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tips from the trenches - establishing community relations committees
My experiences in setting up two such long-standing committees in different institutions were very different-one worked, one didn't. In analyzing why and talking to a number of colleagues, here are some of my thoughts:
- Purpose. Make sure you have clearly established purpose. And, if that 'purpose' is to foster better relationships with a stakeholder group, make sure that it's seen as a valuable purpose by the participants as well. What is their reason for volunteering their time and energy? What value will they get out of participation?
My experience is that groups are best established with a shared vision and come together out of a need to improve some situation that isn't ideal, rather than getting together just to "build relationships".
One way to do it is to let the group build the terms of references themselves, with you, and set priorities for actions.
- Representation. Should contain more members of the community than from your organization. Try internal and external co-chairs at least…eventually turn chairing over to the community. Ally with constituents. It can provide a 'them-you' opportunity, but also a 'them-them' opportunity.
- Plan/Activities. It should be needs-based. Let THEM set the agenda. Set objectives that are both measurable and feasible.
- Support. Provide support to the committee in terms of implementing its proposed actions. Plan on a small budget to pay for meeting refreshments, parking and eventually activities in the plan.
- Typical "effective meeting" procedures. The more effectively planned and run the meetings are, the better the volunteers feel about their experience. Standardize time/place and frequency of meetings if at all possible. Provide parking if located at your facility.
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