The year is already marching on and before we know it the end of the financial year will be upon us and many of us will be looking towards the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for our community group.  So to be properly prepared for electing your Board or Committee of Management at the AGM, start thinking about your succession planning now!

Establish which of your current Committee members plan to stand for re-election and which plan to retire.  Consider how many vacancies this will leave you with and which (if any) executive roles will not have a nominee.  Undertake a skills analysis of those that do plan to stand, to determine where any gaps might be, and thus which skills and abilities you will be looking for in your new recruits to the Committee.

Start communicating with your membership now to explore with them what skills they could potentially bring to the Committee, and discuss nominating for Committee with those people who have the skills or abilities you are in need of.  You might want to consider putting notices in local media or around town, using your broader networks, even tapping into social media to reach other people that might potentially be interested in getting involved with your group and joining the Committee.

Going into the AGM, aim to already have at least one nomination from a suitable person for each vacancy – that way you will know you have a strong committee even if you don’t get any further nominations from the floor on the day.  And you really don’t want to be in a position where you are still trying to recruit a full complement of Committee members at the AGM.

So start early, start now, and you will have a much greater chance of establishing a strong, vibrant and effective Committee to see your organisation into the future.

You can download this Blog Post as a tip sheet by clicking here:Tip Sheet_ Succession Planning 28 Feb 2018