October 09, 2015
Trustees
In doing research for an
article I had to scrutinize the official minutes of an organization. For a special
meeting the president of the trustees set the agenda, but one member simply didn’t
attend because she felt “…the topic presented to her,” was a job for the
personnel committee and the executive director. I was taken aback at the woman’s
lack of responsibility, but even more surprised that the president didn’t hold
her accountable. Webster defines trustee as: an individual person or
member of a board given control or powers of administration of property in
trust with a legal obligation to administer it solely for the purposes
specified. It occurs to me that as believers, we too are trustees. “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ
and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it
is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1
Cor 4:1-2 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I am trying to imagine what kind of topic would be a job for the personnel committee and the executive director which the president of the trustees might mistake for their responsibility. Anything much more than a micro-organization must facilitate the company personnel, at least somewhat, like an area for clocking in and out. Next comes the need for a break area. I once worked for a pork processing plant. In addition to the break area it had a locker room where we could get out of our street shoes, sweaters, coats, etc., and into rubber boots before donning cotton overcoats. Some organizations need employees working at locations too remote for accommodating off-duty life. The brighter of these will furnish rudimentary living space and mess halls. All of this requires assets, the responsibility of trustees. I can imagine this trustee mistaking issues with these as the responsibility of the personnel committee and executive director.
-----She would be wrong. Their involvement will eventually be needed, but so will the trustees'. Then if the issue were less tied to facilities and more tied to use of them, safety within them, expected employee etiquette within them, and such, the responsibility of the issue begins shifting from trustees to the personnel department as the matter moves from treatment of the facility to treatment of one another within the facility. I can imagine that kind of intersection causing her confusion.
-----But the heart of the issue is that the executive/administrative branch of an organization sets course, blazes trails so to speak with a weak analogy. The underlings, the minions, the committee members and employees all the way down to the janitors and poop-scoopers all go that direction and walk those trails. If they don’t, then their other obligation is to take a hike into the wilderness; maybe they will stumble across another organization doing things more like they think things should be done.
-----Then if the committee president really is all wet about the topics of his agenda, staying home is no way to benefit an organization probably needing benefited after the chaos bad management causes. Her responsibility to be at the meeting actually increases, because if she is the one understanding the weakness, then she is the one who needs to be grooming committee minds towards better ways.
-----Finally, maybe she just wanted to stay home that night and bake cookies. Maybe she just rationalized her misbehavior with an accusation.
-----We too tend to take a hike away from churches behaving less than greatly. If we know our church’s course is somewhat off scriptural tracks, our responsibility is not to flee with our knowledge tucked between our legs, but to bring its sense forth in the form of edification. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” (I Cor 8:1)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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