Question: Difficult Baord Members

I have to two board members who are literally ruining our fabulous organization. I have one member who talks bad about the board at school functions, jokes to staff about inappropriate subjects, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. I also have another member who is simply so negative and rude to people that I am loosing voluntees left and right. She also wants to be President. I have spoken to each of them in private and shared the concerns. For a few weeks things are fine, then its worse than before. I have spoken to our principal and he says I cant fire a volunteer. I am getting negative phone calls and emails on a weekly basis and I am lost. Please help!

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Well, for starters, we think you can ask a volunteer to step down if they are being rude to people and causing problems to this degree. But, before you resort to that, can you consider doing a sit-down with these volunteers and talking this through? It sounds like you may not see eye-to-eye, so instead of trying to get everyone to agree, maybe you could set some ground rules for everyone to move forward. If that seems too difficult, consider asking someone within the administration to sit in and mediate the discussion. In the meantime, we have some tips on working with difficult people that you could find useful.Also, if this helps at all, know that you aren't alone and lots of groups deal with these kinds of issues. Good luck and stay in touch.