1999 Volunteer Leadership Training Guide
Working with Committees
Conceptions and Misconceptions
Supplemental Material
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Committees are the backbone of an organization.
Comment: The committees of an organization function to gather information,
study issues, reach a consensus and make recommendations to the individuals
responsible for making the final decisions.
We started with two alternate plans at our committee meeting, and we've
narrowed them down to eight - Reader's Digest, August 1975.
Comment: One of the outstanding benefits of committee work is the generation
of fresh good ideas. Each member of a committee brings unique insight to a
problem and helps to broaden the base of potential solutions. Organization
leaders, then, can choose among a maximum number of solutions, rather than
settling for the "lesser of two or three evils."
. . . vital as the individual is, in an association the primary
element is not the single person but a group - a committee.
Comment: Participation in the committee process offers a double benefit. The
decision-making ability of the whole is almost always more capable than the
ability of any one of its members thinking alone. And, participative decision
making encourages maximum support for new ideas -- each member of the committee
becomes a disciple for the decisions made by the committee.
A committee is a group that succeeds only when it is composed of three
members, one of whom happens to be sick and another absent.
Comment: A committee of one is not a committee. In order to meaningfully
fulfill its function, a committee requires consistent, active participation from
all its members.
Whatever their assignment, their purpose is to study and discuss issues
and problems and then make recommendations . . .
Comment: The primary function of a committee is to contribute to the
efficient operation of an organization. A committee contributes by keeping the
leadership informed, by discussing and studying issues facing the organization
and by recommending courses of action.
. . . for long-term effectiveness, an association must have strong
committees and the recognition of that fact by both members and staff.
Comment: The only justification for a committee is a need to accomplish some
purpose. Members of a committee must clearly understand what their purpose is
and should focus all of their energy on accomplishing it. The efforts of the
committee, then, must be recognized by staff and officers. But no committee
exists in a vacuum -- members of the committee need to listen to and carefully
consider advice from advisors and officers so that the decision they make will
be viable in the framework of the Arkansas Extension Homemaker organization as a
whole.
Adapted from: Getting Involved: The Challenge of Committee
Participation, American Society of Association Executives.
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