Letting committees do their work

[Kriskat30]

One of the things I have noticed this month is that we as a Makerspace have a lot we want to say about how we run things. While it’s great to be so involved with the space one of the things I think we tend to forget us that each area has its own committee and during their meetings they are working on solving issues that come up. I would ask that you trust our system and if you have issues about honorariums, class room spaces used for teaching vs events, etc…that you contact that committee or group and go be a part of those talks. Anyone can be a part of any committee. You can serve on multiple committees, there is no limit. You may have noticed something that was an issue and not have any idea that there have been multiple meetings and emails about it already.

The point of this post is to let our system work. It’s not perfect but it’s serving us pretty well when it comes down to the bottom line. Be patient with the process because it takes time to meet and discuss and come to a recommendation about issues. I’m a huge believer in trying out a suggested answer and re-evaluating after some time to see if it is the answer needed.

Once again I’ll call up communication. If minutes are taken in committee meetings then it’s all there with little confusion. If the chairs of each committee give a report during the member meeting that would go a long way to let others know what your committee is up to.

Thanks for your positive comments you post under this topic.

[heyheymama]

This is a great post to kick off improving the committee process. Thank you, @Kriskat30. Does it appear to anyone else that our committees are essentially “committees of one” which meet twice a year to elect the new “one”? If so, members are more likely to use Talk to fill the vacuum left by the lack of actual committee process. This does more than clutter Talk. Active committees:

1. prevent waste/fraud/abuse by serving as a fiduciary check-and-balance on Chairs, who are authorized to spend committee funds.
2. keep us all safer by providing maintenance oversight.
3. in general, help a Chair make better informed decisions.
4. and keep a committee viable by creating a bench of future Chairs.

An actively used area is not the same as having an active committee. And a committee that doesn’t meet is not a committee. The Calendar has no easy way to search for future committee meetings and no way to search through past events to confirm a history of meetings. It’s possible there is a pattern of excellent committee process that I just can’t see. What I can see is this:

• Our rules do not require regular meetings nor do they require meeting minutes be posted.
• Our rules do require the Chair report “on the status and activities of the committee at the monthly membership meeting.” Last month’s member meeting had many absent comm chairs, none of whom submitted a written report as a substitute. No member meeting is scheduled for this month.
• A keyword search on Talk of “committee meeting” appears to show committees - in general - meeting just twice a year to elect their chair.
• A scan of the wiki shows the following which imply that committee meetings are failing to meet:
  • few comms posting meeting minutes on their pages.
  • none announcing a regular schedule of meetings. Example: “We meet every month on the 2nd Tuesday.”
  • the Meetings page has only 10 posted committee minutes; most are courtesy of Logistics this year.

Two groups can act to strengthen the committee process - and thus strengthen DMS as a whole.

• The Board can hold Chairs accountable to the minimum standard and strengthen that standard.
• Committee members - the grassroots - can contact their Chair, request a meeting, propose a regular schedule of meetings, and hold the Chair further accountable.

I’ll go first. My favorite committee is Laser. @merissa, when is our next meeting? I would like to add to the agenda that we hold a regular meeting, perhaps tied to monthly maintenance?

[jphelps]

@nicksilva is running a pretty good Machine Shop. Monthly committee meetings with minutes (I think), some show-and-tell, lots of classes and an active team. I hear it’s pretty hard for new committee heads to obtain purchasing authority and we need improvement in that area.

[Owen_Soccer22]

Does it appear to anyone else that our committees are essentially “committees of one” which meet twice a year to elect the new “one”?

No. Could be some, but not the major ones.

If so, members are more likely to use Talk to fill the vacuum left by the lack of actual committee process. This does more than clutter Talk.

I disagree here. Talk is a great and wildly diverse resource and means, if utilized, to communicate effectively with not only committed members that rarely see each other yet are keeping their areas maintained, but also so the general member which uses the tools. It’s done quite well with some active and well meaning members. Most of Talk is used to effectively communicate what’s going on. Talk should never be limited in its scope or potential to facilitate community.

If anything, committees could leverage Talk even further without a bunch of meetings. Matter of fact, if meetings were held let’s say by Periscope or Skype, etc., there would be more participation. Successful projects and activities use these online methods exclusively to accomplish great things.

We can have all kinds of checklist and bullet points, but the bottom-line is the effectiveness and application of leadership methods and build around those ethos.

Too often ‘leaders’ use non-leadership methods based around control and protection. This will always create conflict.

Whereas, leaders who work to exercise leadership more often, will focus on Facilitation instead of Dominance.

[Raymond]

M3h on talk. We still use Hangouts for Vector

[nicksilva]

thank you Jay.
This is sounding like a JOB. but yes, we’ve held monthly meetings (every month) since the revamp in late 2016 and always announced on the calendar and TALK. In fact we have just expanded to include a program with each meeting in an effort to strengthen the attendance and participation. This was noted in the minutes and on TALK and reported in person at the membership meeting. minutes have been stored on the committee drive and as of yesterday links were added to the wiki. not on the meetings page, but on the committee page.

Let me go create a meeting on the Calendar. Oh, wait! ITS ALREADY THERE.

[Owen_Soccer22]

Adding more value to the machine shop meetings is a huge step forward. I applaud you and the committee for doing this.

Building the database of knowledge for machining is the epitome of engaging in the DMS charter of providing educational value to the community not just to grow the committee.

[Nick]

Does it appear to anyone else that our committees are essentially “committees of one” which meet twice a year to elect the new “one”?

For certain committees this is exactly how it feels, I think Infrastructure, class room, who ever is handling storage now, ect. all kind of feel like committees of one members. That said, these committees are often not pushing people out of the way to stop from helping them. So if we lost the 1 person, it would really hurt. Also, these committees also often came from roles taken on by a Board Members at one point, so they would often have access to things that the board didn’t want broad access to. Thus, many issues of spreading the committee beyond one chose person.

[heyheymama]

That’s an interesting point. Not all committees are equivalent to one another.

[heyheymama]

if only I could give more “likes” to this.
Thanks for jumping in here, Nick! I was singing praises to you during a tour this afternoon.

[jottwell]

I’m pretty sure that Infrastructure isn’t a committee of one. Would it be difficult if Stan or Lisa were to simply walk away? Yes, but that’s how it is in most committees. Stan does an amazing amount of work around the space, but he isn’t a committee of one.

It wouldn’t be fun trying to figure out the quirks of how things run, but eventually, it would get done.

[ESmith]

That’s an interesting point. Not all committees are equivalent to one another.

Support committees - Finance, PR, Logistics, Infrastructure, Classroom - aren’t as much … fun … as the subject-oriented committees, thus they tend to have lower participation and can end up being almost committee-of-one at times. And sometimes that’s OK because the rent has to be paid, toilet paper has to be stocked, the blog has to be updated, etc. Single-point-of-failure isn’t desirable, natch, but no one wants to run to Sam’s, offsite projects, or run committee balances when there’s fun stuff to do like laser-cutting, 3D printing, or replacing the rear wheel bearings on your car!

[heyheymama]

This is turning out to be an interesting discussion. I like learning more about how DMS operates.

[artg_dms]

That’s an interesting point. Not all committees are equivalent to one another.

No, they are not. Depends on the type of activity/subject and more importantly - the members. One model of governance/leadership does not fit all. Never will. Increasing the bureaucratic overhead on the chairs might result in chairs stepping down and no one stepping up to take their place.

Have you served as a chair? Would you be willing to serve as a chair under the increased bureaucracy you have proposed? If not, why not?

Some of the most successful groups/committees I have participated in had a leadership style called “hands-off”. As Chair of Electronics, I have the very good fortune of members who have stepped up to teach, make recommendations on improving the ELab ,and yes, cleaning up after those who leave their messes behind.

fiduciary check-and-balance on Chairs

Not sure what you have in mind here. Procurement Officers have to provide receipts on everything done on the corporate card. Expenses under $200.00 could probably use a little more scrutiny - as in run your expense past the chair before submitting to finance. All of this will fall into order as we get our financial house in order.

Talk is a great and wildly diverse resource and means, if utilized, to communicate effectively with not only committed members that rarely see each other yet are keeping their areas maintained, but also so the general member which uses the tools. It’s done quite well with some active and well meaning members. Most of Talk is used to effectively communicate what’s going on. Talk should never be limited in its scope or potential to facilitate community.

If anything, committees could leverage Talk even further without a bunch of meetings.

I strongly agree. Is Talk perfect/ideal? No more than the people who use it. Does the “literary style” occasionally get a little overly terse? Yep. Do we need a warning “If you are easily offended…blah blah blah…” Nope. Learn to scan, filter, and ignore. You probably do this at work. Use that skill on Talk.

All for now.

[heyheymama]

Have you served as a chair? Would you be willing to serve as a chair under the increased bureaucracy you have proposed? If not, why not?

Those are good questions, Art. No, not yet. And yes, I would. Over the last 15 years, I’ve served on several boards of directors and committees outside of DMS. They’ve been positive experiences that do not discourage me from further committee work. My mom was a committee woman and set an important example for me and my siblings.

Thanks for educating me about the procurement process and sharing your optimism for the upcoming improved process.

[artg_dms]

Fair enough and thanks. Guessing you sat on BoDs of “regular” nonprofits. If so, you have some valuable insights to share. I worked for a nonprofit that ended up closing its doors because of an incompetent and unsupportive BoD. Looking forward to meeting you and swapping stories.