Getting Things Done With Committees

1. Getting Things Done With Committees Source: Lyle Schaller, Getting Things Done, Abingdon Press.

2. Premise • There are different types of committees • Church committees have a built-in bias either toward change or continuity • Wise leaders match type-bias with the job at hand

3. The Three Kinds of Committees • Standing • Study • Action

4. 1. Standing Committees • Function: administer the ongoing tasks of church life • Examples: deacons, building-grounds, personnel • Bias: continuity • maintaining and managing

5. Standing Committees are useful for … • Managing good ideas over time • maintaining the status quo when it’s good • Checks/balances • Enforcing policy • Killing bad ideas quickly

6. 2. Study Committees • Function: weighing problem-solving options for recommendation without the burden of decision-making • Examples: long-range planning, issues • Bias: continuity (don’t make decisions)

7. Study Committees are useful for ... • Establishing policy • Building consensus for good ideas • Managing risks for controversial ideas • Delaying upsetting ideas • Slowly killing bad ideas

8. 3. Action Committees • Function: ad hoc task completion • Examples: worship format task force, building committee • Bias: change

9. Action Committees are useful for ... • Getting important and urgent things done quickly • Bypassing entrenched permission-deniers • Marking measurable progress steps

10. Common Mistake #1 • Trying to enact change through a standing committee • The job of a standing committee is to keep things the same (continuity bias) • Entrenched power rarely relinquishes its say voluntarily

11. For example … • Quick staff adjustments • Attempting radical worship format or style changes • Making a major policy shift • … and trying to do it solely through standing committees!

12. Common Mistake #2 • Trying to freeze new direction through study and ad hoc committees • Their “change” bias won’t entrench things • Leadership is not only about changing old things but establishing new things solidly

13. Strategy: “Freeze, Unfreeze & Refreeze” • Use standing and study committees to freeze out bad ideas and tangents • Use study and action committees to unfreeze for strategic change • Use standing committees to refreeze useful change

14. Conclusion • Getting things done: • 1. Prioritizing strategic changes • includes saying “no” to some things • 2. Discerning location in the change process • 3. Matching purpose/type of committee wisely

15. Getting Things Done With Committees Dr. John P. Chandler www.rasnet.org John.chandler@vbmb.orgCopy right John Chandler, 2000