Attended first discussion group at the Governance Institute of Australia offices in Brisbane yesterday, lead topic was Board Agendas and from this fed many related discussions and experiences on how company secretaries deal with the business of board meetings.
The group was diverse and interesting. There were two or three from large ASX companies, smaller companies, government facilities and not-for-profit. I was from the only ACNC registered charity, but others had experience. Sectors included mining, health, energy, education, legal. I spoke to a couple of people – Mel from one of the ASX companies in mining sector had fascinating experiences – 1000 page board packs and four hour meetings with directors spread over the country. Wendy from a JP Association – there are over 180,000 Justices of the Peace in Queensland, while only 5,000 in Victoria. Angela from an energy company, working on another Masters degree. Yikes.
Many of us had similar experiences in our dealings with Chair and management, chasing up action items and ensuring reports were written in a way that directors would read them. We discussed the style of minute taking – resolution v. narrative. I was interested in hearing how others handled dual role of co sec plus management role. A couple of people there combined the role with CEO which I found astonishing, even more so that they also took the meeting minutes.
I think the biggest takeaway from the session for me was that I am on the right track in my development as a company secretary. The GIA and AICD articles I read are put into practice in the real world.