All too often committee members are recruited in a hasty, unplanned way – how many times do we see people being tapped on the shoulder at the AGM, without any prior consideration of the needs of the committee, nor of the knowledge and skills of the individual concerned?
It shouldn’t just be about getting someone to fill the vacancy; rather it needs to be about getting the RIGHT person to fill the vacancy.
Like so many other aspects of good governance, we need to be proactive about finding committee members.
A Skills Matrix (many examples on the internet) can assist us to find people with the skills we need for our group. To do this, brainstorm a list of all the skills or knowledge your organisation needs amongst its committee members. This is not to say that each person on the committee will have all those skills, but amongst everyone, you should be able to ‘tick off’ each skill area. Then, as you are seeking out potential new committee members, look for individuals who have the needed skills that your committee currently lacks.
Start early! Don’t leave it until the last minute to source your new committee members. Throughout the year get to know your group members, so that in the lead up to the AGM you know who has the skills you are seeking, and who to approach to nominate for the committee. If your membership is currently small or there are certain skills you don’t have amongst your members, maybe you need a membership drive to bring new people into the group.
Allocate Assistant Roles (i.e. Assistant Treasurer, Assistant Secretary) to non-executive committee members to get them more involved and help them learn the executive roles. Your Vice President, Assistant Secretary, and Assistant Treasurer are your next executive ‘in waiting’!
You can download this Blog Post as a tip sheet by clicking here:Tip Sheet_ Succession Planning for Committees 06 Oct 2014
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