Our profession is difficult enough without our creating additional trouble for ourselves. In this issue, we will talk about eight seemingly innocent situations which have the potential to explode and create all sorts of unanticipated problems. If you are able to spot these "potholes" in your path, you can avoid doing unnecessary damage to your relationship with your Board and membership. By steering straight and watching the road you're on, you can master how to. . .
Preempt Problems! . . . Pave the Potholes
1) Make your President set meeting dates.
You phone your President. Both of you are aware that a Board or committee meeting needs to be scheduled in the near future. When you ask for a preferred date, your President responds, "Why don't you poll the Board (committee) and find out what date is best for them?" We all know how this "poll" turns out. You suggest three dates and one third of your Board votes for each date! Insist that your President select a date which is best for him or her. Send out your meeting notice. If you find you can't attract a quorum, begin the process again. The minute you conduct a poll, then select a meeting date upon which one or more members cannot attend, you look as if you are choosing whom to accommodate with your date selection, or determining which members are "most important" to the meeting.
2) Don't endorse services your Board won't use.
You come up with a good idea for a new member service. You run the idea past your President and he/she encourages you to research the service and present your findings at the next Board meeting. You enthusiastically present your findings and your Board votes to endorse the service. WAIT!! Did you ask how many of your Board members will sign up to use the service? One of your best barometers of the success of a new program or service is to determine how many Board members will buy into and use the service or attend the program. If the Board states that your idea has merit, "but isn't a good fit for me" you need to reconsider your endorsement. Your Board is microcosm of your membership. If they will not utilize a new program or service, odds are your membership will reject it too.
3) Don't pay for contract work before it's completed.
This advice applies to business relationships in your personal life as well. The quickest way to assure a contractor won't complete the final 10% of a job or project is to make final payment on your agreement with them before the work is done. Whether you are remodeling your office, developing a web site, or conducting a membership survey with an outside firm, watch for the request "Can you cut me my final payment? I have payroll coming up and I am a little short of cash. Your job will be done next week anyway." Wanna bet?! Always withhold final settlement on a project until you are totally satisfied the work is completed and acceptable. It is the best leverage you have to assure you won't have to chase them down to complete the task.
4) Always document Presidential decisions which are made without a Board vote.
It is very common for your President or a Committee Chairman to come up with an idea and phone you to get your input. If you agree with their suggestion, you may be given direct instructions to proceed and initiate the idea. Suddenly you are in a position of implementing a policy decision without a Board or Committee vote. You may be making expenditures outside the budget or forming third party relationships which were not approved. If the project goes awry, guess who will get blamed? Document these requests and projects by e-mailing your President with your understanding of the discussion you had, and copy the correspondence to the Board or appropriate Committee. This will permit broader review of the idea, and alert other Board or Committee members that you are acting under the instruction of a volunteer, and not on your own.
5) Don't sign hotel or credit card contracts or agreements.
In many associations, often the President wants you to take care of these items. But if you sign a hotel agreement for an event 12-18 months away, and then the Association decides to cancel the event, whom do you think the Board will blame for being in a situation of having to pay cancellation fees? If your leadership changes, your new President may not have any background on how the agreement was researched and signed. All they will see is your signature on the contract! Did you know that if you sign an application for an association credit card, you are likely personally liable for payment? Some hotel, cell phone and long distance contracts have similar provisions. Changing carriers or canceling events could trigger fees or penalties. If you leave the association, your liability does not necessarily end at that point. Send all contracts to your President for signature.
6) Don't become a voting member of your Board.
I understand some Boards bestow a full vote as a reward or recognition of your position or years of service. We all have egos which like to be fed in this fashion. But your vote is a conflict of interest with regard to the association's agenda. You are not a stakeholder in the organization. You do not pay membership fees, nor use any of the services you are promoting. If your compensation is somehow tied to financial performance, membership levels or profitability, you have a personal interest in every vote. Should you be in the awkward position of being a tie breaking vote on a policy issue which directly affects your position or compensation, you will garner resentment and suspicion. As Executive Director, you are retained to implement association policy, not develop it.
7) Don't use the association Attorney for personal business.
Over time we all develop relationships and even friendships with the Association's General Counsel. It is very convenient to seek advice from someone you trust, know is competent, and with whom you have a personal relationship. Unfortunately, things change, executives get fired, or want to get out of their contract, compensation negotiations turn ugly or financial irregularities place the executive under suspicion. In each of these cases your General Counsel is obligated to represent the association. They are his client, and your role has been to act as the primary liaison between him and the Board. Establish a relationship with an attorney other than your General Counsel and from a different firm when seeking personal representation.
8) Beware of always using the lowest bid contractor.
You are planning on developing a new web site or you are contracting with a Third Party Administrator for your insurance program. You seek quotes for services, and one bidder is significantly lower than the others. Your Board, always looking to save money, will likely not understand the difference between the bids and will insist you accept the offer from the lowest bidder. What happens? The bid was low for a reason. Key elements of the service are omitted or invoiced ala carte. The omissions cause delays in service delivery or additional negotiations. Whose problems are these? YOURS! Once the contract is in place, you will be expected to make it work regardless of the shortfalls in the agreement. The Board will say they have done their job in reviewing and deciding on a contractor. You will be held accountable for the successful (or unsuccessful) implementation of the contractor's services. Always insist that the Board accept the agreement which you feel gives you the greatest opportunity for success.
It is interesting to look back on some of the crazy predicaments we have gotten ourselves into over time with our Board and members. Many of these situations could have been avoided if we only knew where the "potholes" were in the road. Usually these situations were our best efforts to do something positive, and were not caused by ignorance or incompetence. While it may be impossible to avoid every bump, we can certainly preempt some problems and make our lives easier if we pave the potholes!
Until next time . . .
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