Professional development for PAs in the modern workplace

In today’s fast-paced professional landscape, Personal Assistants (PAs) are more than administrative support; they are strategic partners driving organisational success.

I’ve met awesome operational ninjas among the various communities out there and I know how much importance PAs place on their own professional development to “keep up” and add value.

As a 41-year-old second-time founder, I share this feeling. The to-do list is never ending, and I’m always aiming to upskill myself in new areas.

Take A.I. Whilst I’ve known about AI conceptually for a long time – and even interviewed some of the great minds in the space for a previous podcast – I have wanted to get more hands on.

Two courses – one run by Helen Lee Kupp of Women Defining AI, and one run by Daan van Rossum of Flex OS – have really immersed me in tools to save time and do more with less. Like Taskade for creating an army of colleagues with expert feedback, analysing data and providing commentary and graphs via GPT4, or using WriteSonic to create SEO articles.

But whilst AI is truly amazing, there is another skill set I think is becoming ever more important for PAs. That is the business critical skill of connecting the team now when we all work in more distributed ways (whether we have an office or not). 

So, whilst in the old world the task was logistical and relatively “low value” now in the “new world” more more emphasis is placed on how to connect teams effectively, and the onus is on PAs to elevate this task to something which has real ROI.

Professional development for PAs in the modern workplace

This is where professional development opportunities in offsite design become invaluable.

To help equip PAs, we’ve developed fun, online coaching and micro-training sessions such as “The Art of Facilitation” and “The Art of Offsite Design,” and “The Art of OKRs” to provide essential insights and strategies for creating impactful team gatherings. 

Led by experts like Artur Margonari and Laïla von Alvensleben (ex-Mural) and Dora Nagy (ex-Google), these sessions equip PAs with the skills needed to curate tailored experiences that foster stronger team dynamics and collaboration. You’ll leave with templates, personalised plans and relevant feedback to whatever you’re working on.

And if that’s not enough, you can learn all about how modern workforces are connecting their teams via The Future of Teams Podcast which features insights from leaders from Lego, Bloom & Wild, and Lendable. 

To sum up, professional development opportunities for PAs are essential for staying competitive in today’s dynamic workplace.

But we don’t see it as AI or die.

Upskilling in areas like offsite design is a way to maintain your value within an organisation as the need to effectively connect teams becomes business priority.

Remember, as a PA, your role extends far beyond logistics. Embrace the evolving landscape, connect teams effectively, and elevate your contributions to achieve real ROI for your organization. 

We’d love to see you among our online cohort of learners, and if that feels too overwhelming we can take everything off your plate with our personalised offsite plan in 24 hours. Just ask. (You’ll still get the internal kudos). Happy learning! 

Find out more at WorkTripp 

We more from WorkTripp on how PAs are navigating the ‘new normal’ by leading the way in bringing teams together.