Many bosses, one small team: in associations and membership organisations

A chamber of commerce had a team of seven and a committee of twenty-one. On a Thursday afternoon the vice president asked the research officer for a note on export incentives by Saturday. The honorary treasurer asked the same officer for the audited statements to be reformatted for the general body. The president's driver called to say the president wanted the officer to draft a speech. All three requests were reasonable. All three were due before Monday. The officer finished two, missed the third, and was spoken to about it.

This is the oldest problem in a membership body. Office bearers are elected to lead, they care about the organisation, and each has a business of their own to run in between. They cannot see each other's requests. The staff can, and they carry the conflict.

• A coordinator keeps three versions of the same seminar programme because three office bearers changed it separately.
• Circulars go out late because the draft waits for comments from people who do not know the others have also commented.
• The secretary spends the day deciding between requests instead of doing the secretary's own work.
• Staff stop saying no, and then stop saying anything, which the committee reads as agreement.
• A junior hears one version of a decision in the morning and a different one after lunch.

The cost is hard to count, but you can see its signs. Events slip because nobody owned the date. Members get two replies to one query, from two staff members who did not know the other had answered. Good officers take on extra evening hours and leave after a few seasons. A new committee then finds a team with little memory of how things were done, and the cycle begins again.

Nobody decided it. Office bearers take the habit of walking over to the person who can do the thing. The secretary is often too junior in the committee's eyes, or too newly appointed, to say that requests must come through the secretary. And the staff have no written job description to point to when two instructions clash.

1. 1

   Log the requests

   For two weeks, each employee notes every instruction in a shared sheet: who asked, what, when due. Do not comment. Just collect.

2. 2

   Show the committee

   Present the sheet at the next meeting without names of staff. Count how many items clashed. Most committees are startled.

3. 3

   Name the assigner

   Agree that the secretary or director alone assigns work. Office bearers pass requests to that person, in writing or by call.

4. 4

   Make a Monday list

   The secretary circulates five to eight priorities each month, ordered, after agreeing them with the president. Anything new goes on the next list unless the president calls it urgent.

5. 5

   Write the escalation

   If two requests clash, the employee tells the secretary, who decides within the day. The employee is never penalised for waiting for that decision.

6. 6

   Review after a quarter

   Repeat the two-week log. Compare. Share the change with the committee.

MONTH ................   AGREED BY (president, secretary) ................
1. ................ OWNER ........ DUE ........ REQUESTED BY ........
2. ................ OWNER ........ DUE ........ REQUESTED BY ........
3. ................ OWNER ........ DUE ........ REQUESTED BY ........
URGENT ADDITIONS (president's initials needed) ................
DEFERRED TO NEXT MONTH ................

It also changes how new joiners settle. A coordinator in the first month cannot judge which of three requests matters. With a Monday list pinned beside the desk, the newcomer sees what the secretariat is meant to deliver that month and in what order. The list doubles as a gentle induction document, and it gives the secretary something concrete to discuss in a one-to-one.

Watch for one trap. A list that grows to forty lines becomes a wish list. The secretary should say plainly which items will not be done this month, and the president should accept that statement in front of the committee. Staff trust the list only when it is allowed to say no.

There is usually one person who will not use the channel. Do not confront. Ask the president to mention the Monday list at the next meeting as the committee's own decision. The secretary then replies to that office bearer with a gentle line: this is on the next list, shall I move it up and push something else out? Seeing a trade-off written down tends to calm the demand.

The single line of reporting is a design choice, and it sits well with role design and job descriptions. It also needs good records, which the employee information management service covers. For the wider picture of patterns that hit these bodies, see the associations hub. If you want to understand why staff are leaving already, the post on why employees leave associations gives a method.