Coping with Committees (part 3 of 3)

  

This month’s column continues from last month (Composing Committees) rounding out what I have learnt from 16 years of working with committees and Boards in the community cultural development. This time around it is ‘Coping with Committees’ – managing some of the difficulties that can arise. This material has been adapted from a presentation I made to a Forum by the Local Government Association and Shires Association of NSW in September 2010.

Managing committees often comes down to effective management of its members. Some members need extra care in managing their participation on the Committee. Some are worth managing for the best they can offer, while others may not be so helpful, but you are stuck with them due their representative role on your Committee.

Often these people are not deliberately problematic. They just seem to make difficulties from the way in which they happen to operate. Some of these issues can include:
• Getting distracted – talking off topic and in side discussions;
• Feeling the need to speak at length on every item being discussed – regularly dominating the discussion;
• Adding unexpected items to the Agenda at the meeting;
• Pushing their own interests rather than those of the organization ;
• Lobbying for their position on issues with other members outside of meetings;
• Not reading their papers before meetings and/or not bringing their papers with them; and
• Missing meetings and making no effort to stay engaged with the business of the organization.

Obviously it is best to avoid recruiting these people in the first place, but that’s not always possible. The best way of dealing with these issues is to identify the particular problem person, get to the cause of their problem and to address it proactively. For example, in the case of a Committee Member who forgets their papers you should always have spares ready. For the lobbyist, ask other Board members to avoid engaging with them prior to meetings and refer discussions to the meeting, and so on.

I’m now going to introduce you to my committee. It contains some of the main problem board member ‘types’ you might encounter. I’d also like to acknowledge that some of these observations are derived from Shane Simpson’s excellent book ‘Music Business’ which has a great chapter on non-profit organisations, that assisted me when I first started working with Committees.

The Ill-prepared
If you have a potentially useful, thoughtful and contributing committee member who is never able to contribute because they don’t read their papers, one option is to organise a 30 minute phone conversation with them a day or two before the meeting. You may be surprised. If you briefly outline the issues to be discussed, they may find the time between then and the meeting to not only read at least the one or two papers they are now interested in, but to have thought up a useful contribution in the meantime.

The Nay-Sayer
Before anyone can even finish explaining the germ of an idea, this board member knows why it can’t possibly work and tells everyone all about it. Like Scotty from Star Trek, their view is always “She Cannae go any faster, Captain”. The solution in this case is to anticipate their objections and the obvious problems, and to have the counter arguments ready, preferably in the written papers!

The Economic-Rationalist of little imagination
Like another Star Trek character, this committee member is limited in their thinking by “Its not logical, Captain”. Particularly when it comes to the Arts, you need to be able justify things in terms of community, social and rather intangible benefits. Committee members who can only see cost benefit in terms of finance can be difficult to turn around and will hamper your progress.

The solution here may be to provide them with as many readings as you can on the non-financial benefits and indirect financial benefits of the sorts of activities you are working on. Make it logical for them. Run a seminar for the whole committee on the topic so that the rest of the committee may feel confident in putting other views forward during debate with this person

The Celebrity
You may have a prominent local figure who is the first person mentioned as a candidate for your committee because they have a high profile, are very active in multiple committees, and the usual idea is that they are a great fundraiser who is well connected. These people tend not to be very effective contributors, and are likely to also be ‘sleepers’ or ‘ghosts’ or ‘easily distracted’ (see below).

The Sleeper
Sleepers attend every meeting and diligently read every report. They just don’t contribute to any discussions. To deal with this your Chairperson must deliberately ask them for their opinion during discussions and get them involved. If still can’t offer anything, then the Chair should quietly ask them to reconsider their role. If they have nothing to contribute perhaps they might make way for someone who can to join the committee.

The Ghost
This is a committee member who never actually attends any meetings. The best solution here is to ensure your terms of reference require a minimum number of attendances per year (eg if your committee meets 4 times, require a minimum of 3). This not only provides a means of removing the Ghost from your membership, but also encourages prospective members to consider their availability before committing to joining the Committee. It also helps you to maintain a quorum as there is effectively a penalty for non-attendance

The Lifer
The opposite to the Ghost, this is a person who regularly turns up, probably regularly contributes, and might be the best committee member that you ever had. Their trouble is that they have been on the Committee for ever. They also develop a sense of ownership over the facilities and programs which makes it hard for others to put forward new ideas. This means that the pool of ideas and representation on the committee is restricted, and you can’t bring in fresh approaches from new people. The way around this is to ensure that your terms of reference need to set a maximum term and a limit on the number of times a person can be appointed, and that this is enforced!

The Easily Distracted
These talkers add unnecessary details, get off topic, chat in side conversations, bring in irrelevancies, and somehow make every topic about them! One solution is to seat them between staff members and/or alongside the Chair, so there is less opportunity to chat. Your Chair also needs to rein them in and move them along.

Mr Brightside and Gloomy Gladys
A really balanced committee will have an eternal optimist and a constant pessimist who effectively cancel each other out. If you only have one or other, or at worst a committee member who can take on either role on a particular day or issue then watch out! No matter how well things are going, they see the dark side, or wherever potential risks need to be anticipated and managed, they want to push blithely forward.

In either case a lot will depend on your Chairperson’s ability to recognise the balanced view to ensure that the committee as a whole can see it too. Your job is to make sure that as complete a picture as possible is provided, and that both good and bad news is delivered regularly.

The Manipulator
This committee member has their own, usually unknown Agenda which they are always manoeuvring towards. To neutralise this you need to find out what that agenda is and get it up front. If possible get the manipulator to help develop a report or options paper into the issue and have the Board discuss it. If the outcome does not go their way, this person will either continue to pursue the agenda (which the Chair will need to be sware of and on top off) or resign from the Committee.

The Single-Issue Member
An overt version of the manipulator (and thus easier to identify and deal with), this person gets onto your committee seeking to push a single issue to the fore and have their favoured outcome achieved. They are really not interested in anything other than that single objective, and will only distract the Committee from other business until they are heard and responded to on that issue.

The best solution here is to let this issue come on to the Agenda in such a way that a thorough balanced report with detailed options can be delivered to and considered by the Committee. This problem person will usually resign from the committee if they get their way, or as soon as they realise the Chair won’t revisit the issue once a decision against their interest has been made.

The Bright Spark
The bright spark is a committee member who comes up with a brilliant new idea – often totally out of context of the meeting, and wants to see action on it immediately. Sometimes these ideas are unworkable, or just not actionable with the resources available. Nevertheless, they sound great, and would have a brilliant outcome contributing to the organisation’s goals if they were to be made a reality. Committees can get caught up in the moment and endorse these ideas and move resolutions supporting them much more readily than ideas that have been developed over months and presented with a clear case and cost-benefit analysis in their papers.

The solution here is to try to avoid recommendations to turn this brand new idea into an action. Keep any ‘next steps’ arising from the meeting limited to the ‘first steps’ – such as a feasibility study or cost-benefit analysis rather than the complete endorsement of the whole idea that sets the organisation potentially down the wrong path without sufficient consideration.

The Back Seat Driver
This Committee member is the one who knows all about the business being done, the best way to do it etc and can often be heard stating how easy it is, and is regularly amazed at how poorly you do it. You won’t be able to change that viewpoint easily, but try to get this person involved in a project in a hands on way. Give them the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is. If they are as knowledgeable as they claim, then you can only benefit!

The Micro-Manager
Often also a Back-seat driver, the micro-manager insists on seeing minute detail on everything, and channelling Committee or Board attention and energy into operations and delivery rather than strategy and direction. When this person is your Chairperson it is particularly difficult. The way to prevent this is to ensure your terms of reference make it clear that the Committee’s role is to provide guidance at a strategic rather than operational level. Make sure that this is understood, known and restated as often as needed.

The Bully
This Committee member is a poor listener who insists on getting their own way on every issue. To prevent this destructive behaviour, the Chairperson needs to ensure that this person does not always get their way. Limiting time available to each person in discussion and ensuring every voice is heard can assist. If the Bully is your Chair person you are in trouble!! – Fixed terms are your only salvation.

The Underminer
In my experience this is the worst type of difficult committee member. The most subtle of the lot, often working against the Terms of Reference, perhaps putting the needs of their employer organisation or another agenda ahead of their role on the Committee, or perhaps having a personal issue or grudge against the organisation or individuals within it. They often whiteant the organisation and its activities to the wider community.

The Underminder can be neutralised to an extent by a vigilant Chairperson, but it can be difficult to get the evidence of their behaviour clear enough to take to the Chair. If they are subverting the interests of your organisation for another one (such as the one that employs them) then the best and perhaps ONLY solution is to manoeuvre them off the Committee entirely. If you suspect that someone like this may be coming on to your board, make that first appointment just 12 months. You can always renew it if you turn out to be wrong!

A final note –
Very Few people join Committees seeking recognition or reward, but if your CEO, Council or General Manager regularly ignores or acts against their advice or recommendations, or even worse, makes decisions without even consulting the relevant Committee, then don’t expect the members to be around for long.

The best recognition for a Committee is that its ideas are put forward, acknowledged, genuinely considered, and sometimes enacted. It is, however, important to encourage, thank and otherwise reward them in other ways too.

This might include:
- Public acknowledgement of their efforts and contribution
- Invitations to special events (nb these need to be enjoyable events worth attending - invitations to hear the Mayor or CEO speak on something unrelated to the Committee will feel like additional responsibilities to attend rather than a reward)
- Good quality catering at meetings
- Intangible benefits from participating such as meeting interesting special guests
- Small gifts or tokens – as allowed by your code of conduct etc – are usually appropriate at the end of a period of service – especially for the Committee members who have been long serving/particularly helpful &/or the Chairperson!

See the slide showfor more information.

Read part 1 and part 2 of Creating Committees:

Creating Committees part 1

Composing Committees (2 of 3).