An effective committee charter outlines the various roles and responsibilities of each committee member. The charter is a valuable tool that should unite the members by highlighting an organization’s mission and purpose. It is important to meet with existing or potential committee members to get opinions and suggestions before you develop a committee charter. You need to have a clear idea of the kind of members who make up the committee and their goals.
Create Mission statement
It is essential to establish the mission statement to come up with an effective committee charter. This should be the first step when you are developing a charter. The mission statement should highlight the committee’s main objectives and goals. You have to know what the committee is working towards to be able to come up with an effective charter. This will make it easy to identify the specific actions that members are required to take in order to meet the objectives.
List Committee Activities
Once you have established the mission statement, the next step is to list all the activities that the committee will engage in. The activities should be based on the committee’s objectives. It is important to come up with a comprehensive list of activities to make sure every aspect of the objectives is covered.
Ascertain Membership Rules
Each committee member need to know what is expected of them. You need to determine if there will be any competency requirements and dues that they will be expected to pay. It is also necessary to ascertain how the committee members will be appointed. The appointment guidelines have to be well defined. You should have eligibility requirements for those who serve on the committee. Every committee has a chairperson and this makes it necessary to verify the process that will be involved to appoint one. Find out the precise period of time that each member is supposed to serve on the committee. This should include both permanent and temporary positions on the committee. You also need to know if it will be necessary to rotate some of the positions to ensure that each member gets an opportunity to serve on the committee. The number of years may be determined by the industry that you operate in.
Determine Meeting Quorum
It is also vital to establish quorum requirements for the committee meeting. In most cases, committees require a simple majority for them to have a meeting. You need to know exactly how many members should be present during a meeting for certain actions to be carried out. It may be necessary to make some exemptions in particular situations. Establish if you need to make exemptions before you come up with the committee charter. One of the main objectives of the charter is to make sure each new committee member is aware of the goals that the organization is working towards and the approach they are required to take. For this reason, every aspect of the charter has to be clear. When you come up with an effective committee charter, it will be easy to prevent conflicts of interest and meet your objectives.