The bulk of the boardвЂ™s work should be done through its standing committees. An ad hoc committee may exist for less than a year or for a year or more depending on the extent of the work assigned to it. When the work of the ad hoc committee is completed, the committee is dissolved. Ad hoc committeesВ are formed for a limited period of time to address a specific need.They can be set forth in the associationвЂ™s bylaws or in its board operations and policy manual, or they may be established by custom. Standing committeesВ (also called operating committees) are those committees that a board uses on a continual basis.There are generally two types of board committees: Committees should not take on a life of their own, nor should they overshadow the board itself.

Committees with no work can be abolished, and committees with overlapping work can be merged. If there are overlapping responsibilities or no work being done, then it is time to realign the committee structure. If the committee structure has not been revisited in a few years, the board should consider looking at the current committee structure and what the committees actually do. Of course, this only works if the association truly looks at what it needs in terms of board work for the year and only forms those committees that are necessary. Similar to a zero-based budget, this frees the board from doing things the same way each year. As a result, the committees have vague objectives, committee meetings are often endless discussions with no results achieved, and the members of the committees become bored or frustrated.ДЄt the other end of the spectrum is the zero-based committee structure where the board reviews its work plan each year and then establishes only those committees that it will need. Most boards continue the same committee structure from year to year with little thought given as to what the committees do or whether they are still relevant. Just as every board is unique, every boardвЂ™s committee structure is unique too.

Making a structure in no limits 2