Managing Committee Members

I want to stress this more than anything: YOU AREN'T ABOVE THE REST OF COMMITTEE! I know you're the president, the big cheese, but you are on the same level as everyone else, and you should make sure everyone feels that way too. I know you're in exec, so there's a fake hierarchy there, but that's not how you should act. It's not productive, it's not cool, and it's not helpful to anyone. I have no doubt it won't be an issue for you, but it has to be said! In this section, I just want to quickly brush over your responsibilities, and where you stand as part of the committee as a whole.

The Glue

That's the best analogy I can muster up. Each other role has a distinct outward-facing job. Your distinct outward-facing job is to be as inward-facing as you are outward-facing. I know it sounds weird and cryptic... just roll with it for a sec.

For the most part, the president isn't the most hands-on committee member, but by no means does that mean you get to sit back and relax. It means you have to be more on it than anyone else. You have to spot problems before they go wrong, you have to be there for each and every committee member should they need your help, and most importantly you should enjoy yourself! Cheesy... but true!

Committee Structure

You should already know this, but the structure of committee is as follows:

graph TD
    A[Committee] --> B[President]
    A --> C[Vice President]
    A --> D[Swim Captain]
    A --> E[WP Captain]
    B --> F[Events Officer]
    B --> G[Media Officer]
    C --> H[Engagement Officer]
    C --> I[Welfare Officer]
    D --> J[Coaches]
    E --> J[Coaches]

Notice how your area of committee covers only Events & Media. In my eyes, these are the 2 roles that you are most responsible for, despite being at least a bit responsible for every position. You job pertaining to these roles is to oversee, not to be too directly involved. Obviously the extent of your involvement in these 2 roles is up to the officer in each position, but my suggestion would be to offer your help if they want it, but to mostly let them do their own thing. I think it would also be a good idea to set up monthly or bi-monthly meetings either as the three of you or one with each member just to go over everything and so they can keep you up-to-date with their plans for everything.

I will make a second page dedicated to just these two roles to give you a bit of extra info on how it works.

Committee Meetings

You should aim to have at least one committee meeting per month. This just keeps everyone in check and makes it easier to monitor anything that's been happening and means you'll easily be able to plan in advance for any big upcoming events, such as BUCS, BUSL, Varsity or even the Christmas and EOY meals.

I would aim to have everyone present at every meeting, but it isn't the end of the world if one or two people can't make it. You should try your best to keep a few notes from each meeting, just so you have a record of what's happened and when.

It's up to you how you want to run these meetings. I tended to take a bit more of a back seat and allow the VP to run them, but if you'd prefer to run the meetings, go for it. There's no right or wrong way to do it!

Like I said, it might be worth setting up a separate meeting with your side of the committee every now and again to keep up-to-date with things.

Delegation

This word will come up plenty in your training. Basically, do not be afraid to give people jobs! You by no means have to do everything yourself - there is a whole committee of people for a very good reason!

This is a skill I have learnt is extremely valuable during busier periods such as GMS and Freshers' Fayre. Definitely exercise your delegation muscles.

Inter-Committee Issues

I bet you're thinking "we won't have any"...

You will!

But that's okay, there's no need to fret. In the event of an inter-committee issue of any kind just remember this simple mnemonic and you'll never have to worry: SDDAYRTBYSDWIS!

STOP! DONT DO ANYTHING YOU'LL REGRET, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK and DEAL WITH IT SENSIBLY!

Rolls right off the tongue. I'm joking. I just came up with that and it's stupid. I mean it's not wrong, just not very helpful or easy to remember.

I can't predict what issues may happen, so I can't give you good specific advice, but from our experiences this year, here is what I'd say: If it is something you think can be solved with a conversation, set up a safe environment and have that conversation. That doesn't mean confront someone in front of a huge group, or be really accusatory. It means have a one-on-one if that works for you, or email your sport & rec person and get them to help you navigate the problem. Sometimes having someone to mediate can really help.

At the end of the day, what I always come back to is SDDAYRTBYSDWIS.