20 Suggestions for Strengthening Campus Committees

Working group huddled around a table.

Source: StartupStockPhotos/Pixabay

College campuses run on caffeine and committees. Whether at the departmental, institutional, or inter-institutional level, committee work serves a crucial role in planning, coordinating, and implementing mission-critical work.

Many staff, administrator, and faculty appointments come with the expectation of significant committee service, whether on standing or ad hoc committees. As the collaborative structures through which the doing gets done, committees are essential.

Yet, campus committees are complex social phenomena that can be difficult to navigate. They are comprised of individuals who approach shared problems from different vantage points, with different roles, experiences, sway, responsibilities, vocabularies, bandwidth, insights, interests, and know-how. Membership often rolls over annually, typically in an intentionally staggered manner, though sometimes unexpected leaves of absence mean the turnover is more tumultuous than ideal. This churn undermines continuity of focus and forward-momentum, especially on projects that don’t fit neatly within an academic year. Junior colleagues may be appointed to impenetrably-named committees with varying degrees of prestige, provided no context or professional development, and expected to figure out the work on the fly.

Add to this complexity the fact that many committee charges are vague, lacking basic details such as committee composition, meeting rhythm, expected work and deliverables, reporting structure, and purview.

All told, committees can be loaded with drag, frustration, wasted time, lack of forward-momentum, and disengagement. It’s no wonder so many people hate committee work.

Below are 20 recommendations for creating positive committee experiences. The implementation of these recommendations will look different on different campuses, so think of this list as an invitation to campus leadership, committee chairs, and committee members to co-create service experiences with care and intention.

This first set of ideas is intended for campus leadership, the individuals who charge and constitute committees:

1. Articulate the committee’s charge in a written document Charges are typically 1 to 2 pages long and include the committee’s name, the date the charge was created (a timestamp helps ensure everyone is working from the same version), the committee’s constitution (who should be on the committee), the appointment term (how long each person serves on the committee and if/how the terms are staggered), the function the committee plays, the key work it undertakes to fulfill its function, convening responsibilities (who actually calls the meetings and how does this responsibility rotate over time), frequency of meetings, deliverables, to whom any deliverables should be delivered and by when, and what the recipient of those deliverables does with them. Use the charge to make clear what kind of committee this is. Is this committee supposed to make decisions, solve problems, make recommendations, or something else? Communicating what is expected of the committee upfront will help focus attention, reduce wasted effort, and hopefully energize the work.
2. Ensure that the charge is readily available to members of the committee and to the broader campus community to help make visible the mechanisms of influence on campus, to make salient possible opportunities for collaboration across committees, and as a reminder to individuals where to share ideas and suggestions. Ideally, campuses have a go-to location for people to review committee charges. While the faculty notebook is an obvious choice for standing faculty committees, it is worth considering if and how non-faculty members would know where to look for those charges, and whether there would be value to the community as a whole in creating a repository of all committee charges, including those that include members of the staff, student body, board of trustees, and non-campus members (e.g., people from the surrounding community or individuals from other campuses, as is often the case on consortial committees).
3. Ideally, the campus would provide stable, shared space for archiving each committee’s work. This would be a one-stop-shop where members of each committee could go to learn about the committee’s past work, members, approaches, etc. (That said, sometimes there is good reason to limit access to committee proceedings to only current committee members; even so, knowing where to find those proceedings year to year will benefit the campus as a whole.) In addition to a top-level folder for administrative documents like the committee charge, the shared space could include folders for each academic year that contain documents such as the membership list, a summary of the year’s work, any documents or recommendations made by the committee, and any suggestions for next year’s committee.
4. Offer professional development to committee members. What role does committee work actually play in the life of the campus? Why does it matter? What responsibilities does it come with? What are the attributes of effective committee members? What behaviors by committee members tank the morale and effectiveness of committees? This could be an optional workshop available to all who serve on committees, perhaps offered by the associate dean for faculty development, the human resources office, or the teaching and learning center.
5. Offer professional development to committee chairs. While some faculty and staff seem to have a knack for planning, project management, and meeting facilitation, others would benefit from some direct training. A simple, short workshop that equips committee chairs with basic tools could mean the difference between a waste-of-time committee and one that makes a real contribution to the life of the college.

Speaking of committee chairs, here are some recommendations for them:

1. Distribute the charge to everyone on the committee when the committee is first constituted, when new members join the committee, and at the first meeting of the academic year.
2. Use the first meeting of the year to deliberately onboard the group. Give everyone a chance to introduce themselves and their interest in the committee. Read and discuss the committee charge. Listen to last year’s chair overview projects, progress, and open issues. Consider what this year’s committee would like to contribute to the college. Communicate expectations around attendance, engagement, and accountability.
3. Establish a communication channel for the committee. Ideally, the campus would have a standardized communication channel for committee work (e.g., Slack, email), so that it will be obvious where the archives are if and when they need to be searched and that individuals don’t have to learn new technologies each time they rotate onto a new committee.
4. Given the tendency for membership on campus committees to roll over from year to year, think now about how to bring continuity to the work. Simple steps include asking last year’s chair to join this year’s committee for a baton-pass meeting to debrief prior work, asking each committee member to read through all the documents in last year’s committee folder (especially the minutes and any summary documents), and ending the year by writing a memo to next year’s committee about this year’s focus, work, and open issues.
5. Within the first few committee meetings of the year, articulate clear, compelling objectives for the year. In some cases, the charge will make those objectives clear, in other cases, the charge will offer a good deal of latitude in what exactly the committee will do. Work on something meaningful and needed. If you are not sure what that might be, ask around. Whomever the committee reports to will likely have some recommendations for work that would be particularly valuable to the institution. Then, develop project plans around those objectives. Whom does the committee need to engage before devising a proposal? By when will you need to have the proposal drafted? Who needs to vet the proposal before it advances to the decision-makers?
6. Many committees are overly fond of acronyms and other short-hand vocabulary that make it difficult for newcomers to track what is being said or to contribute meaningfully to the work. If you are on an AHC (i.e., Acronym Heavy Committee), create an LOA (i.e., List of Acronyms), and store it in that top-level administrative folder for easy reference.
7. Create agendas. Use verbs in those agendas to make clear what sort of thinking or doing needs to get done when the committee meets. Are we workshopping a statement? Debriefing the feedback we all received on the statement from our departmental colleagues? Voting up or down on the final language? Verbs like draft, decide, vet, workshop, problem-solve, debrief, and plan tell meeting participants what exactly they are expected to do and thus helps the group stay on track.
8. Distribute agendas at least 24 hours before each committee meeting. You and your colleagues are likely juggling a thousand other commitments. In order to help everyone arrive at the committee meeting ready and able to contribute meaningfully, you must provide sufficient lead time to read drafts, think about possibilities, or touch base with important stakeholders.
9. Take minutes. To make the minutes easily accessible to both current and future readers, think about minutes as the highlight reel. What were the key discussion points/issues? What decisions were made? What issues need to be held on the radar? Who needs to do what by when to move the effort forward?
10. Review the “who needs to do what by when” list at the end of each meeting so each person has their marching orders as they head out of the meeting. And, start each subsequent meeting with an accountability check-in. Ask each person to report on the status of their do-outs. If someone needs a hand, this is a great time to ask for support (e.g., “I hit a snag here, and ask for the in figuring out an alternative.”)

And finally, a few pieces of advice for individual committee members:

1. If you are unsure what the committee’s function is, ask the chair, fellow committee members, or your dean.
2. Study up on the range of committees on your campus, and tell your supervisor if you are interested in serving on particular committees. Committee work can offer a stellar opportunity to look under the hood at campus operations and to develop a deep familiarity with how decisions are made and implemented.
3. Pace yourself. While it may be tempting to volunteer for every interesting committee, some committees require a lot of time and attention. Say yes strategically (this flowchart can help).
4. Follow through. If you say you’ll do something, do it. The committee’s work cannot progress if the individuals who make up the committee drop the ball. Hold time in your calendar to complete the do-outs you take on during meetings.
5. Know that you are truly contributing to your institution through your committee service. By investing your time and energy in committees, you are shaping how the campus operates and serving as a conduit for change on behalf of your colleagues and students.

Committee work doesn’t have to suck the life force out of us. In fact, serving on a well-structured, well-facilitated committee can actually be a joy-filled experience, allowing you to work alongside engaged and effective others to contribute meaningfully to the life of your institution.