We have always had an agenda, keeping everyone on it was a task for the last president and it wasn't always done with success. I have done something a bit different with the agenda and committee reports that will hopefully help with not only the one situation but the overall 3 hour meeting situation we seem to experience regularly. This week is the board meeting/test to see if it works as well with PTO as it did with other non-profit boards I have served on.
Thanks for the links Lisa, I have looked through them...
She was all ready at it yesterday. Some information was sent out about an upcoming event in December, which is being done a bit differently with some of the same resources she is using for an event this month, and she wanted me to explain why and to tell the other committee to do it a certain way. I explained that my job was NOT to dictate to a committee how to do their job, my job was to make sure the job was done in the best interest of the PTO. This, to me, was a minor issue and they felt it resolved a previous problem, etc. Needless to say she went on and on, but I didn't budge and finally told her to feel free to bring it up at the meeting, when the event is reviewed, but once it was voted on by the board it was done. I understand her point fully, but I also understand why the other committee was doing it the way they are doing it...
What I thought of after the fact though is I am not going to let her dictate to that committee how to do their event either. She either makes a motion, that is properly seconded, approved etc., to change it or the event is voted on as a full package as is and she can vote no. We aren't going to have an hour long discussion about it though and she isn't going to dictate to that committee how to do it. She has her opinion, which she may share, once, and then we move on.
I feel like the meeting this week is a test of my new presidential power.... only time well tell if I pass or not I guess.
Wow, it definitely sounds like you have a loose cannon. Agree with jewel & Jenean that you need to have a very frank conversation with her and that your group needs to stick with a meeting agenda and follow Roberts Rules. Maybe when your secretary sends out an email asking for agenda items she could say something like, "people are complaining about the length of our meetings so we want create a tight agenda and stick with it." But I understand that this is only one part of your problem with her. These articles may help with confronting her after the meeting:
Does your PTO have agendas at the board meetings? If not, it would be time to begin this practice -- if a topic is not on the agenda, it may not be discussed.
If your meetings are run by agenda, members may call for "Orders of the Day" to force the board or any given member to return to the agenda. It is not debatable, it does not require a second, it can be made even if it interrupts the person speaking, it cannot be reconsidered, and it must be enforced.
She has all ready done it again. The problem is that she won't leave a chance for others to make suggestions, etc. Just in the past week alone she has approached a school committee (teachers/admins) for a request from the PTO that we weren't even aware of and also sought out contract information for another item for the school that was her own idea that no one else even asked about OR knew about!
Needless to say she is less then happy I am sending them to the right committees to be presented at the board meeting. In some ways all that has done though is create unnecessary work for the committees. And while she was doing that she wasn't doing her job, again.
I'm going to give her until the board meeting this month. I have a feeling at the board meeting she will once again try to run it and keep us all tied up in listening to things that we don't have enough information to vote on, etc. Due to her our meetings have lasted as long as 3 hours before! That is silly!
So, depending on how that goes, since she is still the one I don't have all of the information from for the meeting (gr), I plan to pull her aside after the meeting for a heart to heart. Maybe the next day or so. Not be rude but clearly explain the expectations, how she can better meet them, how everyone else can meet them with her not creating issues, etc. I will do my best to be diplomatic but that may not sink in either! At the end I will either piss her off or get her on board... my hope is the later but if she takes it as the former I can't change that fact.
I've had a few 'troublesome' board members in the past - especially ones that want things to remain the way they always have been.
I have found that the best thing to do is to stick to your bylaws and Roberts Rule of Law. Those guidelines were seriously put in place for a reason and I definitely learned to appreciate them my first time as president 7 years ago. Stick to a majority vote and if she has an argument against something then you need to have both sides speak on the issue - pros and cons - to give your board members knowledge before voting. Then you accept the vote for whatever it is. Leaving the decisions in the hands of many will discourage the influence of the one and it makes things more fair in the end.
I feel for you, especially the aspect of the situation where she isn't getting her work done.
I'm a big proponent of the "Come to Jesus" meeting (so to speak) with trouble-makers where everything is laid out on the table in a plain speaking fashion and with the goal of radically transforming the situation going forward. However, I suspect that this power-hungry member has been allowed to run rampant for far too long for this kind of discussion to do anything but make her more determined to run the show.
So, the thought that immediately came to mind is that the best defense is a great offense.
Currently, she's running you ragged putting out all the fires she's setting. Perhaps you can switch this around by keeping her too busy to stir up trouble. Maybe the way to do this is to schedule frequent meetings with her to discuss status updates regarding her responsibilities. Question every detail, give her frequent deadlines each step of the way, and (when she fails to meet those deadlines) re-assign those parts of her responsibilities to others sympathetic to what you're trying to do (bring the board's authority firmly back to the President's position).
It shouldn't take too long -- perhaps only long enough to remove one responsibility from her plate -- until she starts turning her focus inward.
