Meet Robbie
Robbie works as a personal assistant at Aussie Tool Shed. Aussie Tool Shed is an Australian owned hardware chain founded in 2010 by three tradespeople, Charlie an electrician, Jamie, a plumber, and Alex, a carpenter. They were frustrated with the quality of products and level of service they received from other hardware stores and believed there was a market for a better alternative. They knew they were willing to pay a bit more to obtain quality products and services and believed that many others, tradies and DIYers, would be too. The vision was of a hardware chain offering Australian made products (where possible) and genuine service by qualified tradespeople.
Today, Charlie, Jamie and Alex run Aussie Tool Shed from its headquarters in Sydney. The organisation has rapidly expanded and now has stores in each state in Australia and a solid online presence. They have a distinct differentiation point: employing trade qualified staff, stocking Australian-made products, DIY tutorials and Q & As accessible from a web browser, and dedicated DIY and trades advice hotlines.
Robbie's responsibilities as a personal assistant at Aussie Tool Shed are:
- identifying the type of business meeting being organised and its purpose, and ensuring the meetings comply with legal, ethical and her organisation's requirements.
- making meeting arrangements according to the type of meeting and participants' requirements
- preparing meeting notice, agenda and meeting papers according to organisation requirements, and distributing meeting details and documentation to participants within specified timelines
- confirming the presence of required resources prior to the meeting
- recording meeting outcomes by taking notes, outlining key decisions and actions to be implemented
- reviewing minutes for accuracy and submitting the minutes for approval by the nominated person
- distributing relevant post-meeting materials to attendees within designated timelines.
In this module, you will learn the skills and knowledge that enable Robbie to perform her role of organising business meetings at her workplace. In a nutshell, these fall into the two (2) following skill sets:
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Prepare meeting documentation and details
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Record meeting outcomes
To prepare you for your assessments, there will be opportunities to develop your knowledge and skills throughout the module. This includes looking at Aussie Tool Shed policies and procedures in relation to organising business meetings.
To begin, let's have a chat with Robbie about her role.
Preparation is key! Effective meetings don’t just “happen”, they take a lot of organisation. For me, the key things are:
- Knowing the purpose of the meeting, this drives everything else
- Being familiar with the relevant legislation and your own organisation's policies and procedures so that you don’t inadvertently breach them
- Having the paperwork, such as the agenda, organised well in advance
- Knowing how many people will be attending and making sure you check if they have any special requirements
Firstly, I make sure that I am familiar with the Aussie Tool Shed Meeting Policy and Procedure. This informs all staff members about Aussie Tool Shed expectations from anyone organising a meeting. The Meeting Policy and Procedure covers issues such as how invitations are to be distributed, when catering should be arranged, and who the preferred suppliers are.
Aussie Tool Shed policies and procedures were created to ensure that the organisation and its staff work within legal requirements. However, laws do change, so I do occasionally review the appropriate legislation for changes.
Attention to detail is vital. The records you make are often considered legal evidence of a meeting and what was discussed and agreed upon. Making sure that you record everything just as it occurred and double-check anything that you are not sure of is essential to make sure that you create an accurate record of the meeting for the future.
