I have always believed that PAs contributed far more to the economy than that nice Mr Brown realised. (I have personally focused on the High Street, as I have always felt a desperate need to support assistants in clothing shops, but I suppose we all make our contribution in different ways.)

As a PA, you will be contributing to the UK business world and economy with just about anything you do. No matter what you touch at work, it has an effect on the way your organisation is run, and that is never more in evidence than when you are servicing committees or project groups.

You may not be in the field visiting clients, you may not be the ultimate decision maker but as a networking, communications expert, you can have enormous influence in shaping the discussion preceding strategic business decisions. Your input adds to the information mix needed by any decision making body and here's how:

Setting the agenda

Your research skills help inform your boss and team-mates about the way your market is acting, new developments in your product field, and what the movers and shakers are up to. You may not do this in a formal way - a chat while making tea in the kitchen is just as good a way of imparting information in a timely fashion. In fact, I have sometimes used those situations to really grab someone's attention. They don't have a phone to answer or an email to read for about 5 minutes so focusing on what you are saying is easier.

The information you dig up then feeds into the system for discussion and possible further action, and therefore influences the setting of agendas. You may not see your exact topic of interest on the list of items to be discussed but, believe me, your alertness to what is going on in the commercial world has shaped the meeting's agenda.

If you see that the agenda for the forthcoming Committee/working group/project team meeting doesn't reflect a recent development, red flag it to whoever is chairing the meeting (or their PA, if that is more appropriate). Better that meeting takes place fully equipped to make strategic decisions, than waste its time talking about redundant topics.

Just a minute!

Minute taker has to be one of the most under-rated positions in the decision taking process. "I'm just taking the minutes" is the second phrase that will cause me to grind my teeth and make "grrr" noises like Marge Simpson. The first phrase is "I'm just a PA". (DON'T get me started.)

You're only taking the minutes, eh? Only recording the salient points from several hours worth of discussion. (Or blether. Let's not kid ourselves, long meetings are the bane of humankind and no-one is focusing very well after 2 hours).

You are only sorting wheat from chaff, off-record from on-record, key points from background noise - while paying attention to where you are on the agenda and writing it all down. You are keeping tabs on who is there, who stays there, who leaves the room and when. You are the human bookmark who guides the Chair when discussion has wandered so far off the point they are unclear which item is under discussion. You are the person who will nail down the decision and who's going to do it when the Chair doesn't because you are responsible for the meeting record and you need to know.

Your interventions on action points will often spark a whole new discussion as people become aware that what they thought they had agreed to is not, in fact, what other people thought was going on. Keeping the meeting crisp is the Chair's remit but if they aren't stepping up, then you have to. You are only the person who will go back to a computer with 48 sheets of paper and produce 5 pages of clarification so that everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and by when.

Those minutes matter and never more so than when it all goes pear-shaped and memories start to distort. You are the official historian for that discussion and your minutes are the record. If you don't believe me, talk to someone who has been involved in a legal action involving a multi-national's commercial decisions and see how important it is that the minute taker noted when a non-Exec left the room for 5 minutes.

Just the minute taker. Sounds like a cinch.

Aftermath

You know the pattern: meeting takes place, decisions get made, everything goes quiet until two days before the next meeting and then everyone starts doing their action point. Not good, not clever.

You are pivotal in making sure that everyone is doing what they said they would do. If they are struggling, chances are you know someone who can help them or a piece of information that can get them underway. If the working group is going to be productive, those people with action points need to do their thang, otherwise it's a talking shop. You will have found your own form of words but gentle reminders to people between meetings that certain objectives need to be met is a useful contribution to keeping the wheel turning.

Don't ever doubt that taking an interest in your work pays dividends. Your present boss may be an ingrate as far as your contribution is concerned but you are not going to be in that job forever, are you? Taking your skills in research, influencing and organising to an interview with plenty of evidence to back up your CV is a good way of ensuring that while you are working for UK plc, you are also working for yourself.