Partnership with West Suffolk College

Adam Fidler Academy is delighted to announce their partnership with West Suffolk Colleges Group to launch the Level 4 Executive Assistant Programme, commencing on 22-23 November 2023. Classes will be held and delivered by West Suffolk College, Bury St Edmunds, and give new and aspiring EAs the opportunity to gain a formal professional qualification in their field. Says Adam Fidler: “This is the first time Adam Fidler Academy have worked with a large FE College to offer our specialist EA provision to a new audience - not only in terms of geographical catchment, but we also hope to capture an audience who may wish to obtain an EA programme through their local College. It’s exciting to be casting our net further afield, and offering our Level 4 qualification through a new channel.” For more details, including attendance dates, and prices, please email us here.

Why you should employ an Executive Assistant

Adam Fidler’s article, ‘Why you should employ an Executive Assistant’, is featured in the October 2023 edition of the North West Business Insider Magazine - a magazine for CEOs, Leaders and Directors. Surely, a great article to share with a boss, or for any leader, seeking clarity on the role of EA versus a more traditional PA? You can see the article here:

Learning and collaboration day 2023

Learning and luxury! We were spoilt rotten again on Friday 6 October 2023 at our annual learning and collaboration day at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester! A huge thank you to all those who attended, and to our guest speakers: Bel Knott (EA to CEO of Border to Coast Pensions) and Leigh Thomson-Persaud (EA to Chairman of SSE and AWE) for their inspiring and heartfelt presentations. With pre-training day drinks at the Dakota Hotel the night before, then on the day, a three-course meal, tour of the stadium and plenty of networking… what else could an EA wish for?

Sack your PA - and get an EA instead!

Adam Fidler is featured in the October 2023 North West Business Insider Magazine, and talks about why a busy executive should employ an EA, and not a more traditional PA! The article, in fairness, is about the new competencies and capabilities needed now in the EA role. You can read it using the link here - it’s on the penultimate page.

Hays EA/PA Breakfast event at University of Derby, 8 October 2023

Adam Fidler was delighted to be the guest speaker at an exclusive PA/EA breakfast event on Monday 8 October, at the University of Derby, in collaboration with Hays Plc. Adam shared his perspectives on the role of the EA/PA, as well as giving advice on how PAs/EAs can continue to evolve in their role. With such a good turnout, despite it being a Monday morning, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event, and there were many questions at the end from those who attended. A big thank you to Hays for arranging the event, and the University of Derby for hosting us!

Putting you through now!

We can’t help being a bit retro! Regular students here at Adam Fidler Academy will know we have very trendy premises, that lend themselves only too well to a bit of retro and a throw-back to the office before it was digital! One of our pride and joys is our 1980s British Telecom Herald switchboard (phone system) that is fully working on our modern IP-based telephone lines. To say the phone system is some 30 years old, and still works, is remarkable! Pictured here is one of the original phones from the early 1980s (in mint condition!), that we use in our Academy. The only thing the system doesn't offer is caller display! But, as we teach all EAs and PAs, you don’t need to know who is calling before you answer. Every salutation should be professional and appropriate. “Putting you through now,” we hear you say!

Course dates - Autumn 2023

We’re delighted to see more and more students enrolling for our high-quality EA programmes this Autumn. You can see our latest course dates here. As our motto states: we don’t train PAs… we educate Executive Assistants! We look forward to welcoming you this Autumn term.

What's the difference between an EA and a PA?

All students here learn the difference between an EA and a more traditional PA role. In fact, as Adam Fidler states, “The PA job will eventually disappear. Only EAs, who scope and responsibility adds wider organisational value, will survive.” Adam’s views were articulated in a recent article in PA Life Magazine. You can read the article here.

EAs getting promoted!

Our success stories really are the true evidence of how education can change lives! Pictured here (left to right) are two current Level 5 Diploma students, Candace Bates and Melissa Dunn, who have recently been promoted away from their Senior EA roles. Candace, now Pensions Manager at NatWest, worked for many years as a PA in the same firm, but after undertaking the Level 4 Certificate and now Level 5 Diploma, transitioned into a new role in the Pensions Department. Melissa, now Learning & Development Business Partner at IMI Plc, took a similar route - starting with Level 4 then undertaking the Level 5 Diploma - and learnt along her journey her passion was learning and development. After working for many years as the EA to CEO of IMI Plc, Melissa took the brave step to move into a new role, where she will be supporting the whole company to embed learning and development across all disciplines. We couldn’t be more proud of Candace and Melissa - whose recent promotions are testimony to how EAs and PAs can make the jump into something else, if they so wish!

One-day seminars

Have you thought about attending one of our one-day seminars? Designed to enhance the EA’s skillset and develop the capabilities employers are now seeking in their business support staff, these workshops include Project Management, Financial Awareness and Business Partnering, amongst others. All our workshops map to educational and industry standards, as well as being accredited by the Institute of Administrative Management and the University of Salford Executive Education. For more details, see our Level 3 courses here or email us.

EA Bootcamp success!

We were thrilled to welcome EAs to our Executive Assistant Bootcamp on 29-31 March 2023. And, our EA cohort came from far and wide! From as near as Leeds, to as far as Dublin and Sweden, we had a superb three days of intensive learning. But, the Bootcamp wasn’t all work! It also included three team lunches, networking, two guest speakers and a fabulous team dinner at the Ducie Street Warehouse in Manchester. What a week! What a great group of EAs!

EAs need to have 'Business Studies'!

Here at Adam Fidler Academy, we firmly believe that no Executive Assistant can operate as a true EA, and Business Manager, without a strong knowledge of business, commerce and the managerial function. In fact, way back in 2001, when Adam Fidler was a Secretary for a major PLC, he identified then, that the biggest ‘gap’ and barrier to PAs working at a more strategic level, was their lack of knowledge and understanding of business. “By business, I mean having a formal understanding of business studies,” says Adam, “which includes management, strategic analysis, motivation theory, culture and values, as well as a grasp of how a business operates from a management perspective.” Unfortunately, many PAs and EAs have never had the opportunity to do a business studies degree, or can’t find the time to study for a degree now they’re in full-time employment. That’s why we push, time and time again, our Level 4 qualification - because that is the programme that we can guarantee will turn any PA into Business Manager, and allow them, and their bosses, to work more effectively. “I can’t stress it enough,” continues Adam, “that if EAs want to work more strategically and in partnership - and take on a more fulfilling role, then they must be qualified in the aspects of business.” Pictured above are some of our current students who understand this - and by undertaking their Level 4 qualification, we know they will move on to bigger and better things. And, their bosses get this too - who allow them to take out just 6-8 days over a year, for their training, to get qualified! If you’d like to graduate at Level 4, and become more of a Business Manager, then see our course outlines here.

We train CEOs and Leaders too!

A session to train the Executives on how to work with their Assistants! Pictured here is Adam Fidler hosting an in-house session for the Senior Leadership Team of Railpen, who invited Adam to help them understand the role of the EA, and how they can work more effectively with their Assistant Community. Says Adam: “This was a real accolade, to be asked by a CEO to speak to his leadership team - as part of their Leadership Development Programme. We often see EAs and PAs being ‘trained’ - but many firms are not brave enough to train their bosses! It was a real pleasure to support an innovative and open-minded company in their desire to make the best use of their EAs.”

How to work effectively with your Executive Assistant

We’re delighted to formalise our offering to Executives and Leaders through our brand-new programme ‘How to work effectively with your Executive Assistant’. Since the Autumn of 2020, Adam Fidler has been asked to work ‘in house’ with a number of major clients and train their Directors and Executives on how to work, and get the best out of, their EA or PA. “It’s all about working in partnership,’ says Adam Fidler, ‘And this new workshop, which I have already delivered personally to a number of blue-chip client groups, shows the commitment from the other side… in that we don’t just need to offer support for the EA to improve, but also offer support to bosses, many of whom don’t understand the real EA role.” You can see more about the programme here.

The EA Manifesto: Bootcamp, 29-31 March 2023 - content now launched

The EA Manifesto: Bootcamp programme is now here! For more details on how you, too, can apply the EA Manifesto to every aspect of your EA career, why not join us from 29-31 March 2023 in Manchester, UK for a unrivalled learning experience! Your principal tutor will be Adam Fidler, author of the EA Manifesto: What I Am, and we can guarantee you a simply memorable and educational three days! Click here to see the programme.

Take your EA into partnership

Happy New Year everyone! For 2023, we’re delighted to announce the launch of our unique programme for Leaders and Managers - training them how to work with their Assistant. A number of our corporate clients have seen the importance of effective boss/PA working, hence our latest programme ‘Take your EA into partnership’. Watch this space for more updates and a feedback from the bosses!

Happy Christmas!

We’d like to wish all our current students, former students, Alumni members and clients, a very Happy Christmas! We’re pictured here in our new home, at Royal Mills, in the Atrium, with an impressive Christmas tree!

We're moving!

We’re delighted to announce that from the 1 December 2022, we’re moving premises! Whilst it’s sad to leave the stunning Jactin House - in the heart of Ancoats Urban Village, Manchester - after six years, we know that our new premises, just a stone’s throw from where we are now, are even more impressive! Our new home will be the Grade II listed building, Royal Mills, a former cotton mill, also in Ancoats. Our new address, from 1 December 2022, will be: Adam Fidler Academy, Suites 3.01 and 3.02 Royal Mills, 17 Redhill Street, Ancoats, M4 5BA. We’re still no more than a ten minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, so do come in and see us!

The EA Manifesto: Bootcamp launched

Over 2 million Executive Assistants, the world over, have bought into our Executive Assistant Manifesto: What I Am… and that’s why we’re proud to launch The Executive Assistant Manifesto: Bootcamp - an intensive, 5 day programme, which covers precisely what the EA Manifesto means, and how EAs should use it as a basis for their roles. Adam Fidler, author of the EA Manifesto, has researched carefully over the last six years - since the Manifesto was launched - precisely the skills, competencies and behaviours that the modern Executive wants from their EAs. With revised and exciting new content, the Bootcamp will prove to be an essential 5 days of learning for any EA. Says Adam: “The EA Manifesto took the industry by storm, and so many EAs - and their bosses - have commented on it, shared it, and used it as the go-to definition of the modern EA role. On that basis, I’ve written a 5 day intensive Bootcamp which will cover exactly what the Manifesto means and why it matters to every EA.” We can’t wait to hold the first Bootcamp in early 2023.” For more details, please click here.

A student's experience

Faith Poyser, a current Level 5 Diploma student (wearing the red), describes her experience of being an Adam Fidler Academy student. Faith originally undertook our Level 4 Advanced Executive Assistant Diploma, and passed with distinction, and is now undertaking the Level 5 Diploma in Business and Administration Management. You can see Faith’s reflections here.