The Committeeman

Most of us, unless we make a concerted effort not to, will spend some time on a committee or a board. I think that’s particularly true of people who live in small towns. Tarkio is infamous for its flock of vultures who circle over town looking for squashed squirrels: I was reminded of the vultures when our girls moved to Tarkio with their new husbands. They had plenty of opportunities to serve, as septuagenarian committee members circled the new blood, hoping against hope that my offspring and/or their spouses would show up for meetings.

I’ve done my time. School Board, Fair Board, County Farm Bureau. State Farm Bureau. National committees for American Farm Bureau. A number of other Farm Bureau committees, including one that was doing long term “visioning.” Which convinced me that, like the elder President Bush, I wasn’t much into the vision thing. I have been there and done that, and I’ve made some broad generalizations about board members that may bring a smile to both of my readers. Or not. Julie says: ‘be careful, people may think you are talking about them.” I’m not worried. I don’t think there’s any chance that either of my readers will recognize themselves in the following descriptions.

The worst kind of committee member is the H.R. Director, who is most likely to appear on local school boards. They have an axe to grind against an employee, and they’re on the board for one reason and one reason only: to make sure that their enemy is no longer employed by the school or the organization the board governs. There’s lots of problems with this, but the major one is a misunderstanding of the role of a board member. Wanna be H.R. directors should remember that managing, evaluating, hiring, and firing employees is awful and no sensible person would want to do those tasks as a part of a volunteer board position. The professional staff hired to do those things are or should be well compensated for the responsibility and are in a much better place to actually evaluate employees.

Of course, the first thing that happens when a board has people who think they should be in charge of hiring and firing is the employees move quickly to build support on the board, which hurts the ability of the board and the organization to function effectively. If your manager isn’t effectively managing employees, then replace her. That, after all, is the board's major responsibility.

Almost as bad is the employee advocate who sees his role as improving the lot of employees in any way possible. Of course, the best way of all is removing responsibility and work from said employees. This nascent class warrior forgets that the board is in place to look out for the interests of the organization. Employees are important, but so are the people the organization serves, the people paying the bills, and the public at large. I’ve heard it said that a good way to judge an organization is to check out the reserved parking spots. If the employee parking lot is closest to the front door, then the priorities of the organization are out of whack.

Next comes the Aginner. You know, whatever the subject, they take the contrary position. They’re against it, but they don’t offer a solution, forgetting that they are a member of the policy setting body for the organization. If they don’t like it, just convince the board to change the policy! Maybe they could make a formal motion to fix that which brings out their negativity? Nope, that’s too much trouble. Better to just complain.

Of course, there is the surprised board member. He’s surprised that there is a board meeting, and he’s not prepared. You can tell, because he wants to spend time raising issues that are covered in the material prepared and delivered to him before the meeting. He’d be surprised if you explained to him that he was expected to prepare for the meeting.

And, there is the board member who must surely fall asleep each night, lovingly replaying in his mind the sound of his own voice. No sound is so pure, so sweet, so necessary to the good order of the universe. He has to have input on every issue at every turn, And, as a rule, he is not averse to repetition, so is often the same person as the one I call One Note Samba, for their refusal to move on from an issue settled three meetings ago.

Then there is the anti numbers guy. He’s got an opinion about the menu at the last function, the speaker at the last meeting, the temperature setting in the board room, and will make sure that the minutes are corrected for minor mistakes, but he doesn’t spend two minutes reading about, thinking about, or understanding the finances of the organization. He’s got an opinion on baked beans, but he has nothing to add when the finances are clearly headed toward the ditch.

Which one of these best describes me? Well, I’m sure I’ve been guilty of everything listed here at some time or other. I hope I’ve gotten better. I’m sure I don’t talk as much or as often at board meetings as I used to, and I always try to prepare to the best of my ability, but I’d be the first to admit that I’ve been guilty of every behavior mentioned.

Although I presided over the last days of the Westboro school, the rest of the organizations where I’ve chronicled the behavior listed above are still extant. That’s because most of the board members I’ve had the pleasure of serving with took their responsibilities seriously and served their organizations with care and love.

One final story. I once served on a committee made up of several farm organizations and major farm equipment manufacturers. Our charge was to come up with a voluntary agreement governing the treatment and ownership of the data produced by farmers as they traveled through their fields with GPS enabled equipment. The meeting was contentious, and I happened to be sitting next to the fellow chairing the meeting, the then President of the American Farm Bureau. After several hours of back and forth, at what I thought was an unresolvable impasse, he turned to me and sotto voice, said: “watch this.” After having let the argument flow unimpeded for what I thought was much too long, he then laid out a solution that everybody could accept.

Committee work, like most everything in life, is a skill that can be developed. Like a minor leaguer getting a cup of coffee in the majors, I discovered the difference that day between someone who could hit a major league curve ball and the rest of us.

So, be willing to serve, read the board materials, and approach your board position with humility and seriousness. And be on the lookout for the person on the board who is operating on a different level. If nothing else, they are fun to watch.