Tools for Up and Down Communication

How it is Today

Top Down 

The board and staff have a variety of tools available to them to communicate with members.

Some people believe that written documents sent by postal service (at a considerable cost) don't get read by a large proportion of our members because they are too busy or not interested.

Some people suggest that an article written in The Therapist has more "weight" and a higher likelihood of being read.

At CAMFT we post short summaries of our board meeting minutes on our Web site for everyone to see. Most organizations write very short meeting minutes to keep their members up to date. A common struggle in non-profits is to remember what exactly has been decided in previous meetings.

Many organizations use the "closed meeting" tool for the very rare case in which they must discuss a highly sensitive confidential question such as a human resource issue - supporting the idea that more transparency is always preferable to less transparency. While others prefer to keep meeting participation to a minimum.

In my experience with large non-profits I find that most boards don't really know how to ask their membership for input on a topic; that many decisions are time sensitive and need immediate responses and board members don't have the luxury to check with their constituency. Many times when the do the constituency doesn't really have an opinion. I believe there is a learning curve for a board to figure out how to ask questions in ways that keep the membership feeling engaged in the decision-making process.

Bottom Up

My hunch is that a vast majority of CAMFT members rarely communicate with the staff and board. 

It appears that each chapter has an online tool and regular meetings that allow for multi-lateral communication within the chapter but that most members don't communicate on a state level.

State CAMFT has implemented a state-wide system of profiles and online groups to promote member to member communication as well as hiring a staff person whose sole job is to interface with the community leaders.

Some Discussion Ideas

• What would be the ideal mode of communication for you if the board had to turn to you for input?
• How frequently would you be willing to answer a board member's request for input?
• Would you be willing to be part of a pool of people interested in being a board member's sounding board?
• What about email? Voice mail blasts? Online conference calls to discuss?
• Would you prefer the information and questions be handed to a local leader who then reaches out to you?