How to keep your mandated citizen board out of your hair and off your back: a guide for executive directors.

Abstract

In our travels across the nation we have ,served many ingenious strategies used by executives and uman service professionals to contain and render ineffective their mandated citizen boards. We would like to share these observations with other professionals. In doing so we take the calculated risk that an occasional consumer reader may also learn the techniques and use them to his own advantage. It requires great understanding and patience for the human service professional to continue to provide impartial scientific guidance to community programs in these days of conflict and chaos. As the latest in a series of fads, the current federally mandated citizen participation on agency policy boards poses a serious threat to efficient and professional operations. However, the wise executive director recognizes that the survival of his/her program will depend upon his/her ability to manage his/her citizen board in such a way that interference in the operation of his/her agency is minimized. She/he knows this fad, like many others, will eventually fade away to be replaced by some new contrivance from across the Potomac. In the meantime, the less effect on the organization the better. In this context, the best strategies are those of containment i.e., the organization and administration of the consumer board in such a way that legal requirements are met but at the same time the control of real decision-making power remains in the hands of the executive director. These strategies appear to fall into four general categories: Selecting the Right Board Members; Creative Differentiation (or dividing work wisely); Providing Staff Support Services; and Managing Meetings.