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A word about WOW Committee Meetings
Our meetings are informal, "Potluck Happy-Hour" style and we laugh a lot, but the goal is to get the business done and we do. Here's how.
Meeting Procedure
In place of Roberts Rules of Order, we have adopted the friendlier structure of the Community Problem Solving Method as our meeting procedure.
This procedure is conducted basically as follows:
1. Identify an issue
2. Brainstorm ideas
3. Combine the ideas into a single proposal
4. Vote on the proposal (No seconding the motion or amendments are needed.)
5. Post final decisions
Within this structure it is still possible to adhere to scheduled timelines and conduct official business. And because everyone has a chance to be heard during each stage of the process, the proposals formulated tend to strongly reflect the combined views of all the members present.
The Principles That Inform Our Committee Decision Making
The following principles reflect our agreement with each other as a committee to work smoothly together as a group toward our common goals.
1) As a committee our primary goal is to promote sailing for women and girls at WCSC, cultivating confidence, competence, and camaraderie.
No other committee does exactly what we do so it is important that we don’t lose sight of our primary goal. As a committee we want to support other committees and club activities, but we don’t want to overcommit and spread ourselves so thin that we become ineffective at achieving our own goals.
2) For our committee purpose the ultimate authority is the group decision making process. The chair leads but does not govern.
No one person controls WOW. Everyone on this committee is a contributing member of this committee. We all need to speak, and we all need to listen. In our committee meetings we keep the focus on our primary goal and, as much as possible, we seek consensus in making decisions.
The chair keeps discussion on topic and on time but does not make the decisions.
That means working together with a lot of different personalities. It’s easy to agree with somebody you like and disagree with somebody that you don’t like, but that distracts us from our primary goal.
The chair interrupts arguments that are getting off topic or becoming personal and reminds everyone to focus on the pros and cons of the options being described rather than personal feelings about who is speaking.
3) Concerning our relationship to other matters within the club, as a committee we are self-directed, except in matters affecting other committees or WCSC as a whole.
We have the freedom to decide how best to serve our committee and its members and how to divide the workload. But we are also part of a larger organization, and we share common resources. As much as possible we need to keep the Board of Stewards informed of our plans and decisions such by providing a monthly report to the Vice Commodore before each Board Meeting, and we need to communicate with related committees as needed. We may join forces with other committees in support of common goals, but when operating separately, we want to try to avoid double booking resources such as boats, the club house, and shared committee members.
4) Concerning our relationship to other matters outside the club, as a committee we should give serious consideration to the pros and cons before we decide to partner with any outside organization not already affiliated in some way with WCSC.
WCSC does a lot of charity and other service which is a wonderful part of who we are. But as the WOW Committee we want to be careful about taking on additional commitments to organizations outside WCSC. Outside obligations can divert our time and energy and distract us from our primary goal. Also, some of us might agree with the organization and some of us might not which risks dividing our group over issues unrelated to our common, primary goal.
As individuals we can, and do, support various outside organizations we believe in. But when it comes to WOW as a committee, we focus on our common goal first and consult with each other and the Board before taking on additional responsibilities outside the club.