VolunteerToday.com
~~ The Electronic Gazette for Volunteerism
BOARDS
AND COMMITTEES:
They
are volunteers, too! Look
here for infomation and the latest techniques to develop your
board or committee. The purpose is to help those who work
or serve on nonprofit boards of directors or committees.
Difficult Board Members
The Egotist: "Self Over Mission"
Egotists
can be difficult volunteers. Sometimes I think they are really just
insecure and have a compelling need to occupy center stage, but they
can monopolize board meetings and terrify or bore other board members.
The
following are some of the characteristics I have seen in people who
are more focused on their own ego than on the mission of the group:
Need
to win arguments: They talk too much and never say, "You're
right," or "I was wrong."
Disagreeing
with committee reports: The feel compelled to differ regularly
with the hard work of others by coming up with some new "facts"
that they are sure the committee hasn't considered. Sometimes, even
when the egotist is a member of a committee, he/she will, it seems,
deliberately stay away from meetings so that he/she can have an opportunity
to assert a different opinion at the time the board is presented with
a report.
Changing
prior positions seemingly in midstream: Egotists will argue one
way at a board meeting and then come to the next meeting with a different
position and not acknowledge the shift in gears.
Patronizing
staff and other volunteers: No one, of course, ever knows as much
as they do. They might say, "We should run this organization
like a business" (their business, of course). They have a desire
to micromanage the staff; and may even imply that only they themselves
have the depth of feeling necessary to care about the constituency
you serve.
What to
do about the egotist?
Usually
the board will eventually tire of this person and cease to pay attention
to him/her. However, such people will extract a price in terms of
the patience of both board members and staff. The chair will worry
about losing good member.
A wise
chair will make sure that the egotist doesn't dominate ("let's
hear it from the rest of the board"). The chair can also find
an ego-gratifying assignment for this person that he/she can do alone
so that they don't have to interact with other board members or staff
too much.
Most
important is to find ways to focus egotists' attention on the mission,
vision and values of the organization. Make sure they make site visits,
get to know clients and hear from committed staff and volunteers.
Perhaps then, their need for further influence and power can become
a positive rather than a negative force.
Other good
sources for information on boards and committees:
See
our online
bookstore for Jeanne Bradner's book on boards: The Board Member’s
Guide: A Beneficial Bestiary and Leading Volunteers for Results: Building
Communities Today. Also check out Risk Management: Stragegies
for Managing Volunteer Programs by Sarah Henson & Bruce Larson
.
Jeanne
H. Bradner Jeanne
H. Bradneris an author, consultant, trainer and
speaker on volunteerism, board development and leadership. She is
the author of three publications, The
Board Member's Guide, A Beneficial Bestiary and Leading Volunteers
for Results: Building Communities Today.She
served as director of the Illinois Governor's Office of Voluntary
Action, Midwest Regional Director of ACTION, and Executive Director
of the Illinois Commission on Community Service. She is the volunteer
program specialist for Illinois' Harper College Volunteer Management
curriculum.
Difficult Board Members 