Good governance is essential to keeping your sport safe, fair and inclusive. Being on a committee is great way to meet new people, hear new voices, give back to the community and contribute to leading the club in a positive way.
There’s no reason to be put off by governance, it’s simply the way a club’s committee goes about its business. The same way sport has rules of play, committees also have rules and processes that must be followed.
When to Meet?
The committee needs to decide out how often it will meet. Meeting monthly tends to be the ‘rule of thumb’ however this can be changed to suit the club. Seasonal sports played over winter or summer are more active at the start of and during the season, whereas sports played year-round meet regularly throughout the year.
Handy tips:
- Set up a committee meeting calendar for the year. For example, the committee meets on the first Monday of each month at 7.30pm.
- Include the main items to be covered at each meeting in the calendar. For example, before the start of the year discuss membership fees and registration. Towards the end of the year discuss preparation for the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
- Consider holding a one-off planning meeting early in the season to discuss your values, strategic plan, goals for the season and key decisions.
Where to Meet?
Meetings can either take place in-person or online. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Meeting in-person can be more relaxed and social, however the need to travel can place restrictions on everyone being involved. Meeting on-line is convenient and saves time, however technology is not always reliable.
Handy tips:
- Use a combination of in-person and on-line meetings with the most important meetings done face-to-face.
- Ensure meetings are held at a time that suits the needs of all members, including those who have childcare or other carer responsibilities e.g. avoid dinner time for parents with young children.
Meeting Agenda
Well organised meetings have an agenda that sets out the plan of the meeting. It will contain the location (either face-to-face or online), topics to be discussed, how much time is allocated for each item and a start and finish time.
The agenda will contain recurring or standing items. For example, Finances and Conflicts of Interest. Play by the Rules also recommends child safety and/or member well-being as standing agenda items. Other items on the agenda can vary from meeting to meeting depending on what needs to be discussed during the year. If you want to have a topic included, contact the President and/or Secretary and have it added to the agenda.
Handy tips:
- Try to keep to the time frames listed, otherwise meetings can run overtime.
- Priortise the agenda so that the most important discussions take place first.
- If you can’t get through the agenda, non-urgent items can he held-over to the next meeting.
- It is usually the Secretary who organises the agenda, papers and minutes for a meeting, however the role can be allocated to anyone who is organised and experienced at these jobs.
Committee Papers
Committee papers are important documents and they take time to prepare. The amount of detail in papers should reflect how important the matter is. For example, if the club is looking at a major facility upgrade with a big budget, the papers should have enough information for committee members to make informed decisions. Regular financial reports should also be provided by the Treasurer highlighting changes in the club’s financial position. Papers should be provided one week before the meeting and it is expected that all committee members read and understand the papers before the meeting.
Minutes of the Meeting
All committee meetings should have minutes. It is a record of the major decisions made during the course of a meeting and can be important for record keeping down the track.
Handy tips:
- Minutes don’t need to contain a summary of everything that was said at the meeting. They only need to contain the decisions made and action items agreed.
- Minutes should be offered in a variety of formats to suit the needs of all committee members. This might mean electronic or hard copies are made available and, in a format, to suit individual access needs (e.g. large font or Word format for screen readers).
Saving Committee Information
It’s important to keep records of committee documents (agenda, papers and minutes) in case they need to be used in the future.
Handy tips:
- Save committee information into a location accessible to all committee members for example, online ‘cloud’ storage. Saving information into a single computer creates issues if there is a problem with that computer or the person who owns it moves on from the committee.
- Avoid the use of personal emails for club business. Set up formal club emails and storage systems. Using generic email addresses for formal roles can be helpful to keep and access information when people change in and out of these roles. For example, ‘President@, Secretary@, Childsafety@.
The Constitution
The constitution is the rule book by which the committee is run. Committee members must have the most up to date copy which is easily accessible. It is true that to alter a constitution you need a vote of 75% of eligible voting members at an AGM. In many circumstances, however, a constitution does not often require changing, and if it does then usually it is in the best interests of members.
These are some elements of constitutions that are of practical relevance:
- Purposes or aims: this sets out what your club exists to be and to do.
- Membership: who are the members, what are their rights and responsibilities, and what is their voting capacity of each? For example, do life members get voting rights?
- Committee composition: this contains information about how many people are on the committee, how they get on the committee and the length of term. It’s important to know and can help with committee decisions. For example, is the President position voted on by the club members, or does the committee vote on who should be the President? The answer is in the constitution.
- Handy tip! Constitutions can be difficult to read however it doesn’t need to be read all at once. It should contain an index that helps readers find the section they need information on and take them straight to the page for the answers.
Elected and Appointed Committee Positions
Most committees are made up with a mix of elected and appointed roles. The elected positions are voted on by the members, however a vote is only needed when there are more people nominated than there are positions available.
Appointed positions are decided by the committee. After the AGM it’s a good idea to think about the composition of the committee. Is there is a range of skills, experiences, ethnic, gender and social backgrounds to best represent the diversity of the club and the community? Specific appointed positions can be used to meet gaps in skills and diversity.
Handling Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest that are not managed properly can create problems. A simple example would be Sue, a business person on the committee who provides sponsorship for the club. When any discussion about sponsorship comes up, Sue has an obvious and actual conflict that she needs to declare.
It is up to the other members of the committee to decide whether Sue should receive any committee papers about sponsorship and/or whether she should step out of the room when the topic is being discussed. It is a committee decision; Sue has no say in it.
Handy tip:
- Declaration of Conflicts of Interest should be a standing agenda item inserted after the welcome & acknowledgement of country/present/apology items.
Respect for other Committee Members
A committee meeting is an important part of a club’s governance. It is essential that only one person speaks at a time, everyone listens to what others are saying, and responses are respectful. This means no ridicule, disrespect or abuse. Everyone brings a different perspective to the table, allow time for people to be heard and be open to new ideas and ways of thinking. The President or Chair is responsible for the management of the meeting and therefore the manner in which people speak to each other.
Side conversations between committee members during a discussion is distracting and delays the meeting. It’s also disrespectful.