Fall 2022
Alone Is No Way to Run a Committee!
There is a saying that no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. This belief has driven organizations for decades and is especially relevant to the Elks and our use of committees to conduct a great deal of our work in both our lodges and communities. Committees provide for an efficient way to get things done. Committees facilitate cooperation and encourage collaboration. They allow members to gain new knowledge and skills, and they serve as a pathway to greater leadership opportunities within the organization. One thing that distinguishes the Elks from other less-structured organizations is the support we provide to our committee work on a district, state and even national level. This structure provides continuity to our efforts and prevents us from having to continually reinvent the wheel. If members are adventurous and seek the many resources that exist to support most all the committees of the Elks, they will see how fulfilling committee work can be, and it will make the entire membership experience more gratifying. However, as the title above implies, no committee can be effective when it is comprised of a party of one! Read on for a revealing fact I recently discovered about our Florida lodges.
In September, our staff completed the population of the database that supports the online committee directory on our state website. The directory may be found at floridaelks.org/officers-committees-lists. This directory lists, among other things, the members of each of our 20 statewide committees, the committees that conduct a great deal of the work in our state and lodges. From sponsoring a statewide Americanism essay contest to Drug Awareness Education, Elks Training, Membership, Hoop Shoot and Youth Activities, these committees each have a State Chair, a State Vice Chair, a Past State President Advisor, 14 District Chairs, and a Chair representing each of our 92 lodges. The directory listing for each committee is the list of who’s who on the committee, and through internet magic, communication between some or all committee members can be facilitated with the click of a mouse. Pictures are published of each member (when we are provided with them) along with their contact information, and a further outcome from publishing these directories is that our members see that they are a part of something that is much bigger than just themselves or their lodge. The communication that takes place between a committee’s leadership and its members lends structure, contributes ideas for activities, and provides resources that allow us to appear both professional and credible in everything we do!
Now for the revealing fact — once the data for all 20 committees was compiled, it was discovered that in the average lodge, the Exalted Ruler (ER), the supreme “leader” of the lodge, is named as the chair for no less than seven, yes that’s seven of the 20 committees. Is this as shocking to you as it is to me? Over one-third of these 20 committees in an average lodge is chaired by the Exalted Ruler. So how does this happen, you ask? Well, when I received the list of each lodge’s committee chairs, if a chair was not listed for a particular committee, the ER was listed by default as the chair for that committee. How many times have I stated that we must work harder to make these all-volunteer jobs easier, or no one is going to want them? How about let’s use this as a starting point? It is understandable that an ER might actually be the best person to serve as the chair of one or maybe two committees, but seven? Understand, too, that this is an average. Six of our 92 ERs chair only one committee. Another 10 chair two, and seven more chair three. But chairing 18 committees as one ER does, or 17 as another, that’s too many. There are three chairing 16 committees, two chairing 15, and two chairing 14. How DOES this work?
I would be remiss to not also give a shoutout to the Lodge Secretaries who maintain this information for their lodges and who play a role by providing this information. I note that many of the top performing lodges in this exercise have excellent Lodge Secretaries. It takes this to stay on top of all these appointments and to make sure the ER knows these appointments are their responsibility! I personally cover this appointment responsibility with both the ERs and Secretaries at the Officer Training seminar each year. In my presentation deck, available on our website, check out slide 5 in my ER & the State Association presentation and slide 3 in my Secretary & the State Association presentation. I will give a shoutout to anyone who discovers the discrepancy between what I am saying in this article and what my slide presentation says. I will give a bonus mention for anyone who identifies the discrepancy and fills in the blank!
Now for the nitty-gritty, given in the name of always espousing best practices. Without mentioning any members’ names, there are several lodges one would be advised to contact to find out how they excel at having members step up to chair committees. These are lodges such as Hollywood West, Port Orange, Sanford, St. Augustine, Tampa and West Palm Beach! Others that might also be able to shed some light on their success are lodges such as Bradenton, Jupiter, Largo, Plant City, Port St. Lucie, Sebastian, South Lake, Tarpon Springs, Vero Beach and Zephyrhills. Reach out to them and I am sure you will find an accomplished Exalted Ruler and an equally accomplished Lodge Secretary! I’m telling you, it takes two to tango!
It all starts with great people in leadership positions, even greater people serving as the worker bees, and the best people willing to be the unsung heroes and do the less glamorous but equally as important committee work. Find a lodge with great leadership and you will find a successful lodge. The trick is to have no one person trying to do everything but instead encouraging everyone to do something. By supporting a together effort, we can do so much more!
Lodge committee work is a necessary evil but can be fulfilling and even fun! Committee work provides everyone an opportunity to do something, and active members are happy members! No lodge is prevented from creating new committees, especially if there are needs to be met or members to engage! How has committee work improved your lodge and created member opportunities? Email me at carl@floridaelks.org and share!
State Secretary