Tips for Effectively Staffing your Committees

Carolyn Lugbill

Tips for Effectively Staffing your Committees

Committees of all types provide support to the governance of your organization.

How can you increase your effectiveness as a staff liaison to those committees? Here are some tips for fulfilling your role and building a solid partnership with your committee chair and committee members.

  • Recognize that you are a valuable resource to the committee in helping to advance its work while advancing the organization’s goals and objectives.
  • Spend time fully understanding the committee’s background, its previous work accomplishments, and organizational policies that might impact that committee.
  • Become thoroughly familiar with the committee’s current scope of work and the outcomes it hopes to achieve for the coming year.
  • Understand that every committee has a “culture,” a set of assumptions, attitudes and beliefs that guide its behavior. Do your best to figure out and adapt to the culture as quickly as possible.
  • Work with the committee chair to:
    1. Develop an annual written work plan with timelines that will keep the committee focused and able to accomplish its priorities;
    2. Prepare agendas, and distribute prior to meetings;
    3. Facilitate robust committee discussions and activities that address the committee’s charge;
    4. Foster a culture of openness and transparency, and respect for all committee members as equal partners in discussions;
    5. Provide orientation for new and continuing committee members each year; and
    6. Provide administrative and on-site support for planning and follow-up of all committee meetings
    7. Draft reports of committee meetings for review and approval
    8. Facilitate communication of committee updates and requests for action to the chief staff executive and board.
  • Where appropriate, offer suggestions for proposed products and services that will help advance the organization’s mission.
  • Encourage self-assessment of the committee from time to time on individual and overall committee performance.
  • Recognize that your work with the committee chair and its members is a partnership, with each role having its own set of responsibilities and complementing one another.
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About the Author

Carolyn Lugbill

Carolyn Lugbill, CAE, MAM is a Senior Consultant with Tecker International. She has more than 25 years of association experience. Carolyn provides strategic planning, global growth strategies, program assessment, and board development for our clients. Contact Carolyn: [email protected]