Club Committee Best Practices
When committees function properly, they are outstanding resources to be utilized while moving the club forward. When commit tees are dysfunctional, they cause headaches for the general manager, department heads and the board. When it comes to committees, volunteers should not enter their committee term thinking “What are we going to fix this year?” It should be explained to them, “This is the priority for the year ahead.” To guide committee members’ thinking, education and trai ning are crucial. By conducting a board-like orientation session for all committee members at the beginning of the committee year, every person sees what the goals are for the committee, how they will be held accountable, deadlines for when things need to be achieved and so forth. This way committees are not setting their own agendas, getting too involved in operations and setting their own initiatives, and there is much greater overall alignment throughout the club. Instead, committees are tasked by the president and the general manager, with the support of the board, what the goals are for the year. It is an ideal time to allow incoming committee members who have not yet served to shorten their first-year wonderment of how, when and where they need to focus their time. The dynamics of involving both new and returning committee members in the orientation experience is impactful and allows those new contributors confidence in what they need to focus on and how they can contribute. Sometimes when committee members find out their roles are strictly advisory, and they do not have decision-making power, or they do not get to make certain changes (per their personal agenda), they do not want to be on the committee anymore. Those members with personal agendas are often the people that should not be on committees; that is why proper committee orientation and training is so important. Additionally, arming all committee members with factual data and not allowing unsupported opinions, no matter how well intended, to prevail is done at this stage of the orientation process.
Understanding Roles and Responsibilities
When committees understand their advisory role, they also understand that they are tools for the general manager and board to use, not the other way around. It is essential that committees recognize that there is not a lot of extra talent lying around the club with nothing to do and that they are there for the general manager to use as tools for getting things done, versus the general manager running around trying to make committees happy. Committees must be educated and trained that their role is to do the work of the board and the general manager, not vice versa. When used effectively in this manner, they are outstanding conduits to and from the membership.
Clubs should hold detailed committee orientation sessions at the start of the committee year, just as they do with the new board of directors. A mandatory orientation session
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