilege to speak at Strategic PA Recruitment’s inaugural in-person event. This event took place at the very salubrious One Aldwych in London with networking, drinks and canapes in The Library followed by presentations in The Screening Room (a 30 seat private cinema).
For those who know me, you know I love a beautiful London venue and the decor, ambience and hospitality here were amazing! In fact, I’m returning in a couple of week’s time to enjoy a Charlie & The Chocolate Factory themed afternoon tea as a treat for my daughter’s 16th birthday. Make sure you connect with the Director of Sales, Alexandra Bew MIH on LinkedIn here if you want to find out more about this gorgeous venue (and say Lindsay referred you!).
It was great to hear from Strategic PA Recruitment Directors Sarah Howson and Marianne Whitlock with their session “From Executive Assistant to Executive Assistant Recruiter: Insights & Advice”. I’ve been a stalwart supporter of Sarah since she set up BBO PA Network and it’s heartwarming to follow her success. Strategic PA Recruitment are one of our Business Friends and you can read more about them here.
The session I shared on the evening was “C-Suite Influencing Skills : Elevate Your Executive Presence”. In traditional Your Excellency style the session was interactive and thought-provoking for the EA and PA attendees. I introduced my belief that you are in positions of great influence – you see, hear and experience what’s going on in your organisations from “the shop floor” to “the Board Room table” and are uniquely placed to put forward suggestions, ideas and proposals. It’s important to know how best to influence and I introduced this quote as a foundation. Flexiblity is key.
I shared 5 different behaviour patterns and the corresponding language preferences used at the extremes of these patterns. I got attendees to identify where they would plot themselves on the “behaviour line” and then to consider their Executive or team member and where they would plot them. We had fun identifying the merits and annoyances to the extremes of behaviour (remembering this is about the behaviour NOT the person!).
One of the behaviour patterns is “Big Picture” “Detail” honing in on the amount of information an individual prefers to work with. You can learn more about this here (revisiting an early ????Lunch N Learn with Lindsay???? issue). This will give you a taste of the great learning our attendees took away.
And, of course, if you’ve got a team of PAs who want to develop their influencing skills, I’d be delighted to share the full session (virtually or in-person!) with you of course!
