It's hard to believe in the 21st Century but some folks still haven't gotten the memo or are still waiting on the Pony Express!!!  I am talking about executive committees.  Yes, one can still imagine the days when, with a statewide organization for example, it took several days for people from the far corners of a good-sized state to make it to the central location, such as the capital, for a board meeting.  Some of us are even old enough to remember the days of expensive long distance telephone service and a time before conference calls.

Today, if one's bylaws are appropriately adjusted, one's board can meet and vote by email, by conference call or even in mixed modes at asynchronous times.  But ex coms are obsolete primarily because they create a destructive caste system and power structure and put the organization unnecessarily at risk.  If there are 19 members on a board and five on its ex com, how many does it take to make a rash decision causing irreparable harm to the organization?  You are right if you guessed three.  Yes, decision are supposed to be ratified in the next fully convened board meeting but who really remembers that?  If I were an executive director, I wouldn't want my fate to rest in the hands of a few, where if one became upset and convinced  two of the remaining four, I could be out of a job without a fair process.

Again, most importantly, in an age when we seek strategic thinking diverse boards with equal treatment under culture, what are we doing continuing to dis-empower and de-motivate the same people that we worked so hard to recruit and retain?  Time to tune-up those bylaws.....

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