Tearing down old structures to create more productive committees.

Situation
A large trade association in the textiles industry conducted most of its business through a large number of committees, several of which were required by the by-laws and several of which had become standing simply by habit. Using an infrastructure that paralleled its program structure, these large standing committees were only marginally productive, and had no objectives or assignments. Instead, each committee became a generator of large lists of pet projects and peeves, which then migrated up to the board in the form of recommendations or resolutions that filled the board’s agenda. This had led to increased member dissatisfaction and disenchantment with the whole committee experience.

No overall strategy existed for the organization; therefore they had no basis for deciding how to organize member resources to get work done.

TC Solution
First step was to assess the relative effectiveness of the committee system and structure using a TC tool designed to help the organization clarify its issues. Using select TC criteria, the group was able to define a set of questions it could use to assess the relative appropriateness and effectiveness of the committee system.

Results
Once the effectiveness of the committee system was analyzed, its structure was reconstructed around goals and objectives from the strategic plan and uncoupled from program and staff structures. This helped the organization streamline its approval process, dramatically increasing its speed and flexibility.

As a result of this restructuring, more members began to participate in the committee system, many of whom did not want to participate before. New assignments were more focused, shorter-term and of higher strategic value, putting more volunteer resources behind the plan, and increasing the number of people who knew about it.

One lesson learned: an organization cannot reshape its committee structure unless it has a valid strategic plan and it has reshaped the behavior of the board. If these are not in place, the committee system is in danger of morphing itself back into a standing committee structure.

To learn more about how Tecker Consultants can help your organization,
contact us at 215.493.8120.