Let Committees Succeed

I’m guessing your group has an executive board as well as several action committees. But do you really?

In a lot of groups what I think really exists is an executive board and then committees that are told exactly what to do by that board. It’s more like a board and its employees. And when that happens, good volunteers always wind up finding their way out of those groups.

If you really want to grow volunteers and grow the effectiveness of your group, then you have to let committees make decisions and see their own success through to fruition. It’s the only way to build the bench of experienced volunteers that allow your group to thrive and that allow you to have natural, experienced successors when your volunteer time is up. The hardest part: This means you have to let committees make decisions you don’t love, and you even have to let them make mistakes. Seriously.