Most associations are good at creating committees and terrible at ending them. A working group spins up to handle a real need, does its job — and then keeps meeting, long after the reason has passed, consuming volunteer energy and staff support out of pure inertia.
Committees should earn their place. Each one should have a clear purpose written down (terms of reference), a reason to exist right now, and an honest answer to "what would we lose if this stopped?" If the answer is "not much," that's not a committee — it's a habit. And every committee that meets out of habit is taking time and goodwill from the work that actually matters.
The discipline isn't to have no committees. It's to be as willing to retire one as to start it. A board that reviews its committee structure annually — keeping what serves the mission, sunsetting what doesn't — keeps the whole organisation lean and focused.
Ask at your next meeting: which of our committees would we create again today, from scratch? The ones you hesitate on have answered the question.
How to structure committees that add value — with clear terms of reference — is part of What Every Board Director Needs to Know.
Explore the Board Director course
Free tool: the Committee Terms of Reference template.
Annie
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