Diana Brandl

In Spring 2022, Diana Brandl left her comfort zone and her old life in Berlin, Germany. Together with her husband, she began her adventure as a digital nomad.

As a trainer and speaker for new work, digitization and the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world, Diana now lives what she preaches.  In this interview with Lucy Brazier OBE, Diana will share what made her undertake this journey and how she is finding it so far.

(recorded session)

Remote work dominates our new world of work, and many routine analog formats have become virtual events. There is a lot to consider here because in addition to excellent organization, there is also a need for clear assignment of roles. One of the most important roles is that of the moderator. A promising new territory for the game-changing assistant? I say yes and therefore, it is once again time to upskill.

In this session, you will learn how to organize and lead an online session.

Learning Outcomes

• You will learn how to prepare an innovative online meeting
• You will be able to conduct online moderations professionally
• You will be provided with infotainment and gamification tools that promote the interaction of the participants such as virtual icebreakers and virtual team challenges

Automation, digital platforms, and other innovations are changing the fundamental nature of work. Technological change has reshaped the workplace continually over the past two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, but the speed with which automation technologies are developing today, and the scale at which they could disrupt the world of work, are largely without precedent.

Modern management assistants need to position themselves for the future, increase their visibility, act more strategically, network and also have their own career development in mind.

The digital age is just the right podium to do all this. Now is the time to proactively advance the change of the profession as the digital transformation brings incredible potential for the job description of office professionals. It is more important than ever to sharpen a profile and define a new portfolio.

New Work means connecting on all levels and makes it easy to be visible. However, this requires innovative and agile assistants who not only have the courage but also the openness for the trends of the future.

• Building influence and credibility: The art of strategic online  networking and self-marketing
• The Digital Me: How to boost your online presence through social media
• From idea to reality: How to visualize your playbook through vision boards and mindmaps
• Career opportunities for management assistants in the digital age

What do you want to be known for in the future?

The digital age will bring more opportunities than ever to showcase the profile of Office Professionals and to strategically network online. Learn how to toot your own horn and become visible by building up a sustainable online presence.

It is time to reinvent our role and to transform into new ways of working when it comes to the digital age.

Do you want to go the extra mile and become a digital leader in your profession?

Diana Brandl describes herself as Digital Native and has recently worked in the start-up world, where she rediscovered her role as a management assistant with 17 years of professional experience within the New Work Generation. She teaches first-hand what it means to work with Millennial Managers and how important storytelling is in sharpening a profile.

In her session, Diana will give insights about:

• New work and digital leadership
• Artificial intelligence versus Human intelligence: Are Alexa, Siri & Co. future colleagues or competitors?
• Self-Marketing and Personal Branding: How to become visible and build your brand in the digitization

The Supervisory Board has just kicked your executive out and you are told that the new executive will start in just four weeks. Time to start with the onboarding preparations.

Diana has experienced this situation herself and will share how she managed to welcome her new manager with a well-prepared onboarding plan.

Get involved from the first moment on as such an onboarding process will help you showcase your skill and introduce your profile to your new executive.

Millennials have been taking over the workplace for the past few years and it goes without saying that it affects our profession when it comes to working with them. Time to panic or simply learn how to deal with them?

By 2025 millennials will make up 75% of the workforce. So, we cannot ignore them. Believe it or not, millennials and non-millennials can benefit from each other. By understanding the mindset of millennials, the transition will be less painful than it needs to be. Take a deep breath and consistently try to find a middle way that allows you to develop and relate to your executive. It will pay off in the long run because you will keep your sanity!

Diana will talk to you about her experience working in the startup world with young and ambitious executives from the millennial generation where she gained more skills and strengths than ever and sharpened her profile and portfolio. And even if you do not work in such an en­vironment at this stage, it is time to get prepared. A new millennial manager may be sitting next to you sooner than you think.

In this session, Diana will help to lay the foundation for a strong and sustainable working relationship by being pro-active and flexible.

Executive assistants are expected to make decisions and act as an influential leader both on behalf of their executive and the organization. Impactful leaders are critical thinkers possessing the ability to step outside their biases to view problems or situations from a new or different angle.

With the guide of a leadership expert, executive assistants will learn critical behaviors and principles to practice in all aspects of the business.

• The art of self-marketing and personal branding
• From social media Marketing to personal branding: How to boost your visibility
• Live LinkedIn session
• The benefits of joining a professional networking association
• Online, offline or both: My personal networking strategy

Management Assistants have various roles. They are gatekeepers, change managers, feel-good managers and so much more. But how about being an advocate when it comes to ethics and values?

In their daily interactions with management, assistants can play a crucial role by sensitizing their leaders on ethical leadership. Executives are not only responsible for leading structures, but also for leading cultures. New work and digitization help us in shaping innovative infrastructures, but in this new world we often lack values and morals.

Management Assistants can dive into these important leadership topics in order to be a high-calibre sparring partner to their executives.

Managing your manager in a remote environment is not only about tools but also about the right mindset. It all starts with your own self-management, a transparent communication flow and the art of leadership.

In this session, digital expert Diana Brandl will explore practical new ways of working with and managing your Executive remotely. With useful methodologies and tools to consider and adopt, you will be able to grow into a remote role with confidence, refining your skillset and mastering the art of remote leadership.

This one-day in-house masterclass is run in conjunction with Lizebeth Koloko-Green.

Are you ready to become a future assistant?

Then join this one-day in-house masterclass with hands-on technology and digitization experts Diana Brandl and Lizebeth Koloko-Green where you will not only explore the opportunities around the digital age but also enjoy live trainings on the latest productivity tools. Let’s dive into the world of industry 4.0 and shape it together.

In this course, you will receive insights about:

• Industry 4.0, New Work, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• Your digital toolbox: Apps, tools and more
• Office 365 as a game-changer: Introduction to your digital workplace
• X, Y and Z: Meet the new manager generation and their leadership style

Half-day session (Diana Brandl)

• Introduction into industry 4.0, digitization and new work
• Alexa, Cortana and Siri: How to embrace technology and AI in the workplace
• Productivity tools and apps for the tech savvy assistant
• Millennial managers and digital leadership

Half-day session (Lizebeth Koloko-Green):

• Introduction to the Microsoft Suite (Office 365)
• Tips and Tricks using Outlook, OneNote and Teams to improve your productivity
• Explore Artificial Intelligence in your daily job using Office 365
• GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology

At the end of this training day, you will be able to:

• Be informed about new technologies which you can apply to your daily work such as AI tools, new ways of working, having a Business Partner mindset
• Use Microsoft Office 365 tools more efficiently
• Be more productive using Microsoft Office tools such as a digital notebook, managing meetings, and be more efficient with your emails

It was a pleasure meeting you, it was a fantastic day and we all enjoyed very much. We became aware that in this digital age, we to use all the tools available to be able to follow the development of the new role of the EA. A very motivating and uplifting training. We are grateful for the experience and the informal way you delivered the information.

The Procter and Gamble Geneva Business Assistant Team had the pleasure to host you to give a one day workshop on “Business Assistant 4.0 – Digitization, new work, AI and the future role of the BA”. Your presentation was very well built and structured; with nice pictures, useful tips, funny videos, keywords and others. Nevertheless, you were the key actress of this success: your on-going nature and empathy made all the difference. Our audience could easily get into the mood and identified themselves in your own professional experience to finally guide them as a way to reflect upon their values, challenges and future role.

At our worldwide 1st Modern Workplace Assistant Summit at Microsoft in Munich, Diana gave one of her motivating and inspiring keynote on the Assistant 4.0 and conducted a workshop. Her infinitely infectious passion for new work, the brand of the management assistant and the enthusiasm for new technologies and working methods fascinated ALL participants. She encourages assistants to actively shape the transformation of their companies. Diana had by far the best ratings!

Diana is a very authentic speaker who knows how to take her audience with her. As a former management assistant, she understands the job profile very well and addresses exactly the issues that concern assistants in the age of transformation: Change, culture and understanding of roles. Without Diana’s absolutely unbeatable network and the valuable input on the content, we would not have been able to make this event so public. Her recommendation in her network to attend this event made a big contribution to the success.

We were very happy to win Diana for us and would bring her back to the stage at any time when it comes to inspiring the “hidden heroes” of the Digital Transformation with our technology and the way we work.

I was so pleased Diana agreed to coach me.  Diana is extremely well respected and sought after and I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to work with the best.  Diana was exactly like I thought she would be, extremely supportive and encouraging but more importantly, challenging.  She encouraged me to think bigger to stretch myself and as a result I have new ideas and motivation.  It makes all the difference to know that her support is there.