Category: Committee Management 2015 Q&A

Alex Tischer 2015 Q&A: Transparency

Elections Chair

A number of candidates cited the issue of Board transparency in their manifestos. What does a transparent Board look like to you, and what specific steps would you take to ensure the Board you serve on is a transparent Board? / Many candidates talked about the need for transparency for the board to volunteers/members. What does your vision for transparency entail?

A transparent Board to me means that any and all discussions and votes that do not concern strictly confidential information are made in a place where people from outside the Board can follow along. Where this is not feasible (because discussions take place on a mailing list or for other practical reasons), the important points are summed up understandably, with the necessary context, and made available in a timely fashion. It’s important for there to be information available about ongoing discussions, and for the reasoning behind Board’s actions and decisions.

Having an up-to-date agenda available on the wiki and the website, extensive minutes in both places, and making open Board meetings the standard place to come to decisions — to a degree where a closed section of the meeting would not even take place unless required for confidentiality would be a good start towards transparency.

Keeping Board’s work readily accessible would go a long way to get rid of the suspicious atmosphere of secrecy and distrust that currently permeates Board’s interaction with others. It would also increase accountability of Board members individually and collectively, and the OTW’s as a whole, which is something we desperately need in a nonprofit that relies purely on its members’ donations, and volunteers’ work to exist.

Due to legal reasons, internal transcripts of meetings are purged every year. However with a lack of consistent and comprehensive information posted to internal and external locations, details of Org interactions can be lost to the abyss. This leaves voters with a dearth of details when attempting to learn about the Org, and in this situation, candidates. What internal remedies would you suggest? And what would you suggest voters do in the mean time in lieu of relying on the rumor mill (FFA & emails) and digging through various social media sites?

The best solution I can think of is making sure that all decisions are publically discussed as much as possibly at the time they are made. Because copy-pasting those explanations into the available internal and external locations is a quick and easy thing to do.

This is obviously no quick fix, especially not for these current elections. For voters who want to know more about any candidates or issues, we’re in a less than ideal situation. All I can come up with is to write emails and ask questions. Write to committees, to known volunteers and staff of the OTW that have discussed the elections publicly and ask if they’re happy to answer questions. To make people feel at ease doing so,it would be extremely helpful to have a clear confidentiality policy that actually clarifies what can and can’t be said, because right now, a lot of people are reluctant to say anything at all. Other things to try could be to read the OTW website and other project sites, or dig around to see what the candidates’ committees have accomplished. Or maybe read up on the more interactive news posts, there may be the occasional official comment on those. Any voters that are volunteers can obviously try to read back on transcript of the public rooms up to this year’s purge, but it is a very much less than ideal situation no matter what.

The current Board has had frequent issues keeping an available agenda for their weekly meetings, which were often cancelled or cut short due to lack of quorum or matters to discuss. What do you think the purpose of open Board meetings is, and what would you change about the current setup?

In my vision of a perfect world, all Board meetings are open. Open meetings help with accountability as well as just keeping everyone in the loop. For changes to the current setup, unless there is a very important need to treat information as confidential, I would want the whole meeting public. A short recap of the preceding discussions about any topic that is up for voting should be included. There should be space for anyone attending to discuss, not just Board members. The time and date of Board meetings should be available in a place where volunteers can see it, not locked away on Basecamp. The agenda for each meeting should be available in advance and participating in a set percentage of meetings and votes should be mandatory for Board members.

Dan Lamson 2015 Q&A: Committee Management

Jenny McDevitt

Note: Dan has withdrawn from the race, but he completed his answers before withdrawing, so they will be posted to the site.

Many committees in the OTW, particularly those associated with the Archive, struggle with huge amounts of work combined with difficulties retaining active staff. What do you think is the Board’s role in remedying this problem?

That is a good question, and one that all committees face with the OTW’s high turnover rate. I think the best thing that the board can do is being opening and accepting of all staffers and do their utmost to make volunteers feel both welcome and at home in the org. Board shouldn’t be an active participant in committee recruitment or retention directly, that is something best left to the committees who know much better about the day-to-day operations under their purview. However, it is the duty of the board to make sure the organization is a comfortable space for all staffers, and to encourage their personal growth and daily endeavors.

If a committee needs help from board in this manner, then they could surely ask for it, and if it is possible then the board should step in to help. I am not sure how this could work in practice though, because generally the staffers who leave (in my experience) seem to just ignore emails and meetings for a few weeks, the chair pokes them and they say they are too busy to continue on as staff and resign. (Or they don’t respond at all.) I imagine a lot of this activity comes from the fact that actually being on staff is different from their expectations and they don’t like it. There’s not really a way to prevent that from a board perspective, but as a board member and committee chair, if someone found a way, I’d certainly help them implement it.

If an OTW committee fell apart and the chair, now alone, asked you for advice on how to rebuild it, what would you tell them?

This is a very open question and we have a 300 word limit. Committees, unfortunately, fall apart from time to time. There are various reasons for why and how it happens. As a board member, I would step up to help them in any way I could. There are certainly areas I have no experience in and may not be helpful in the essential running of certain committees. However, I would work with them as they rebuild the committee, helping them recruit from (at first) current staffers who may be interested and experienced, and then open recruiting. Recruitment at the org is a very large and time consuming experience, however it allows us to work with many amazing volunteers. I couldn’t imagine doing it alone, so I would make sure that the surviving chair has all the help they need. Basically, I’d be there to support the chair anyway I could. Since these situations are all different, it’s very hard to give specifics.

A number of you have expressed a desire to support the OTW’s committees and ensure they have the resources they need. However, the OTW is a volunteer-run and donation-funded organisation, and resources are finite. Please help me understand what factors you would take into account when prioritising the allocation of resources.

The OTW is very lucky to have amazing donors and supporters. When the org first started it was tiny, like make organizations. The resources there were truly stretched thin and everything was run on a shoestring budget. As we’ve grown, so have our resources. As an organization, we have more funds on hand these days and can deal with things with more liberal applications of cash.

That said, prioritization is always important. If there is an emergency and funding is needs or a project could be forced to shut down, that would be a high priority. If there was something time sensitive that if not addressed quickly would cause a major inconvenience that would also be near the top. If an expense would fix a major problem that the committee has, and would make their lives better or easier, that would be a priority.

Generally, I would like to increase the speed at which board responds to all issues, yea or nay. There’s not much worse than waiting for an answer from the board on an issue, it’s that uncertainty that always bugs me personally. I’d rather have a nope then a really long wait. Basically, if a committee said they needed something, and it seemed reasonable and not excessive, and we had the money (which we often do, these days) I don’t see a reason why I’d not support it. The Committees know what they need and I trust the other chairs’ judgment in these things.

Matty Bowers 2015 Q&A: Committee Management

Jenny McDevitt

Many committees in the OTW, particularly those associated with the Archive, struggle with huge amounts of work combined with difficulties retaining active staff. What do you think is the Board’s role in remedying this problem?

Thankfully this isn’t as prevalent as it used to be. At heart, this is is mostly a committee issue, Board should only be involved in an advisory position. They should only take direct action in cases where a committee has completely fallen apart and needs to be rebuilt.

A few things Board can do:

  • Publicly and privately acknowledge the work committees and volunteers do.
  • Act speedily on proposals/decisions presented for approval.
  • Understand how the committee is doing and adjust expectations as needed.
  • Communicate with chairs regularly.
  • Respond to emails. Preferably promptly.
  • Cheerlead. Chairing can be a thankless job and knowing Board is on your side can make all the difference.

If an OTW committee fell apart and the chair, now alone, asked you for advice on how to rebuild it, what would you tell them?

First, breathe. I know it’s overwhelming, trust me. Remember, you are not alone – the other chairs are ready and available for help. Talk to Board and other chairs and figure out what your committee’s mission is – start small, don’t try and take on more than you can handle. Next, look at what you have. Break down what you need, step by step. List these in order of priority and start working. It’s probably going to take at least a year to get things back on track, so be patient. Don’t get frustrated if you hit speedbumps, those will happen. Again, reach out to fellow chairs – I can’t emphasize this enough. Document everything; it’s your job to make sure no one else ever gets left in the same situation. Once your committee is up and running again, celebrate. Turning a committee around is a difficult job and you deserve all the kudos in the world.

A number of you have expressed a desire to support the OTW’s committees and ensure they have the resources they need. However, the OTW is a volunteer-run and donation-funded organisation, and resources are finite. Please help me understand what factors you would take into account when prioritising the allocation of resources.

One thing I learned as a teacher is that resources are only finite if you let them be. There is no end to the different ways resources can be acquired if you put your mind to it. In the OTW’s case, there are a variety of different ways Board can help ensure committees have the resources they need. For instance, there are many tools that are free or charge less for nonprofits – Board can help facilitate switching over to these new tools. These new tools can often make tasks more streamlined, therefore lightening the workload on volunteers. Board can also help better promote the OTW and it’s projects; this can lead to an increase in attention and volunteers. Traditionally nonprofit Boards often help with fundraising; they can reach out to potential donors which could help the OTW financially.

With a well managed, proactive Board, our resources don’t need to be finite – as long as we budget well, we should be able to provide our committees with everything they need..