3. Understanding Committees

i. Committee roles and what they mean

The exact roles within your committee will vary depending on your needs. This is a list of the most common ones, explaining what they are, their function within the club/society, and what their roles/responsibilities might be.

  • President / Chairperson

    • This is the lead coordinator of the club/society, who will have varying levels of authority in different committees, with some clubs/societies having Co-Chairs rather than a single leader.

    • In general, they are not responsible for deciding the direction/aims of an existing club/society, which would be decided by the membership, but to help execute them.

    • Key Responsibilities: Keeping meetings on task, identify plans, delegate/assign tasks, key liaison with college/students’ union.

  • Secretary / Vice-Chair

    • This is generally the second-in-command of the club/society, serving as the president/chairperson’s deputy and focusing on logistical organization.

    • Key Responsibilities: Take minutes (notes) at meetings, handle emails and paperwork.

  • Treasurer

    • As this is the person chiefly responsible for the club/society’s budget, this should be someone you can fully trust not to improperly spend club/society money.

    • Key Responsibilities: Creating budget, keeping spending accounts, holder of the club/society debit card, keeps receipts/seeks reimbursements, make financial reports.

  • Communications/Media Officer

    • This should be your club/society’s “people person” with a good eye for what is and isn’t effective communication, and is a role that benefits from strong visual design skills.

    • Key Responsibilities: Managing the club/society social media accounts and other publications, keeping club/society pages up-to-date, create and upload posts for social media, public relations and answering queries for the club/society.

  • Events Officer

    • In clubs/societies where events are a secondary focus, or that carries out larger/more complicated events, this role might be present.

    • Key Responsibilities: Contacting venues, booking rooms, creating running orders, organising materials like food/equipment, liaising with acts/crew

  • 1st Year Rep

    • Most clubs/societies are made up of 2nd and 3rd years, so having a specific role for 1st years on the committee is an effective way of ensuring freshers are integrated with your club/society as best as possible. They also generally have more free time than other committee members due to a lesser course load. This role is often an informal, unelected role.

  • Ordinary Committee Member

    • With larger clubs/societies, it benefits to have committee members who are on board to help with any work that comes up, without having a specified area of focus.

  • Topic-Specific Role

    • Almost every club/society will have a role or roles that is specific to their area of focus, such as a music society’s technicians or journalism society’s editors. This is to ensure that if there is an essential skilled task that must be done, there is someone on the committee who is dedicated and trained to carry it out.

ii. Effectively working as a team

Efficient, effective, enjoyable teamwork is based on a few principles: open communication, clear planning, and respect.

  • However your club/society runs is up to you, but working well as a team means finding what works well for your team, and can and should change based on that team and changing circumstances.

  • Committee members need to feel like they can freely share their ideas, everyone will be respected, and that decisions will be reached fairly.

  • For every committee meeting, it’s useful to have the meeting “chaired” or directed by a specific person, to keep discussions on track and that notes are taken so key take-aways are available after the fact. This can be done on a rotating basis or by committee role (i.e. the secretary). This person, ideally, isn’t speaking much, and is instead focused on ensuring everyone else is able to have their say, asking quiet people what they think, making sure everyone is on the same page, and ensuring disagreements are resolved openly and non-confrontationally.

  • If a consensus can’t be reached through discussion, particularly in the case of complex decision, it’s often necessary to put it to a vote.

    • An effective vote can only happen if everyone is clear what they are voting on, with each option and its potential result laid out explicitly by the meeting chair, and that everyone is happy with the options being presented.

    • This can be done verbally, directly ia the meeting chair, or using an online poll system, depending on level of privacy required/location.

iii. How to get things done (well)

Everyone on the committee needs to be on the same page, or at least working with the same information; what is happening, when, where, and who is responsible.

  • Delegate tasks: Everyone should have a little to do, and nobody should have too much to do

  • It’s essential to play to people’s strengths, even if that means divvying tasks counter to committee roles, or slightly unequally.

  • Meeting notes should be detailed, clear, and concise so they can be read quickly

  • Announcements, either to the committee or public, should be clear and succinct

  • Maintain a tidy, accessible file system: make a shared online drive for file sharing that everyone on the committee has access to, and everything should be stored in that one place.

  • The committee should keep in touch consistently, ideally with regular in-person meetings or video-calls. If calls aren’t possible for a period, the president/chairperson should check in with individuals and post updates to the committee.

  • Keep the committee chat clear of off-topic chatting!!!

  • Plan ahead: for big projects/events, put together a timeline of smaller deadlines, make a shared calendar that everyone has access to, and give everyone as much time as possible.

iv. Communicating with your team

Be kind. There's not much else to be said here.

It’s not always easy to disagree with your committee, especially when you’re friends, and especially when you feel strongly, but as long as everyone does their best to make decisions fairly and stays true to the fundamental principles of the club/society, that’s okay. As part of a group, the goals and decisions of that group is more important than your individual preferences.

When criticising someone, consider using the “sh*t sandwich:”

  • State one thing they've done well

  • State one thing they're not doing well

  • Close with something else they're doing well

This is not a manipulation tactic, but is intended to make your criticism more effective: strictly negative criticism does not create a healthy environment and undermines your peer’s confidence.

When receiving criticism, try not to take it personally. It’s understandable to be upset, especially if you’ve made a mistake, but focus on listening and understanding to what they are saying, and why they are saying it (hopefully to make the club/society/you better). By doing so, you are respecting them, and by speaking up, they are respecting you.

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2. How (nearly) everything works

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4. Working with your budget