Question: Working Parents as Leaders

Our school is full of working parents, including our entire board. Most of us are at the end of our term. Are there any suggestions on how to find board member replacements when so many work? It is a very time consuming job and hard to promote when we know how difficult it is to juggle work, family and PTO.

Asked by Leesburg

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
The key to making it work, as you undoubtedly have already discovered, is delegating. The less a board member feels like she has to do everything herself, the more manageable the job becomes. The more you have support systems in place, like an organized group of regular volunteers; a binder full of information and contacts to help the next officer succeed in the job; and easy access to experienced former officers for tips and advice as needed, the less daunting the job becomes. In other words, if your leaders can lead rather than do (and especially do everything), everyone is better off. I understand that in a practical sense it doesn't work that cleanly, but if you start with that idea in mind it can really help to organize your group in a more manageable way. Beyond that, job sharing, adding board positions, and even appointing assistants can help people overcome their fear of committing to the job. Show them that they'll have support, and break the job into pieces if you have to.