BSB50215 Diploma of

Business
BSB51915 Diploma of
Leadership and Management
BSBLDR513
Communicate with influence
Task 2- Portfolio of Evidence

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Candidate Instructions

Purpose of this Assessment task

This assessment task is designed to test your skills in communicating with influence as required by the
unit BSBLDR513 Communicate with influence. Your trainer/assessor will be assessing your work and
provide you with constructive feedback on Canvas. This task will assess your skills to:
 Communicate clearly
 Present and negotiate persuasively
 Participate in and lead meetings effectively
 Make presentations at meetings, forums and conferences.

In this assessment you will analyse the provided case provided, undertake research in the topics
presented, conduct 1 role-play to demonstrate your skills and provide report to your Trainer. By
successfully completing this Case Study you will provide the required performance evidence of your
competence in promoting innovation in a team environment.

What are you required to do to undertake this Case Study?

You should carefully read the provided Case Study; its additional documents provided on Canvas and
undertake all questions. The task includes: (i) Analysing the case (ii) Undertaking required research (iii)
Role playing and (iv) Reporting.

To successfully undertake this assessment, you should be doing the following:

 Read the provided Case Study couple of times and understand its requirements
 Clarify the requirements with your trainer and assessor, if you are not sure
 Research appropriate websites as directed by your trainer/assessor
 Self-reflect and practice the 1 role-play before you record them and upload them on Canvas
 Discuss with your trainer/assessor the contents of the report you will be presenting

Context and conditions of undertaking the tasks?

The prescribed tasks will be undertaken by you after carefully analysing the case scenarios. Your
trainer/assessor will provide you a context to role-play the scenario. Your trainer will also provide you
guidance on the websites to be researched. Your trainer/assessor may also set certain conditions under
which you will perform the tasks required by this assessment. For example, your trainer may set a time
limit to perform a task or, ask you to repeat a task or, ask you to give additional information about the
performance by asking you some verbal questions or, they may prescribe you some new conditions to
undertake certain tasks.

Given your personal conditions, your trainer/assessor should also be able to make some reasonable
adjustments in undertaking the tasks of this assessment. You should check with your trainer/assessor
about the conditions under which the tasks should be completed, and the possible adjustment they can
make in undertaking these tasks.

What specific WHS requirements may be involved?

This assessment will require you to be aware of the standard Workplace Health and Safety requirements
e.g. Workplace Health and Safety Act and Workplace Health and Safety Legislation Your trainer/assessor
will advise you on these and other legislative requirements.

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Tasks and frequency of performance
Details of the tasks to be undertaken in this assessment are provided in the attached Case Study. The
tasks listed in that document must be performed at least once. The role-play question should involve at
least 2 team members.

Getting Started
It is anticipated that the assessment will take approximately 6 hours to complete.
The assessment may be re-attempted on two further occasions (maximum three attempts in total). All
assessments must be resubmitted 3 days within receiving your unsatisfactory grade. You must clearly
indicate “Re-submission” on your resubmitted work.

You must complete all questions unassisted by the assessor or other personnel but may refer to
reference material as may be needed. All questions must be answered satisfactorily for the assessment to
be completed satisfactorily.
For any assessment conducted that is incomplete, or without satisfactory performance, the assessment
will need to be completed again after further training support. This may be simply to focus on question
areas not achieved in the prior assessment.

Submitting your assessment

When you are ready to submit your assessments, upload the files in Canvas via the submission tab. It is
important that you keep a copy of all electronic assessments submitted to Canvas. Please submit all
assessment components.

Word count
In this assessment some of the questions include a word count. This is a guideline only, but your answers
should not vary substantially (i.e. +/- 10%) from the word count provided. Microsoft Word includes a
word count tool.

Objective To test the required application skills in communicating with influence.

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Assessment Cover Sheet

Angela Sy
Candidate name:

Trainer’s Name:

Date Submitted:
Candidate declaration: I declare that:
 I have read and understood all the information provided in relation to
the assessment requirements to complete this unit, the instructions
and the purpose and processes of undertaking this assessment task
 This assessment is my own work and where other’s works or ideas have
been borrowed, I have appropriately referenced or acknowledged them
 I understand that plagiarism is a serious offence that may lead to
disciplinary action.

Candidate signature:

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 Task 2: Portfolio of Evidence

General instructions

Learners have to put into practice what they have learnt during class about communicating effectively.
This assessment is divided into three parts:
Part A: Preparing for a meeting (completed one week before group work activity)
Part B: Meeting role play (completed as part of an observed group work activity)
Part C: Minutes, Summary and Self-reflection (completed after group work activity)
To complete the assessment, a scenario has been created which will act as a simulated workplace. In
cooperation with two of your classmates, you will act as managers for a company tasked to solve
workplace problems. Read through the scenario carefully and complete all parts of the assessment.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO LEARNERS:

 This section forms part of a classroom activity that must be observed by your Trainer.
 If you do not undertake this group work activity in class or submit a video with this group work
activity in case you attend the webinar, you will not pass this unit.
 Only cases where a medical or family emergency prevented a learner from attending class will
be considered in an appeal.
 Make sure that your Trainer have signed the observation checklist provided at the end of this
assessment. Scan the signed checklist and upload this together with Task 2 onto the portal.
 If you attend the webinar, you will need to do this role play at home either with 2 members
from your class or, if this is not possible, with family and friends. You will need to brief family
and friends on the context of the role play. Record the video and submit with your written
assessment. The instructions on Recording and submitting a video role play are located in
additional information on Canvas.

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Scenario – Block House Developments
Introduction to company
Block House Developments (BHD) is a real estate development company that provides affordable
accommodation for students. The vision for BHD is to become the market leader in student
accommodation, by providing quality individual living spaces as well as communal living arrangements
where students can build a community and share resources.
These communal living spaces include facilities such as a library, BBQ area and a games room. This can
help their tenants to form a student community where they can share books, meals and take part in
fun activities.
The company has constructed its first apartment building and have just completed its first year of
operations.
However, the company currently faces several problems that must be addressed, namely:
 After one year of operations, only 50% of the rooms are occupied. The company wants to
increase its occupancy rate. However, the sales team don’t get any commissions for obtaining
clients, so they lack motivation. The company also don’t have an advertising or marketing
strategy to attract more tenants.
 The company initially told students that it would provide access to a gym and swimming pool
for its tenants, but later on decided not to provide these facilities due to the costs involved.
Some of the tenants are now complaining that these facilities are not available to them.
 As the company had lower revenues this year, it had to take out a high interest cash loan of
$400,000 to help cover its operational costs. The interest payments on this loan is very high
and it is now negatively impacting the cash flow position of the company.
After the first year of operations, the company can spend $100,000 to help solve the above problems.

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Part A – Meeting Preparation

The General Manager of BHD has asked that you meet with two of your colleagues to solve the
problems listed above.
A brief summary of the responsibilities for each of these team members is provided below:
 Marketing Manager. Responsible for designing and executing a marketing plan, managing the
sales team and increasing the number of tenants.
 Financial Manager. Responsible for managing and controlling spending and putting in place
strategies to ensure the long-term financial viability of the business.
 Operations Manager. Responsible for maintenance of buildings and infrastructure, customer
service and solving complaints from tenants.
1. Identify who can assist in the resolution of the problems BHD are facing and who else needs to be
involved and informed by completing the following:
(a) Describe how each of the team members can contribute to resolving the problems BHD are
facing. (60 words)

By considering that only two of my colleagues can be met, they would be:
• Marketing Manager: This professional can contribute to resolving BHD’s current
issues by using the available financial resources on an attractive and strategic marketing
campaign which could reach the most suitable target consumer, increasing demand and
therefore, increasing the number of tenants through the sales team’s approaches.
• Operations Manager: This professional could be activated to gather all complaints
and needs from current tenants and use the available financial resources to offer extra
benefits to every tenant, as well as upgrading or updating the actual infrastructure.

2. Formulate your own personal position for each of the problems by completing the following:
(a) Based on the information provided in the case study, list 2 other stakeholders you can
consult with.

Financial Manager
Tenants

(b) List 3 questions you can ask the salespeople to help you determine your position about the
problem of low room occupancy.

1. What are the most common factors that avoid the deal to be closed for a new tenant?
2. Which media channels were responsible for bringing those leads?
3. What are the positive factors that attract leads to BHD’s sales team?

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 (c) What are 2 reliable sources where you can get advice on the legal implications of telling the
tenants that a gym and swimming pool will be provided and later deciding not to.

Competition and Consumer Act

Residential Tenancies Act

(d) explain your position and a supporting argument for each one.

Negotiation Plan 1

Pr My Position Supporting
ob Argument
le
m
s

N It is a demotivational Professionals who

o and potentially unfair work in sales need
condition to be recognised
in and rewarded for
ce increasing results
nti
ve
s
fo
r
sal
es
te
a
m

N Lack of marketing is a A Marketing Plan

o very weak point in any provides strategic
business and tactical
ad information to guide
ve activities which add
rti competitiveness and
si attractiveness for
ng the business to
achieve better
/ results, profitability
m and customer
ar satisfaction
ke
tin
g
pl
an

N It’s an unfair situation, Consumer and

o customers must have Tenant legislation
felt deceived ensures this is a

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 gy huge breach in
m confidence and will
cause fines to be
fa paid by BHD
cili
tie
s/
sw
im
mi
ng
po
ol

Hi It’s a huge concern, but Financial operations

gh can only be solved can be renegotiated,
when a sound cash though interests
int inflow is established would keep over the
er debt
es
t
de
bt

3. For each of the problems, explain the position that the relevant team members are likely to hold.
The relevant team members are in brackets in the problem’s column.

Negotiation Plan 2

Proble Team Members’ Positions

ms

No The Marketing team is likely to demonstrate a very

incenti demotivated attitude, expecting to receive any kind of
rewarding for their performance when reaching sales targets
ves for
sales
team
(Mark
eting)

No The Marketing team is likely to feel underperforming all the

adverti time due to an absent marketing plan to guide their efforts
and activities. They are likely to demand more attention on
sing / marketing strategy to ensure new tenants and satisfied
marke current ones
ting
plan
(Mark
eting)

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 No The Operations team is likely to feel stressed by the tenants
gym demanding things in their rights as tenants, and also
stressed by BHD which is not ensuring the delivery of
faciliti promised services and facilities
es /
swim
ming
pool
(Opera
tions)

High The Financial team is likely to request profitable and short-

interes termed strategies to generate fast cash inflow in order to
eliminate the high interest debt as soon as possible
t debt
(Finan
cial)

4. For each of the problems, consider how they may be resolved.

(a) Describe at least one possible solution for each problem.

Negotiations 3

Proble Potential Solutions

ms

No Establishment of a rewarding system, which doesn’t even need to be

incenti based on financial commission, but could be other things such as
vouchers, office perks, flexible working hours etc.
ves for
sales
team
(Mark
eting)

No A Marketing Plan must be urgently developed, and an advertising

adverti campaign must be run according to the Plan, using the available
resources
sing /
marke
ting
plan
(Mark
eting)

No The available resources must be used to compensate the tenants’

gym dissatisfaction with unfulfilled promises, such as discounts in local gyms
and swimming pools
faciliti
es /
swim
ming
pool
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 (Opera
tions)

High In case the rewarding system and the marketing plan with advertising
interes campaign are properly implemented, then a higher cash inflow will be
ensured, which will allow BHD to pay the debt more easily
t debt
(Finan
cial)

(b) Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your possible solutions for use in the meeting. Have
one introductory slide and one slide for each problem/solution. Upload your slides with this
completed assessment.
5. Describe the communication style that you plan to use in the meeting and explain why you chose
this.

I plan to use the assertive communication style because it is born of high self-esteem. It is the
healthiest and most effective style of communication – the sweet spot between being too aggressive
and too passive. By being assertive, I’ll have the confidence to communicate without resorting to
games or manipulation. I know my limits and won’t allow myself to be pushed beyond them just
because someone else wants or needs something from me.

6. Based on the Negotiations Plan, compile a final meeting Agenda using the template provided
below. Make sure that you allow enough time for each participant to first present their solutions
and answer any questions from the other managers (5 min each).

MEETING AGENDA

Meeting name: BHD Contingency Plan

Date and Time: 10/17/2020

Location: BHD Main meeting room

Purpose statement: Brainstorm and agree on resolutions for current issues

Agenda item Presented by Duration

1. Solution Presentations All 5 minutes

2. Marketing solutions and budget Marketing Manager 15 minutes

3. Operations solutions and budget Operations Manager 15 minutes

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 4. Financial solutions and planning Financial Manager 15 minutes

Supporting Documents:
Negotiation Plans

7. Prepare an email that you will send to the team members to invite them to the meeting. In the
email, make sure that you include the following:
 A brief introduction to the situation
 Authority provided to you by the General Manager
 The need for and purpose of the meeting
 A summary of the key issues
 An invitation to the meeting with date, time and venue

To: Marketing Manager, Operations Manager, Financial Manager

Cc: General Manager 8. List 3
Subject: BHD Contingency Plan meeting
Dear colleagues,

Due to current issues in several areas of our organisation, I would like to schedule a meeting with you in order
to conduct a brainstorm and agree upon the most suitable solutions with your help. We don’t have a proper
Marketing Plan (which impacts on the lacking advertising campaign), a proper rewarding system for the sales
team to approach more leads, the current tenants are demonstrating dissatisfaction due to benefits promised
by BHD which haven’t been provided, and our bank debt has concerningly high interests.
Our General Manager has given me the authority to conduct this meeting and implement any agreed solution.
By agreeing with the proposed solutions, the available budget of $100,000 will be allocated to the respective
departments in order to undertake the solutions as expected and planned.
I would like to schedule this meeting for October 11th, from 9.00 AM to 10.00 AM, at BHD’s main meeting
room. Please, let me know if this date, time and place are available for you.

Best regards,

Angela Sy

types of information that may be subject to confidentiality and describe how you will manage that
information in the meeting and in any correspondence or presentations to staff, management
and/or other stakeholders.

Personal data about the tenants must be protected against misuse by unauthorised
personnel. It will be used in order to generate statistical and anecdotal information about
the tenants and their needs. Whenever those data are used, it will need to be used
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 without names of tenants, protecting their identities.
Financial data about BHD itself must be protected against industrial espionage, so it must
not be accessed by any staff member other than the managers. In any use of these
financial data, the Financial Manager must be informed and must authorise the use.
Sales performance from the sales representatives must be protected as well, being used
only in statistical or anecdotal ways and removing their names from any approach in
order to ensure their identities protected. Only the Marketing Manager is able to use or
authorise the use of sales performance from sales reps.

Part B – Meeting Role Play

Instructions for role play.
You have arranged a meeting with the other team members to discuss the performance to date and
address the key issues.
9. Conduct a role play of the meeting with 2 members from your class. Each member will select one
of the following roles making sure that all 3 roles are selected:
 Marketing Manager. Responsible for designing and executing a marketing plan, managing the
sales team and increasing the number of tenants.
 Financial Manager. Responsible for managing and controlling spending and putting in place
strategies to ensure the long-term financial viability of the business.
 Operations Manager. Responsible for maintenance of buildings and infrastructure, customer
service and solving complaints from tenants.
In preparation for the meeting, review your answers to Part A with regard to your position, other
possible positions and potential solutions.
Also review the Observer Checklist in Appendix A. You will be assessed in your ability to demonstrate
ALL the items in this checklist.
The meeting should take approximately 30 minutes (15 minutes for presentations and 15 minutes for
discussions) and you must meet all the requirements set out in question 9. You will also be required to
take minutes for the meeting using the template in question 10.
Note: Face to face
This role play will be conducted as a class activity, so students need to be present in class. If you are
not able to be in class for the role play, you will need to make alternative arrangements with your
trainer.
Online
You will need to do this role play at home either with 2 members from your class or, if this is not
possible, with family and friends. You will need to brief family and friends on the context of the role

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play. Record the video and submit with your written assessment. The instructions on Recording and
submitting a video role play are located in additional information on Canvas.
During the meeting role play making sure to complete the following:
(a) As a group, agree on one agenda to use for the meeting.
(b) Each participant to present their proposed solutions at the beginning of the meeting. Allow
5 minutes per participant and use the PowerPoint slides prepared in question 4.
(c) Prepare and ask one question of each meeting participant during their presentation.
(d) Agree on 3 actions to be taken.
10. Complete the observer checklist found in Appendix A for each member of your role play team and
ensure one is completed for you. Take a photo or scan of your completed checklist and upload it
with this assessment.

Part C – Minutes, Summary and Self Reflection

11. Once the meeting has been concluded, complete the minutes to the meeting using the template
provided below. Make sure that you provide an accurate summary of the discussion and the
conclusion of the meeting. Also make sure that you provide a list of action points necessary for the
implementation of the solutions you identified.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting title: BHD Contingency Plan

Date: 10/17/2020 Time: 9:00 AM Meeting location: BHD Main meeting

room

Purpose of meeting Brainstorm and agree on resolutions for current issues

Attendees Marketing Manager, Operations Manager, Financial Manager

Discussion • The Marketing Plan is considered an urgent matter to all

managers
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 • BHD’s financial soundness was highly debated and was a
controversy towards its resolution
• Legal prosecution is the worst concern because of unfulfilled
promises
• Consumer insights were comprehensively discussed in order to
make sure all departments will be working towards tenants’ satisfaction

Conclusion  A Marketing Plan will be developed as soon as possible, as the

priority which will guide all other decisions and budget allocation
 A rewarding system and a loyalty program with current tenants
will follow the marketing objectives
 The Financial Manager will renegotiate as much as possible the
debt with the bank while the increasing cash inflow minimises it

Action Points  Development of Marketing Plan

 Development of Advertising Campaign
 Development of Rewarding System
 Development of Loyalty Program
 Development of Finance, Audit and Risk Management Plan

12. It is important to let the tenants and internal staff know what the company position is about the
swimming pool and gym facilities. Complete the following.
(a) Prepare a written notice to the tenants to explain the agreed position and actions regarding
the gym and swimming pool. (80 words)

Dear tenants,
According to original approaches to you when you became our tenants, you would be
able to access gym facilities and a swimming pool. Unfortunately, these benefits haven’t
been provided to you so far. In order to solve this dissatisfying situation, BHD is
implementing a loyalty program in which your time as our tenants will reflect on
cumulative discounts on local partnering gyms and swimming pools.
Please, visit our website and visit the area related to the loyalty program to understand
how it works and how to best enjoy your new benefits. While we contribute to this

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 advantage, soon we will make gym and swimming pool for all our tenants totally for free.
We are sorry for the inconvenience of not providing the full benefit, but we hope you can
enjoy this new benefit which will become better and better with more perks and
discounts from the loyalty program.
BHD

(b) You want to personally present this to staff and management. Describe 3 forums you can
use to do this and select what you consider to be the best forum for this situation. (60
words)

Where to Use
Forum Type What it is What's Special
This
Q&A forum, where
Q&A Forums, Tips
users can ask Other users can upvote
and Tricks, and
Questions questions and get questions saying 'I Have this
Discussions on
answers from the Question'
workarounds
community
Other users can upvote the
ideas saying 'I Like this
Users can share an
Idea', and you can share Feature requests,
idea and start a
progress on the idea, product roadmap
 Ideas discussion around it,
tagging the topic as ideas and
and agents can share
'Planned', 'In Progress', solutions 
progress on the idea
'Deferred', 'Implemented'
or 'Not Taken'
Other users can upvote the
Users can share a problem saying 'I Have this
problem or bug and Problem', the problem can Issues and bug-
Problems
discuss it with the be marked as solved or report forums 
community unsolved and can be
updated when a fix is found
This this is a palliative solution for a dissatisfaction, the Announcement forum is the most
suitable one, avoiding negative comments and complaints. In case the tenants want to make
further complaints, they will need to contact BHD through other platforms (email, phone
etc.).

13. Reflect on the discussions you had with your teammates in the role play by answering the
following: (60 words each)
(a) What have you learned about your personal communication style? How do you think it
impacts on your ability to communicate in the workplace?

I have learned that I can overcome my own shyness when I need to, such as the case of
the simulated meeting where I had to mark my position and lead the meeting towards a
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 satisfying outcome to all the involved meeting attendants. It makes me feel confident for
a future opportunity to communicate in the workplace towards a specific outcome.

(b) What communication styles did the other team members display in the role play? How do
you think it impacts on their ability to communicate in the workplace?

One of them had an aggressive style while the other one had a passive style. I believe
both of them would have further issues communicating in the workplace because being
dominant is uncomfortable for other team members, while being submissive generates
lack of self-confidence and dependence of other team members to act in his/her place.

(c) Based on what you have learned in this unit, what are 3 ways you can adapt your
communication style in the workplace to communicate more effectively? You can select 3
attributes from other communication styles.

• Become even more empathetic in order to ensure a more democratic interaction

• Assume a little passivity in order to not cause unexpected conflicts with aggressive
ones
• Explore storytelling techniques in order to ensure immersion from team members
and have their engagement and support more easily

End of Assessment.
Congratulations, you have completed this assessment task.

Please ensure all questions are answered and upload the following:
 This completed workbook
 PowerPoint presentation (question 4b)
 Signed and completed observation checklist (question 10)/video of meeting

Appendix B – Observation Checklist

This document will be provided to you by your trainer. It will be used by the trainer/assessor to
document the learner’s skills, knowledge and performance as relevant to the summative assessment.
Learner’s name
Angela Sy
Assessor’s name
Unit of Competence BSBLDR513 Communicate with influence
Date(s) of assessment

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During the meeting did the candidate:
Use an agenda, maximise participation and Yes ☐ No ☐
maintain order
Present information in a manner appropriate for Yes ☐ No ☐
the audience
Uses active listening and questioning to seek Yes ☐ No ☐
information and confirm understanding
Acknowledge differences of opinion Yes ☐ No ☐
Seek mutually beneficial solutions Yes ☐ No ☐
Keep negotiations focused on key issues and Yes ☐ No ☐
moving forward towards a final resolution
Respond to questions openly, honestly, clearly and Yes ☐ No ☐
concisely
Seek immediate feedback to ensure all views are Yes ☐ No ☐
understood
Respect values, views and concerns of others Yes ☐ No ☐
Achieve agreed outcomes in the available time Yes ☐ No ☐
Meeting agenda timeframes align with actual time Yes ☐ No ☐
lapsed in meeting.
The learner’s performance Satisfactory ☐ Not Yet Satisfactory ☐
was:
If not yet satisfactory, date for reassessment:
Feedback to learner:

Learner’s signature

Assessor’s signature

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