authority
After a few years in this business, it seems to me that questions of authority are some of the hardest to resolve. Over and over I find city councils, boards of directors, and other governing boards struggling with the question, “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” If a group understands certain fundamental principles, it becomes much…
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Updated May 1, 2023 Several of our clients have been startled recently to learn that they can’t vote by email. Email is so ubiquitous and useful that it seems like a natural way to make decisions. For boards, it is not. The essential nature of a board of directors is to meet, discuss and decide…
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Using emotional intelligence will allow any leader to run better meetings. A successful leader has to be aware of his own emotions and those of others, and has to be able to deal with emotion constructively. Unfortunately many of us are prone to react impulsively in tough situations, unless we have done the hard work…
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What can you do when the chair is a bully, or out of line? Unfortunately, sometimes the chair lets their position go to their head. We outlined some basic principles about bullying in this post, “Do you have a bully on board?” If you are burdened with a chair who bullies or intimidates others, we suggest…
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A friend recently described a board meeting when 20 members, who had driven or flown in from distant parts, sat around waiting because they couldn’t take action – they didn’t have a quorum. Eventually one straggler arrived and the meeting could begin. What is a quorum? A quorum is the minimum number of voting members…
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Today’s Seattle Times reports that a committee chair called the vote wrong on Tuesday. The Sustainability and Transportation Committee of the Seattle City Council was considering a proposal to rescue the Pronto bike-sharing program. Chair Mike O’Brien announced that the vote was tied 3-3, meaning that it failed. However, Council Member Debora Juarez actually voted…
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Updated July 22, 2021 The “motion to appeal” is one of the least-known motions in Robert’s Rules of Order, and the most powerful. All of us are very familiar with the role of the chair of the meeting. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, the chair has the duty of keeping things on track. The chair…
Read MoreMy new folding business card includes a “cheat sheet for the chair.” It’s our summary of what the person running a meeting really needs to know (see below). I gave one to a senior elected official this week. He read the first line and said, half-joking, “the servant of the group, not the boss?! That…
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It sometimes comes as a shock to newly elected leaders that running good meetings requires being a dictator. It is essential for the chair of a meeting to enforce the rules that the group has decided upon for fair discussion. If your board has adopted an agenda that allows 20 minutes for a given topic,…
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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…
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