Committees: managing the hamsters
Committees seem like such a great idea, don’t they? Move some of the organization’s work away from the main meeting and delegate some of the task work down the ladder. Problem is, committees are often more of a pain than they are worth.
Many are led poorly. It’s hard to get people to show up. They either do nothing, or they overstep their authority.
I always say that having committees is like having hamsters. If you don’t give them something to do, they will do damage and drive you nuts. There are entire sections of your local pet store dedicated to keeping hamsters busy.
If you want to make committees truly work, here are a few tips.
Keep them productive. This means meeting with committee chairs for at least a half-hour prior to their meetings. What are they going to do in committee this week? What problems need solving? What issues are most critical? If your committee chair brings nothing to the table, that’s an indication that the committee members are not being led well. Expect results!
Give them power. No one wants to schedule one more meeting in an already busy week when the committee itself has no real power to address solutions. Don’t waste your members’ time. Be clear about the committee’s authority, then make sure your committees have decisions to make, things to plan, work to do. Support the work they produce. Don’t second guess your committees, and overrule their decisions only when absolutely necessary and with maximum tact and nurturing.
Invest a little in the committee experience. Give each committee chair a small discretionary fund he/she can use to make their committee meetings fun. If a particular committee has four members and they want to discuss their business over a basket of fries at the local eatery, there should be a few dollars there to make it happen. Just as your main meetings need to be fun (see previous post), your committee meetings need to be lively, too.
Don’t expect big participation. The idea that every member of your organization will actively participate in a committee is ludicrous. Doesn’t happen. Not a realistic expectation. Committees are where the true believers go to contribute. It’s good that they have a place to contribute. However, if you can’t get anyone to participate on a particular committee, then you’ll need to do some incentivizing and motivating to get at least a few participants.
Keep committee business in the committees. A member wants to talk about the color of the t-shirt for Greek Week? Tell him or her to take it to the Greek Week committee. Don’t allow your main meeting to be cluttered with decisions that belong at the committee level. When an issue comes up at your main meeting, assign it to the appropriate committee. People don’t like this at first, but eventually they will get use to it. It also beefs up the importance of committee work.
Don’t trump your committees. You want your committees to do good work, so don’t then second guess them, over-rule their recommendations, and belittle their work. If a committee brings something before the larger group, do your best to support them, even if you wish they had recommended something different.
Bring the best options. Sometimes, the job of a committee is to flush out all the choices for a particular issue. A committee doesn’t always need to make a final decision, but the committee can narrow the choices down to the two or three best options and present a case for each. Then, your executive committee or whole group can ponder those best options and choose one.
Thank those who serve. Be sure you thank those people who step up and serve on committees. Thank them personally. Pay a surprise visit to their committee meeting and encourage them. Show them that you think their work is important.
Make sure meeting times are consistent. Committees should meet regularly. That doesn’t necessarily mean once a week, but it does mean that all meetings should be scheduled in such a way that participants can plan for them. Announcing a committee meeting for tomorrow at tonight’s meeting is not fair to your members.
If the chair can’t come, an officer fills in. Committee meetings are easy to blow off, even for the people who are supposed to run them. Make it a policy that if a committee chair can’t hold his/her meeting, then he/she needs to find an organization officer to fill in that night and run the meeting. Otherwise, you’ll find committee chairs canceling meetings constantly, which drains the morale of the members willing to serve on those committees.
There should always be something for a committee to do. If your committee doesn’t have something big coming up in the next couple of weeks, then use this down time to tend to big picture issues. not busy, then plan. Start planning the next event; brainstorming new ideas; find new ways to inject your committee mission into the regular activities of the organization. A good committee leader always has something to discuss, plan, dream, or solve.
Empower younger members in committee meetings. Make sure your committee chairs are giving responsibilities to young members. Committees should be your farm team for future leaders. Watch to make sure your committee chairs are soliciting opinions from a variety of members and spreading the responsibilities, tasks, and creative opportunities around.
Show your work. Every committee chair should submit a written (or email) report after each meeting – or have a face-to-face meeting with his or her supervising officer. Committees that are unsupervised do nothing. Supervise them, review progress toward goals, break down road blocks, discuss personality conflicts, whatever.
Watch for conflicts between committees. If you put multiple hamsters in a cage and only put one running wheel, there’s going to be conflict. Everyone needs their own wheel. Sometimes, your job as an officer will be looking for conflicts between the hamsters. You can only do this when you’re emphasizing communication, keeping up on what the committees are doing, and urging cooperation between committee leaders.
Committees can be incredibly useful, but they don’t necessarily make less work. If they are thriving, they actually create more work and more leadership challenges. The idea, however, is that committees give your members an additional way to contribute to the life of your student organization. It spreads the power and the tasks more democratically.
One Response to “Committees: managing the hamsters”
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T.J.
Interesting ideas regarding committees. I see many of the same problems in the work I do with college student governments. A couple thoughts from that realm which may apply here:
1. The “charge” of the committee, along with the power it has to act, should be clearly defined either in the group’s governing documents or in the motion which brings the committee into being. Committees of and by themselves are not “deliberative assemblies” and only have the power to act granted them by the “parent” group – the chapter in this case. For “ad hoc”, or special committees, the charge will usually be very specific, with a time in which the committee should report back. For standing committees (which seem to be the type you are referring to most often), the charge may be on-going – which is why power really needs to be nailed down in the governing documents.
2. If the chair of a committee fails to show up for a meeting, ANY member of that committee can be elected the “Chair Pro Temp” for the meeting and conduct it. There should never be an opportunity for ONE member to prevent the work of the committee from being carried out. The meetings belong to the membership, not the chair.
3. THANK YOU for indicating that reports should be in writing. Doing so reduces the “B.S. Factor” when a chair gets up and verbally reports on a meeting which never happened (hoping that all the members will just politely nod). It also helps the secretary by keeping him or her from having to attempt to capture the essence of the report for the minutes which is usually accused of editorializing.
Chris J.