Have you ever served on a board and the board members did all of the work?
There was no committee structure or volunteers. Successful boards operate at the 30,000 ft level while the committees work at the ground level.
An effective committee structure gets members involved and engaged. Committee work provides opportunities for members to get leadership experience and work toward serving in a role on the board. Committees carry out the work of the board.
The committee chair is key to the success of the committee. The committee chair, as the board chair, must be strong and a good communicator. The expectations of the committee chair must be clear. The committee chair must be able to delegate.
A successful committee has established goals, an action plan with metrics and an evaluation strategy.
A successful committee makes decisions and then makes recommendations to the board. Have you served on a board that operated by board rule? A board that takes recommendations and then dissects the recommendation and serve as yet another “committee?”
This way of operating communicates three things to the committee:
- We don’t trust your competency
- Your decisions are suspect
- You don’t matter
A successful committee makes decisions and then makes recommendations to the board, “we recommend option one or option two.” The board’s responsibility is to choose between the options.
How does your board operate? Is it successful or surviving?
I’ve served and chaired local, state and national boards. I’d love to help transform your board from surviving to thriving! Contact me today.
