Ann Macfarlane
As a longtime fascinated observer of civic and nonprofit boards, I’ve noticed some interesting things happen from time to time. Some examples: An elected board member who is a CPA decides that he’s not satisfied with the district’s financials, so he prepares his own version for the directors to review. A director who believes ardently…
Read MoreMeetings of one type or another can take up to half of the average work day and keeping them productive can sometimes be a challenge. But there’s one simple guideline that can save time and improve the content of daily meetings by a thousand percent and it’s this: No one may speak a second time…
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The role of emotion in the business world is slowly being acknowledged in our culture, but it is still a challenge to address feelings and emotions appropriately in meetings. We need to take them into account without getting overly personal, intrusive, or condescending. A leader who understands how emotions affect people’s mental processes will be…
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A council member called me recently with one of the most common errors people make about Robert’s Rules of Order. She said, “We have a really controversial vote coming up, and if someone abstains, that counts as a ‘yes’ vote, right?” No, it doesn’t. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, you can vote “aye” or you…
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This is Sibelius month in Seattle, and the Seattle symphony is performing all his major pieces. At last week’s performance of Symphony No. 2, I was mesmerized by the conductor. Thomas Dausgaard and the orchestra appeared to breathe as a single organism. I have never seen any large group act in such complete harmony. It…
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As part of our crusade to de-mystify Robert’s Rules of Order and empower people serving on nonprofit boards, city councils, and other governing bodies, we would like to address a simple question: who can make a motion? The answer is: you! If you are a voting member of one of these bodies, and it functions…
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Over the years of working with parliamentary procedure I’ve found that there is a lot of confusion about the motion “point of order.” In essence, when a person says “point of order” he is making a claim that there has been some procedural mistake. In his view, something has been done incorrectly, and it ought…
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Some time ago Andrew Estep presented “I’ve Just Been Elected Treasurer – HELP!” at the Washington State Nonprofit Governance conference in Tacoma. One attendee requested assistance on how to explain board responsibility to the board of directors itself. Her comment stayed with me: “When things start to go wrong, people are kind of surprised at how…
Read MoreAt a recent family party, as we enjoyed summer pasta salad and delicious cheeses, a guest and I chatted about Jurassic Parliament. We were discussing boards of directors when she made this off-hand comment: “My board is too nice.”
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Updated July 15, 2021 When I first became interested in Robert’s Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure, I toddled off to the bookstore to get myself the book. A thin volume with a purple and green art nouveau cover, proffering Robert’s Rules for the current century, looked like a good bet. I handed over my…
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