Advisory Board value
How do you get the members of the advisory board to fully participate? Some are all for being on the board but when the day comes for a meeting work gets in the way and they can't attend the meeting.
Linda,
Welcome to OP-110! Please forgive me for not answering your question directly, but you will have your answer as you proceed through the course. If I were to provide an answer now, I would be diluting the value of your course experience. I hope you understand that this is not avoiding your question, just trying to stimulate your continued work.
R. Roehrich
Hi Linda,
Attendance and participation are my biggest problem as well. On paper my advisory committee is adequate, unfortunately I can't say the same for accomplishments. Hopefully the information in this course will help us motivate the members!
Teri
Teri and Linda,
I'm sure you will gain many ideas and strategies from this course to improve attendance at your board meetings. Here's an advance teaser: clearly communicate your mission and goals to the board; create meaningful agendas with clear expectations, send pre-meeting materials to your members about two weeks in advance of the meeting, serve quality catered food, pre-meeting, and contact each board member by phone 48 hours in advance of your meeting to encourage attendance. Follow all this with an engaging meeting that starts and ends precisely on time.
I look forward to your continued participation in OP-110.
R. Roehrich
Yes, I do all of these things - except send the actual materials in advance (however I do send the agenda), so I will try this with my next meeting scheduled for September. Thanks for the tip! TJ
Linda,
I am new at creating Advisory Boards but I can tell you what I did to get my members to participate. I had to start from the beginning and create the Board. I started by contacting individuals in the community and asked if they would be interested in joing our Advisory Board. Once I spoke to the individuals I sent them a formal invitation to join with a informative packet about our college. After I received notice of who would join I sent thank you cards with an anticpated date for the first meeting. Once date was established I sent invitations with Agenda and ,lunch menu(food will always get them) to each. Most of the member RSVPed but for the ones that didn't I dropped them a friendly phone call. I had a board of 21 members and 15 showed for my first meeting.
Hildie,
Those are excellent suggestions. I will definitely remember them when I start the invites for our board. Thank you for the advise.
Linda Vetter
Some good suggestions that I will definitely consider for the next advisory board meeting. Our recent advisory board meeting was not well attended despite it being in a reputable restaurant.
Suhas,
Sometimes even the enticement of good food doesn't work as well as we might expect. What from the list of suggestions might you apply to your next meeting?
R. Roehrich
Your suggestion of sending pre-meeting materials to members 2 weeks in advance of meeting and contacting the members 48 hours in advance.
The advisory board membership also needs to be looked at again as the attendance has been an ongoing issue.
I feel it would be a good idea to use Hildie's method and start the board again. The existing members can be asked if they are interested and if they can devote time to the board, to remain members.
Suhas,
I agree with Hildie, sometimes it's just better to start over. Once you've completed the remaining modules, I think you'll have all the information you need to re-establish your advisory board for enhanced effectiveness.
R. Roehrich
I have worked with Advisory Boards before, and I believe that involving the members on "specific projects/committees" has always helped with their participation. Time is valuable for everyone and members need to feel that their expertise is taken into account.
Syndia,
You've presented an excellent suggestion for engaging an advisory board. Can you provide some examples of projects you've had your board(s) work on? Who manages the project(s) and how do you keep your advisory board members engaged over the life of the project? Do you provide any additional incentives to motivate your board members to participate?
R. Roehrich
Syndia,
I agree with your posting regarding involving advisory members in specific projects; would you please post one or two that you had particular success with? Just outline the project's goals, the number of advisory members engaged, how the process evolved, and what outcomes you achieved. It would also be helpful to your peers to briefly identify what you might do differently when you engage your advisory group again.
R. Roehrich
One of the projects I was able to get board members involved was an awards ceremony for students. The main goal of the project was not only find ways to recognize the students, but also raise money for a Scholarship Fund. A sub-committee was created and was in charge of managing the process. One of the methods used to keep the members engaged was to share with them student's testimonial from prior years. These included the impact the award or scholarship had in their lives. Recognition in the community was also used as tool.
With regards of the additional incentives, there were none monetary.
Another project we worked on was the "creation" of a brochure that served as a tool to create awareness of a program in the community. I would say that 80% of the members were very involved in the project. I was able to keep them engaged by assigning specific tasks to the members. The assignment was done taking into consideration their expertise. For example, one of the board members loved to take pictures (she was very good at it), she was assigned to take pictures of students. Some people worked wit the design, others with the body of it. It took many months, but I think that the fact the members took ownership over the project, helped us to successfully complete it. The brochure is still used after several years.
Syndia,
This is a great example of actively engaging your board in school activities and giving them a perspective on the differences you are making in your student's lives. Thank you for sharing.
R. Roehrich
Syndia,
Thank you again for sharing this valuable experience, I suspect the brochure has become a valuable tool for your admissions staff as well.
R. Roehrich
Even when all these techniques are used, occasionally there will be advisory board members who still do not attend on a regular basis. When this happens, it is time for me to meet with them personally to co-evaluate whether it is time to recommit to regular attendance or find someone else who can actively participate. Just having board members is not enough for accreditation approval. As a participant in accrediting evaluation visits to vocational schools, I can tell you an accreditation group wants to see them taking a regular active interest. And, if you are doing everything in your power to encourage participation but regular attendance is lacking from some members, its best to find someone who is commited to helping your school or department to improving and honing its effectiveness. Good Luck
Randall,
At what point do you begin your assessment of member participation, i.e. number of meetings, notifications, etc? How much flexibility do you allow your members, given their busy schedules, other commitment, etc? Do you have an “absence policy†that determines when your intervention is required? Would you provide some additional ways that you encourage participation and engagement at your advisory board meetings?
R. Roehrich
