A STANDARD COMMITTEE MEETING

A committee meeting can be a smooth, positive and highly profitable experience; however, it can be a rancorous, divisive, time-consuming debacle. The direction it takes will depend greatly on the person in charge, but the mentality and cooperation of those who compose the committee is very important. The ideas presented here apply building and other committees, deacon meetings and even to church business meetings.

The basic format for a meeting is quite simple. The chairman of the committee should prepare a written agenda and seek to stay with it throughout the meeting. It is wise for the chairman to distribute copies of the agenda to all committee members well in advance of the meeting. It should be standard procedure for all agenda items to be submitted sufficiently in advance in order to be placed on the written agenda. Unusual circumstances may make it impossible to get some important items on the written agenda, but this should be only in extenuating circumstances and should be the exception and not the rule.

The meeting should be called to order by the person in charge and follow this straight-forward order.

  1. PRAYER.
  2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING.
  3. Presented by the secretary/clerk of the committee.
  4. Copies of the minutes should be provided to all committee members sufficiently in advance for each member to be familiar with the minutes prior to the meeting.
  5. The secretary/clerk should read the minutes to the committee.
  6. The minutes should be either approved as read or amended and approved.
  7. Simply read and act on the minutes as read. This time is about accurate records of the previous committee meeting, not about on-going work or new needs or proposals.
  8. This is NOT the time to bring up and get into either old or new business. All such comments and reports should be held and addressed at the proper time: either as a progress report under old business or as a new business item.
  9. Many committee meetings unravel and become chaotic at the point.
  10. REPORT BY CHAIRMAN OF STANDARD INFORMATION RELATED TO THE COMMITTEE.
  11. This takes preparation by the committee chairman.
  12. It should consist of all information needed by the committee to make intelligent and wise decisions.
  13. Potential items include but are not limited to: beginning and ending fund balances since the last meeting, income and expenses since the last meeting, members of the committee and their remaining term lengths, duties and responsibilities of the committee and its members and standard meeting times.
  14. It is very beneficial to add this data to the written agenda.
  15. The objective here is to keep all committee members informed and in a position to function properly, wisely and efficiently.
  16. This information can become a standard part of each agenda and be changed only to keep current.
  17. OLD BUSINESS.
  18. Caution: One of the most fruitless and destructive characteristics of committee meetings is the propensity of discussing matters the committee is not prepared to discuss. It is human nature for everyone to have an opinion and insist on expressing it even when the opinions are premature.No studies have been done, no prices gotten, no plan is being offered; yet talk can become long and passionate. It is often divisive. The chairman should not allow on-going talk and decisions to be made until AFTER the facts are known and a well-thought plan has been developed. This is true in considering old business, but even more so when discussing new business.
  19. All unfinished business items should appear here.
  20. The chairman should simply walk through these items one at a time.
  21. Once business is brought to a conclusion, it should no longer appear here.
  22. The committee person to whom a particular aspect of business was assigned should come with a prepared progress report.
  23. The committee chairman should see that all committee matters are assigned specifically to one or more committee members. Those who receive assignments are responsible to follow-through on the project and be in a position to report on its progress or completion. Items left unassigned become nobody’s assignment and rarely get done. As the chairman moves through old business, he should call on the proper person for a report on that particular piece of old business.
  24. The committee chairman should insist that all committee persons stay on track. He should not allow committee persons to chase rabbits and get two or more items on the floor at once. This often happens because another committee member jumps in. Before long the committee is completely off tract from the issue at hand.
  25. Settle one matter of old business and move to the next. If an item cannot be settled, table it for a later meeting when the facts are known and an intelligent decision can be made.
  26. Keep in mind that committee meetings are primarily for decisions to be made where the due diligence has already been done.
  27. NEW BUSINESS. Remember the above caution. It is here that empty, premature talk and fruitless chaos is most likely.
  28. As much as possible, place new business items on the written agenda.
  29. This cuts down on sudden surprises, unfounded speculation and bad or premature committee decisions.
  30. A person offering a new business item to the agenda should also offer a plan as to how to deal with the new item.
  31. The chairman should staunchly prohibit premature discussions.
  32. As much as possible, the chairman should arrange new business items in priority order.
  33. Where an item of new business cannot be fully resolved in the committee meeting, the committee chairman should make specific assignments.
  34. Progress is most likely to be made when someone takes personal responsibility and accountability for a project.
  35. A committee person receiving an assignment may solicit help, but he will be responsible to ride herd on the project, know its progress status and offer reports related to it.
  36. New business items that are not fully addressed in a current meeting should become old business items at the next committee meeting.
  37. PRAYER AND ADJOURN MEETING.