Volunteer leaders and staff must work closely together to achieve common goals. The way to avoid problems is to be proactive about collaboration.
It is important for the volunteer leader to meet with the assigned staff member and to focus on who will be doing what with establishing goals, milestones and timelines. Discussion can be held in the context of expertise and experience but also scope of work limitations on management. Scope of work limitations are in place to hold down costs for the client.
Consider that it is in the best interest of the association that staff members’ time be used at the highest and best level. Staff members bring considerable experience and can offer guidance in best practices. They can also help keep projects on track and bring together internal and external resources. An effective committee relies on members, not staff, to do the work of the committee. That level of involvement builds engagement, which leads to improved retention.
While staff members can provide valuable guidance and support, they can also help the committee stay on track, set up calls and distribute reports, etc. Having staff support is key to a successful committee.
My best advice to a board president or volunteer leader is to work collaboratively with the executive director or staff member assigned to support your work. Think of staff as a partner. Trust their expertise and listen to their guidance. Together you can do great things.
Some common misconceptions about how committees should work:
- Staff members are to simply provide clerical support to the committee.
- We decide what we want to do, then tell the staff member to make it happen.
- Committee members are busy people; they should not be asked to do anything between meetings.
- Agendas are nice, but we don’t need to stick to them.
- Timelines and deadlines are not that important. If we miss one, it doesn’t matter.
- When we make decisions, it is ok to revisit them multiple times.
- We can cut our committee members some slack on action items.
