Few tasks which your association undertakes are more important to your organization’s continued success than your regular membership meetings. That is when some of the association’s most important work is done and when some critical discussions on the organization’s future are conducted.
Here are thoughts on member committees and the roles that individual officials play in making each association meeting count.
The member committee. Your association should include an overseeing body charged with the ultimate responsibility of conducting daily association business. If your association is incorporated, the law calls that body a “Board of Directors.” If your organization is not incorporated, your association may call it an executive board or executive council.
In large companies, although the board of directors makes final decisions on a number of critical issues, it rarely does all the legwork and research into a particular issue. Instead, large corporations develop company committees, which are responsible for researching a variety of issues and offering reports to the full board of directors. At large companies, those committees are comprised of members of the board. While your association probably is not in the position to stock such committees with members of your board of directors — after all, they are busy with their own work — the lessons of the corporate committee structure provides a useful glimpse into how you might structure your organization.
Your association may set up committees that research issues and report to the board. Committees could be comprised of officials from the association membership and oversee everything from regular maintenance of your primary fields to member evaluations.
It is during your regular association meetings that the value of those membership committees becomes most evident. During your meeting, set aside time for each committee to offer a report to the membership, including a short summary of the actions taken by the committee, any recommendations made by the committee on issues to be ultimately handled by the board of directors, its plans for the future and other news that may be relevant.
Your committees should handle those meeting reports delicately, particularly since they report to the entire membership. For example, while your association’s Officials Review Committee might report on new forms to be used while evaluating members, it should not release any sensitive information during the meeting, such as which official recently received a poor review.
Adding those reports into your meeting accomplishes a number of important tasks. First, it gets a greater number of members actively involved in the affairs of the association. How many times have you heard from a member, “Well, I’d like to get involved but I don’t have the time to devote to being on the board?” Creating membership committees allows members to become involved without requiring full-fledged commitments.
Perhaps as important, developing a committee system offers a structured means by which your board of directors and your members are kept apprised of developments within their association. A common complaint among members is that they are not kept fully informed of association activities. Giving committee reports during your meeting helps solve that problem and assures that everyone in the association is on the same page.
Speaking up. Perhaps the most important thing a member can do during a meeting is to speak up when concerned about an issue in the organization. Remember that a responsible official does not jump up and start rambling in the middle of a meeting — such behavior is counterproductive to an effective meeting. Instead, try these suggestions:
• If you know in advance that you want to discuss a particular issue, ask the board member responsible for running the meeting to put your issue on the agenda. That way, the association handles your issue in turn, fellow members see the topic on the agenda and have a few minutes to prepare their own thoughts on the issue and discussion on your topic will run more smoothly.
• If you have an issue that concerns you, don’t be shy. Often, officials don’t speak up during meetings — particularly if the association is large — because they think their ideas are in the extreme minority or fellow officials will think of the ideas as stupid. More often than not, you find that many members feel the same way on a particular issue or that an easy solution to your concern can be found. Even if your fellow members don’t agree with you, at least you’ve fulfilled your obligation as a member to bring your concerns to the attention of your fellow officials.
• When you have something to say, be organized and clear. Get your thoughts together before you speak. Carefully tailor your thoughts to deal only with the issue at hand and that they do not fly off on tangents that waste everyone’s time.
• Keep calm, just like you would on the field of play. Obviously, the potential for emotional and heated debate exists. If you remember to stay calm, everyone will be able to have their say and your meetings become well worth your members’ valuable time and effort.
(Written by Ted Curtis who is a journalist, sports attorney and professor of sports management in the graduate studies program at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. He is a frequent contributor to NASO publications. This article is intended for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. If legal advice is required, a competent professional should be consulted.)
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