Workday word–Recurring meetings

This is part 4 of the discussion on meetings.

Committees and working groups

Talk about your bad rap!  Almost nobody wants to be part of a committee or a working group.  In fact, some of the funniest quotes about meetings are about committees.  I’m sure you’ve heard some of these quotes before!

But there is no need for committees to be that painful!  (And no, I don’t enjoy them any more than the average person.)  Should you ever be asked to set up a committee or a working group or a task force (all variants on a theme.  Also included are “tiger teams”; “JAD groups” and “special assessments”) then please keep these considerations in mind:

1. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?  You should know, before setting up the first meeting, what it is that you will be doing.  Are you advising on something?  Are you organizing something?  Are you reviewing?  Are you a community-based organization?  Be as clear as possible in defining your objectives.
2. What are your timelines?  If you are advising, for instance, when is your advice needed?  If you’re an organizing committee, when is your event / product launch?  If you’re community-based, then what will you be doing and how often?
3. Select members based on interest and knowledge.  Generally, it’s preferred to invite people to participate, and those people should have both the skills and the interest to support your outcomes.
4. Know what will make your group successful. 
   1. If you’re advising, then you’re done when your advice is completed and provided. 
   2. For a community-based group, it will be when you’ve met your objective (increased participation in the neighbourhood watch, for instance.) 
   3. Remember that in some cases, you are successful even if your objective is not met.  For instance, deciding that a neighbourhood watch is not required because you’ve decided to use a security firm would be a successful outcome.
5. Keep your membership manageable.  While it’s great to have overwhelming interest, if the group gets too large then you’ve got Parliament – and they’re not famous for rapid decisions!
   1. In a community based organization, keep your core management committee to under 12 people. 
   2. For tiger teams / task forces, keep the group to 1 representative per distinct interest area.
6. Have a clear method for resolving disputes and settling tied votes. This saves LOTS of time and arguments! 
7. Keep formal meetings mainly for new business, decisions and issue resolution.  Most of the discussion should be done through the shared space.  Anything that can’t be easily resolved can then come before the group and get a full airing.  New items should always be discussed in person.
8. Expect that 50%+ of your work will be done outside of the formal committee structure (so by email, phone or social media)  Ensure that information flows smoothly and regularly among members.  Set up a group wiki (or shared space) for documents, records of discussion and lists of action items.
9. If a topic is getting too involved, create a sub-group, also with clearly-defined outcomes and deadlines.  For instance, in a community group, you may want to assign some people the responsibility for event management, others fund-raising, etc. 
10. Be prepared to wrap up your group when it has served its purpose.  Develop and maintain an exit strategy for when your work is done.  In the case of a community group, that may mean identifying how members are replaced after a term of service.

That’s it!  Go forth and set up that committee meeting!  Oh, and keep in mind:

Related posts:

• Making meetings work
• Running a meeting
• Planning a meeting