Notes #12 The Committee Structure: Getting Everyone Involved

(part of the parliamentary procedure subseries)

One problem facing many organizations is that most people think there are two types of within their group: the officers and everyone else. The officers are usually expected to do all the work of the organization (planning and organizing stuff), and everyone else just participates.

Usually this results in burnout and frustration on the part of the officers, as they have to shoulder all the work of keeping the organization running; and everyone else slowly drifting away because they don’t feel fully involved in the group.

How do you solve this problem?

Simple. Use the “Committee Structure”, as I call it.

But what is that and how does it work? (and does it work?)

Notes #11 Servant Leadership Works of Larry Spears

For many years, Larry Spears was the executive director of the Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership.  Upon his retirement from that position, he soon went and started up his own group, the Spears Center forServant-Leadership.  While at the Greenleaf Center, he oversaw several publications, most notably, new collections of Greenleaf’s works and a series of 4 anthologies on servant leadership that drew from articles and speeches on the topic from a wide range of writers and experts in leadership.  The Center expanded under his leadership, doing annual conferences and the like.  I think in many ways, Larry Spears was responsible for the spreading of the ideas of Greenleaf.

The new Greenleaf collections were already covered in the Leaders Notes on him.

Notes #10 Meeting Minutes

(part of the parliamentary procedure subseries)  

Meeting minutes are too often an overlooked part of group meetings. Few understand their importance; fewer still know how to handle them. This is a mistake, because minutes are an important part of your organization’s records. They are the information on the decisions your group makes. In fact, with many organizations, the minutes of their national boards are important enough that they are put on-line or provided in their national magazines so that all members are aware of them.  

Notes #9 Love Works

The concept of servant leadership is one we have and will continue to revisit in this series. I have also found works that are servant leadership works, but which provide a different expression or interpretation of it. An example of such a work is Love Works by Joel Manby. I had heard of this work recently, and was thrilled when I was able to see him give the keynote address at the 2012 Toastmasters International Convention. After getting him to sign a copy, I asked him if he was aware of the concept of servant leadership, and he said he was. He clearly accepted that this work is servant leadership, but using a different way of expressing it.

Notes #8 Effective Meetings

(part of the parliamentary procedure subseries)

How can you have effective meetings?  By having and following an agenda and an Order of Business.  The “Order of Business” is the standard blueprint for your meetings. Most groups follow these standard sections (tho some may add a few additional ones). This is then put down on their meeting agenda, which everyone is given a copy of when the meeting begins. This allows everyone to understand what they will be dealing with at each stage of the meeting.  

Standard Order of Business has the following sections, in this order:

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes
• Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees
• Reports of Special Committees
• Special Orders
• Unfinished Business & General Orders
• New Business
• Adjournment

What happens during each of these sections?

 

Notes #7 Situational Leadership

What may be a well known leadership concept is Situational Leadership (SL).  Despite what some on other forums claim, it’s a widely used leadership idea, NOT a "corporate management tool" or the like.  Many organizations include this in their leadership program.  I was fortunate to attend an "executive briefing" on Situational Leadership a few years back, given by the co-developer of SL, Dr. Paul Hersey.  Hersey provides training in SL thru his Center for LeadershipStudies. (Ken Blanchard, the other co-developer, does the same with his version of SL, called SLII, thru the Ken Blanchard Companies.  

While I am familiar with SL, I felt that going to such a presentation, given by a co-creator, would give some good insights into it.  I wasn't wrong.  Below are my notes of his presentation, with some additional comments by myself in brackets.

Notes #6 Servant Leadership Books from the Greenleaf Center

For those studying and learning servant leadership, checking out the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership is a good idea. One of the resources they have is the various works on servant leadership they offer for sale in their shop, some of which they have published.

The Center has been publishing several small books on servant leadership in the last several of years. These are all short, about 80-100 pages, and all are very good. This posting will look at the first five ones.  They are "Stand Tall", "Servant-Institutions in Business", "The Case for Servant Leadership", “The Hine Bibliography”, and “Start with Humility.”