HELLO!

I have served on many church and non-profit committees for 35+ years. Obviously, given my personality, an extrovert, someone who can be challenged by patience, someone who values consistency, decisiveness and inclusivity, I bring a biased perspective, but then we all do. I enjoy meetings where everyone around the table is given opportunity, even encouraged, to share their thoughts on the matter under consideration. Further, I enjoy meetings where, after listening to each other and being aware of the challenge we face, we make decisions. I enjoy meetings where we are consistent about how we reach conclusions, using the same logic for one challenge as we do for the next. And the opposite is true. I find meetings dominated by one or two voices problematic. I find meetings where discussion goes on and on and no decision is made, frustrating. I find when we use one criterion to make decision A and another criterion for decision B, disappointing. How can we defend this?

What makes your service on a committee feel worth while and satisfying, a time you look back on with some pride? One curious thing about how people reflect on their tenure serving a committee is how they use the word “politics”. When people have a bad experience sitting on a committee they say, “there was a lot of politics there”. I have no idea what they mean, as every aspect of human life involves “politics”. The dictionary definition of politics is “people attempting to influence how they are governed”. Surely this is what all of us do? Here is an observation about these four decades of service. Back then, I often found one member of the committee, took control, did most of the talking, influenced the decisions more than the others. The frustration, obviously, was a lack of inclusiveness, no “I” in team. Today, I find most committees offer all members a chance for input and responsibility, the culture has shifted for the better. However, as most of us (all ages) are accustomed to things going our way, phones/computers/shopping, we can customize our choices to our liking. So when a member expresses strong opinion and the ultimate decision goes the other way there can be a look of confusion, even anger. If you spend a lot of your time alone, if your opinions are echoed in all the articles you read, the podcasts you watch, if you can select what you want, to look exactly as you wish and have it delivered to your door in an hour, the idea that others do not agree with your preference can be jarring. And then? “Too much politics”, they say.

Peace, Kevin “I don’t need to get my way, I only need to get home before 10 pm” Little

PS I found this testimony to service, by this young university student, quite inspiring. I will think on it at my next meeting.