27. What does it all add up to?

By this time we have, let’s hope, got beyond the idea of the secretary as a mere minute-taker and paper-shuffler. You’re one of the key workers in the organisation. You should know your own value and demand respect.

You’re the governance officer, the public officer, the policy officer, the compliance officer, and the complaints officer. You have to ensure that the organisation’s records are managed, which means that you have to oversee the computer systems, the internal communication flow, and the deep structure of the decision-making system.

This may sound like a lot of work, but there are automatic stabilisers. In small organisations, you have to handle all the paper but there isn’t much paper. In a large place, there’s a lot more paper (or a lot more documents in the cloud) but there will be employees to do the hack work. This may sound like a lot of bureaucracy, too. Well, yes – but if you’re looking for a realm where there is no bureaucracy and you don’t have to observe a lot of intrusive rules, you’re not going to find it in this country, and perhaps not in this life. There’s always a need to be precise and careful. You can get away with sloppiness for a while – many Australian not-for-profits do – but sooner or later it’s going to catch up with you, or them, and then you’ll be lucky to survive: many haven’t.

Australia’s a more litigious country than it was, and a more sensitive country, and a more inquisitive country, and you can’t get away any more with telling people to mind their own business.

As secretary, you can make the organisation fit for purpose in a competitive environment. If you want to grow, if you want to have influence in the community, if you want to advance your mission, you have to get it right.