One of the biggest problems mentioned by members of Rotary clubs is the concept of the Pareto principle, sometimes known as 80–20 rule or the idea that 80% of what happens is accomplished by 20% of the members. The one in 5 members who seem to do everything are often members of the board of directors of the club. When thinking about how a Rotary club operates, as a part of an overall business plan, it might be a good idea to think about how the club is managed or governed.
An essential part of why that happens can be identified in two parts; the board of directors often operates as a committee of committee chairs and the board members never really define what needs to be done so they can effectively delegate the responsibility to others. These are the major stumbling blocks that are the root cause of so many problems and I have a suggestion for dealing with these problems.
The board of directors is more than just another level of management of the club; it is the ultimate leader with the responsibility for governing the club. When the board understands this, they are on the way to doing their job and not everyone else’s job. This idea is the central idea of what is often called ‘policy governance’ or the idea that the board of directors makes decisions and sets policy that is delegated to committees and members to implement. Not being the bogged down in doing projects allows the board members to accomplish more of what they are really supposed to be doing.
There are Rotary clubs who actually practice the idea of policy governance. They are usually the larger and more successful Rotary clubs. They have committees with clearly defined goals and those committees operate to accomplish those goals and report back their progress to the board of directors.
There is another Rotary model for policy governance that may be of interest; the Board of Directors of Rotary International operates by meeting four times each year when they make decisions and set policy. You can go to the www.rotary.org website and search for ‘Code of Policy’ where you will find a large .pdf file that is a compilation of all Rotary International policies. The members of the RI Board do not leave the board meeting to chair committee meetings to accomplish the many task associated with managing Rotary International. Members of the board may be liaisons with different committee, but they only chair committees of the board of directors.
There is probably nothing more likely to undermine the success of a Rotary club than the Pareto principle. Not only are the one in five who do everything are getting tired and frustrated, the other four out of five lose interest from their noninvolvement. Does your Rotary club board of directors function as a committee of committee chairs or do they actually govern by setting goals, creating policies and delegating responsibility to others?