Our meetings are a mess. Help!

[Guest Charles]

I am on a 7-member board of a professional practice with 30 partners.  Our board meetings are a mess.  They generally consist of new topics to discuss that have not been worked out fully or previously discussed at all so we can't start with a motion.  l  We discuss the topics in a civil, but completely unstructured manner (with plenty of getting off topic) and then maybe someone makes a motion and then someone seconds and we maybe vote or maybe someone just keeps talking as if the motion were never made.

I desperately want us to follow even the most basic elements of Robert's Rules, but not sure how as our topics are never ready for a motion at introduction.

I have read that Robert's Rules can start with an informal discussion.  If that route is taken, does one then shift to more traditional format at some point?  That is, can we have a free-form discussion and at some point someone make a motion and then begin a more formal process?

Thanks for any help.

Charles

 

 

 

[Josh Martin]

On 1/22/2024 at 7:16 AM, Guest Charles said:

I have read that Robert's Rules can start with an informal discussion.  If that route is taken, does one then shift to more traditional format at some point?  That is, can we have a free-form discussion and at some point someone make a motion and then begin a more formal process?

It is correct that, in a small board, it is permissible to begin with an "informal discussion." This could indeed shift to a more traditional format by a member making a formal motion.

In regard to your general concerns regarding the board's parliamentary procedure, I'd suggest members (and especially the chair) pick up a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief (3rd ed.). This is a very light read, by the same authors as the full text, and will cover what you need to know the vast majority of the time. The full text can be utilized as a reference in the event more unusual situations arise.

[Joshua Katz]

If half-baked ideas are coming to the board, the routine response should be to refer to a committee. So I'd start by explaining how that motion works, then moving it every time a half-baked idea comes up.

More generally - if you walk into a dining hall and everything is picking up whole chickens, you don't start to improve things by explaining the difference between the dessert spoon and the soup spoon. You start with very broad, general concepts. Same here. No need to fight for full compliance with RONR. You might start with "wouldn't it be nice if these meetings could be faster?" to get interest.

[Rob Elsman]

The board of a commercial partnership is not the "ordinary society" for which RONR (12th ed.) is principally written. The book might be useful as a source of ideas for procedures that the board might want to adopt, but I am inclined to think that it would not necessarily be appropriate to adopt it as a parliamentary authority.

[Atul Kapur]

On 1/22/2024 at 5:16 AM, Guest Charles said:

I have read that Robert's Rules can start with an informal discussion.  If that route is taken, does one then shift to more traditional format at some point?

Many groups follow this process. It is inefficient, as you have described, and often allows the most forceful personalities in the room to dictate the outcome - by proposing a motion based on what they perceive the consensus to be. That "consensus" often reflects the desire of the proposer, even if it is not the will of the group, and sets the frame for the decision. 

Robert's indicates that parliamentary procedure evolved from that type of process to the current one: discussion is initiated by a motion. 

I agree with @Joshua Katz that a good way to introduce the concepts is to note the inefficiency (and, if present, the dissatisfaction with the outcome as non-reflective of the overall group). 

[Guest Charles]

Thanks for all the replies.  J Katz wrote "If half-baked ideas are coming to the board, the routine response should be to refer to a committee."  First, I wish they were half-baked -- we're just getting out the flour and water lots of times.   As far as committees, if there's a new or undeveloped topic, is the ideal process that it goes to a committee, the committee either acts if empowered or issues a recommedation to the board, and then more easily someone at the board can move to approve the recommendation of the committee?

[Atul Kapur]

Yes. "The subsidiary motion to Commit or Refer is generally used to send a pending question to a relatively small group of selected persons—a committee—so that the question may be carefully investigated and put into better condition for the assembly to consider."

RONR (12th ed.) 13:1