Fixing the Dysfunction: Relitigating Committee Decisions
The fourth in a series of seven talking about 7 common dysfunctions of a board and how to fix them.
Do you spend precious time at your board meetings re-discussing committee decisions or recommendations? If so, you don’t have trust in your committee process or your committees or you just have weak committees.
A strong committee structure can serve as a great way to get board members more engaged. It allows them to focus on an aspect of the organization that they enjoy (hopefully) and work with a smaller number of people to create more of a team. It also allows them to delve deeper into critical issues of the organization than even the best board meetings allow.
How can you create a strong committee structure that develops trust in their recommendations?
Develop appropriate committees. Make sure that you have the right committees for your organization. Most organizations should have a governance committee who manages the internal workings of the board and board members and a finance committee to oversee the organization’s financial health. Beyond that, the committees that you have depend on your needs and will likely change over time. Many organizations have an executive committee of the officers who meet between formal board meetings or when emergencies arise and have the power to make quick decisions. Others have building and grounds committees, programming committees, fundraising committees, marketing committees, etc. Ad hoc committees may develop for short-term needs of the organization, such as to study a name change or merger, or hire a new executive director.
Have written committee charters and job descriptions. Make sure that each committee has a purpose and knows its purpose so that its members can do meaningful work. Reviewing the charters periodically assures that everyone knows their charge, no overlap exists, and the committee still has meaningful work to do.
Committees should meet regularly. Regular meetings allow committee members to complete their tasks. The importance of having strong committee chairs mirrors the importance of a strong board chair to keep the committee’s work on task and moving forward. Make sure that your committee chairs have the right disposition and skills.
Committees should regularly and formally report to the full board to ensure that everyone on the board has confidence in their work and the people conducting it. I advocate for written reports over long, oral reports to the board that do not allow time for conversation. That said, committees should regularly provide input into the topics for the strategic conversations that occur at the board meetings as needs, recommendations, or challenges arise from their committee work. For example, the finance committee should lead the strategic discussion at least once a year when reviewing the budget, audit, and 990 to assure that everyone understands the organization’s financial position. Likewise, the hiring committee may dominate the agenda for the 6 months or so of an active search for an executive director.
Above all, develop trust among all board members. Trust serves as the foundation of all board service. Giving opportunities for board members to interact and become a team engenders the trust needed to accept the finance committee’s recommendations, for example. This does not mean blindly following and accepting their recommendations without question, but it does mean asking questions without relitigating every step that went into the process of developing the recommendation. Welcoming those questions from the board at large also goes a long way in developing that trust.
Many of the dysfunctional boards with which I have worked over the years have no committees or have committees in name only; they serve no useful function on the board. Strengthening your committee structure – and getting the right people on the committees as well as your board – can serve as a very powerful tool for board engagement, decision-making, and board member satisfaction, all important components of a strong board.
