Committees
Used or Abused?
Committees should involve members in the development and delivery of services, represent member’s opinions in decision-making, and help serve the organization’s needs. They also offer the opportunity for group problem-solving and can be a forum for presenting multiple points of view.
I have been involved in many committees both on a professional and personal level.
Some worked very well, while others were and have been a disaster. The difference seems to be who originates the committee(s) and how they structure and manage them.
As a Board member of Meals on Wheels in the Greater Lehigh Valley (MOWGLV), we were a working, not a show Board. That means that we actually provided working assistance to the organization and didn’t just attend meetings, do little and contribute some money.
Each Board member had at least one committee assignment for things such as Buildings and Grounds, Human Resources and Finance to name a few functional areas. Each committee was headed by a Board member and had representation by some paid employee from the MOWGLV.
The committee worked on real things like building renovation, HR policies or the like. The members then brought their work to the full Board for review, comment and approval. The other Board members asked pertinent questions and, in some cases, made suggestions to strengthen what was presented. The committee then finalized the suggestions and carried out the agreed upon actions for implementation.
Professionally, the same occurred both when I worked at Crayola and when I had my consulting practice and worked on committees with client companies.
For the most part, we operated much like the MOW did. However, in certain circumstances the owner or executive of the company involved him or herself into the committee and took over. When they did, committee members felt used or useless and the committee either failed or disbanded. I called that Employee Uninvolvement, instead of the Employee Involvement the company was trying to achieve.
As a retiree I have gotten involved in some committees on a volunteer basis. One is for our Social Club at the complex where I live. The main committee is Events, where a group of people from the organization meet monthly to plan group events.
The group (Notice I do not call it a committee) has no leader. The meetings I attended lasted 3 hours each when at most 45 minutes was needed. There was much discussion on irrelevant things and needless to say, it was a waste of time and I lost interest.
What made it worse was that the President took what the committee was doing and put her on spin on things. That made things confused and to say there was dissatisfaction by the members is a certainty.
The other instance was a committee I volunteered to head at one of my old colleges.
I am on the Board at the Engineering school and help to mentor students, evaluate their senior projects and provide some assistance with curriculum by doing guest lectures.
The department head asked for help with developing an internship program where the Board members solicit their own and other companies to intern seniors and graduate students. I agreed to head this up and organized a committee of 4 including myself to do so.
The first order of business was to develop materials we could hand to the companies we solicited. I had worked on this with another school I am involved in which has a very successful internship program.
We developed the material into a 2-page document. The department head then took our work and handed it over to a school administrator. She was only supposed to provide coloring and font to our work. Instead, she changed content and cut it down to one page, leaving out important content. I and the rest of the committee were totally left out of the process.
When we received the changes, we complained. He then gave it back to her to make further changes, again leaving us out of the process. Once he had a final product, he brought it to the rest of the Board and asked them to critique and provide further changes, once again leaving the committee out of the process.
None of us was happy and the committee is disbanded. I will not volunteer to head or be involved in any other committee and am now a member of a show Board at best.
These recent experiences got me thinking about how certain people do not either understand or appreciate how committees should work. In regard to that, I offer the following thoughts:
Getting Committees to Work Well
Typically, committees don’t work well because:
1. They lack long-term agendas.
2. There is a reliance on poor or incomplete information.
3. There is a failure to distinguish between board level and operational issues.
To be successful committees benefit from the following:
1. A strong and organized committee chair.
2. A strategic focus for discussions and prioritized agendas.
3. The ability to work freely and have their work accepted when completed, reviewed and approved.
Key Elements of Committee Effectiveness
• Written Committee Description — There should be a written description of what is expected of each committee which guides the chair and its members. This should summarize the purpose of the committee, its composition, and its specific duties. Included is that what the committee does, they do completely through implementation. They are not pushed aside at any point and left out of their work for any reason.
• A Strong and Effective Committee Chair — All committees should have an effective chairperson. This means that person should have content knowledge and experience relevant to the work of the committee. Proven leadership and people skills are essential if the group is to work effectively.
This person must be a good leader of people and process, someone who feels confident in guiding group members to accomplish their task(s) in a timely manner.
Conclusions
After all of this, what does this mean regarding committees. It is my opinion that when constructed and run properly, committees can be invaluable to an organization. The opposite is also true. When committees are poorly constructed and improperly run or not appreciated these things can have a damaging effect on both the organization and the individuals involved.
Hopefully all reading this article will consider these points when organizing, running, or serving on a committee. Working with others for a common purpose can and is extremely rewarding. But to serve on a show committee or to do hard work only to be ignored or refuted is in no one’s best interest.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter H. Christian was a founding partner and president of espi, a business consulting firm in Northeastern PA. Previously he was an Executive at Crayola Corporation. He has worked with 300+ clients in business development, profit improvement, operations, IS selection and implementation, and Project Management. He has 40+ years of experience in strategic and facility planning, CI, lean, and supply chain. He has helped companies to realize millions of dollars in cost reductions and profit improvements adding and retaining thousands of jobs. He has authored the Amazon bestselling business books, “What About the Vermin Problem?” and “Influences and Influencers” (4 out of 4 star review on Online Bookclub) and is published in a variety of professional magazines. He is most appreciative of Dr. Rodney Ridley and Donald Schalk of the O’Pake Institute, Alvernia University for their support in allowing him to teach this important course
