Learning and Collaboration Day 2022

We were thrilled to be back at the Etihad Stadium on Friday 14 October 2022 for our annual Learning and Collaboration Day! With new and returning students, we had a very informal learning day, including talks on the C-Suite skills now needed in CEOs, taking the EA role to an even higher level, as well as confidence building and strategies of overcoming fears. To top it all off, we were enjoyed the superb hospitality with a three-course meal, all served in the Chairman’s Club, at Manchester City! A day not to be missed! Thank you to all those who attended.

New course - Corporate Governance

We’re delighted to announce a brand new 1-day programme, Introduction to Corporate Governance. Based on feedback from our clients and students, governance is a key area for all modern businesses, and many business support staff, such as EAs and PAs, need a good understand of governance, especially if they are overseeing it or supporting it. To express your interest in attending ‘Level 4 Introduction to Corporate Governance’ this Autumn in Manchester, you can email us. And, to see the course outline, click here.

We're enrolling now!

You, too, can graduate as an Executive Assistant! Why not raise the bar, gain professional status, obtain a professional qualification, or undertake one of our accredited training programmes? Whether you’re relatively new to your EA post, or an experienced EA, the quality of our quality and teaching is unrivalled. We’re enrolling now for September and Autumn starts.… to find out more, see our prospectus and course outlines. Our, for some initial advice and guidance, feel free to email us.

Take your Executive Assistant into Partnership

“Over the last few months, we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of senior managers asking us to train them on how to work with their Executive Assistant,” says Adam Fidler. So, with that in mind, we’ve developed a brand-new ‘in house’ programme called Take your Executive Assistant into Partnership. The half-day session is already being delivered to a number of blue-chip companies around the country, and it’s testimony to those firms that they see the need to not only train their EAs, but train their bosses too! If you’d like more information and some practical advice on how to build a true boss/EA partnership, whether you’re a boss or an EA, then we’d recommend you 'the article by the same name in Volume 3 Executive Assistant, or contact us for more information. about our half-day course.

Volume 3 of Executive Assistant is now available! For anyone who has read Volumes 1 and 2, then you’ll knowi it’s an essential read for all EAs. The latest edition includes the much-awaited articles: “Take your Executive Assistant into Partnership” and “The Managerial Mindset: An Essential Lesson for all EAs”. Written by Adam Fidler, the UK’s most credible EA trainer, you can download your copy here.

Graduation Ceremony - 14 July 2022

Our Graduation Ceremony took place on Thursday 14 July 2022 at the Clayton Hotel in Manchester, and it was a truly memorable evening! Thank you to all the students at Level 3 and Level 4 who graduated - in style, wearing academic dress! The event heralds an industry first for the PA/EA sector; never before has there been a Graduation event purely for Executive Assistants! More photographs and a showreel will follow shortly, but for now, I think the best image to sum up the evening is the one shown here where students were asked to throw their caps in the air, and the end of the evening! We also followed the night with superb hospitality including drinks and dinner at the Clayton Hotel. It was wonderful to see so many EAs gaining professional status and raising the bar, not only for themselves, but for the industry as a whole.

Ten fatal mistakes EAs (still) make!

In this short article, Adam Fidler shares the top ten mistakes that EAs make, and how those errors seriously derail the EA’s professional status and credibility. You can read the article here.

EAs legitimise leadership!

In this latest piece of thought-leadership, Adam Fidler discusses how Executive Assistants have adapted and legitimised leadership during lockdown. You can read the full article here.

Level 5 Business Support Manager

We know many EAs and Senior PAs push their role to the highest level - beyond the scope of Senior EA. That’s why we’ve created a brand new course for 2022 called Level 5 Business Support Manager. It’s an increasingly common role - and we’ve seen in the last few years many EAs and PAs being promoted to include activities such as line management, supervising staff and taking more oversight for operations and project management. Our brand new course gives you the tool kits to excel as a Business Support Manager and take more of a leadership role. For more details, and the course outline, click here.

Academy receives direct claim status after 'excellent' grading

Adam Fidler Academy has received direct claim status (DCS) from course awarding body, SFJ Awards, which is only awarded to centres which are graded ‘excellent’ in their provision of teaching and learning.  

 This means that students who undertake a qualification programme at Adam Fidler Academy will no longer need to wait for their assessments to be formally validated by the external awarding body. The Academy can award the qualifications themselves, which means a speedier process for students.

You can read more about this superb accolade here.

Celebrating five wonderful years!

On the 1 December 2021, Adam Fidler Academy is, officially, five years old! We’ve trained thousands of EAs, PAs and Assistants since then - not only in the UK, but also around the world. To see a video montage of just some of the Assistants who have raised the bar and their educational attainment with us, see Adam Fidler’s LinkedIn page here. Thank you to all the students, staff, clients, and ambassadors in the industry that have supported us over the last five years - we couldn’t have done it without you! As Adam Fidler always says: “The inspiration for the work that I do comes from the EAs themselves - who see, more readily now, the importance of executive education to future-proof their careers.” (Adam Fidler is pictured here back in February 2017 when he was featured on the front cover of PA Life Magazine, just after he launched Adam Fidler Academy.)

Executive PA Forum Ireland - 10/11 November 2021

Adam Fidler is delighted to be speaking about the Transformational Executive Assistant at the Executive PA Forum Ireland on Wednesday 10 November 2021. You can see more about what Adam will be delivering in his session on the video clip here.

Aside from that, the agenda for this virtual event has a stellar line-up of speakers and great content - preparing today's Assistant for tomorrow's world! The Forum will be live-streamed from Fuel ‘s professional studios in Dublin so you can watch from anywhere in the world (and even catch up on playback!) Have a look at the full programme here.

The best thing is that you can opt to attend in person and watch the Forum in a comfortable and sociable viewing area. YES! This means face-to-face networking opportunities, studio tours, coffees and chats and an opportunity to meet some of the speakers.

Some highlights to expect at this unmissable event on the EA/PA calendar! For more details, and to book, see the event website.

Scottish PA Network Training Day - 19 October 2021

In conjunction with The Scottish PA Network, Adam Fidler undertook a virtual training day for over 60 EAs and PAs, focussing on ‘Building the New EA Role with the Four Energies of Leadership’. Pictured here is The Scottish PA Network Founder, Rosemary McLennan, who travelled to Manchester to support Adam on the day. Feedback on the programme was superb, with many EAs saying how practical and valuable their learning had been. Thank you to Rosemary McLennan for organising such a smashing event. We know the delegates who attended are better equipped in their EA roles as a result!

Learning and Collaboration Day - 1 October 2021

We were thrilled to see our students at our annual Learning and Collaboration Day last Friday, at the home of the football premier league champions, the Etihad Stadium! With a packed agenda including: the rise of the Business Support Manager (never Business Partner - a term we don’t advocate here!);job evaluation; a case study of restructuring PAs and EAs in one large corporate firm; an EA’s journey from Filing Clerk to Chairman’s EA; and, the language of influence for EAs, our students certainly took home a lot of knowledge. Couple that with a two-course meal with wine, a tour of the stadium and a dessert to die for… what else would any EA want at their away-day? Thank you to all those who traveled from far and wide to attend, and to the Etihad Stadium for their hospitality in the Chairman’s Club. Here’s to next year’s event - yes, we’ll be back at the Etihad!

Our stand-alone, popular courses

If you’re not looking to undertake a qualification programme with us, then you can attend a number of our courses as stand-alone Units, and that’s the best way to get a taster of what we do. You could then uplift to a full qualification programme, if you so wish. You might be interested in attending one of our most popular programmes, such as:

• Level 3 Finance for EAs and Administrative Managers (2 days)

• Level 3 Executive Presence and Partnering (2 days)

• Level 3 Project Management (1 day)

• Level 4 The Strategic Executive Assistant (2 days)

For more details, see the courses page, or email us here. We have a number of options available, online and in person, so you can fit your attendance around your full-time job.

Foundation Degree for EAs and Business Support Professionals

We’re delighted to formalise our foundation degree programme for Executive Assistants and Business Support Professionals, with our new and flexible learning package. We know that in London, for example, 70% of those in the job market have degrees - little wonder, then, that more and more business support staff are seeing the requirement to obtain a degree. Our flexible programme means you can qualify with a foundation degree over 2-3 years, studying alongside your job. In Year 1, you’ll study Level 4 Units - Management Skills, Effective Office Management, The Role of the Strategic EA, and Commercial and Strategic Awareness; in Years 2-3 you’ll study Level 5 Units - including Operations Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics, Leadership and Management, and Project Management. In total, you’ll attend classes for just 6 days in Year 1, and up to 12 days in Years 2 and 3. You can even tailor your programme to study more slowly or work faster - that’s up to you. You’ll also find our course fees considerably better value than going to University. Why not consider a foundation degree and improve your earning potential and job opportunities? Email us at tracy@adamfidler.academy for more details.

What our students say about us!

We have scores of testimonials from current and former students, articulating their learning experience with us. Here’s just one of them, from a Level 3 qualification student, who has just qualified:

“Thank you for all your help and support throughout the last twelve months, I have enjoyed every minute and look forward to seeing you again in December for the project management course. I have learnt so much from the course content, met some super inspirational people, in a wonderful, professional environment! In addition to all of that, I had the most splendid tutor, for whom I have a lot of admiration and respect.” — AM, gained Level 3 Award in Professional PA Skills qualification, September 2021

They've qualified!

Here are just a few of our students who have qualified this summer - and congratulations to them all! From left to right: Jan Fife (Level 4 Certificate in Office/Admin Management); Lisa Mullen-Davies (Level 4 Certificate in Office/Admin Management); Di Berry (Level 4 Executive Assistant Diploma); Charlene McKenna (Level 4 Certificate in Office/Admin Management); and, Justine Jack (Level 4 Certificate in Office/Admin Management). What an achievement! More and more EAs are seeing the value and importance of them gaining a professional qualification!

End of the academic year

Thank you for a great year! As we approach the end of this academic year, we’d like to say a huge thank you to all our students, staff and partners - who have supported us over the 2020-21 year! Naturally, it’s been a challenging year, but we’ve managed to keep going online and face-to-face! A special thanks to all the students who have attended classes face-to-face throughout the pandemic, and who made the effort to attend rather than join us online! The montage above shows just a few of you who made it to Manchester, from far and wide (travel restrictions permitting). We look forward to seeing more of you again this Autumn.