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[rebelgirl]

Sorry, long post – a conflict on a professional organization board has rather unsettled me.  So this is a “WWTFD?”  And I’d love to hear what others do re: service in professional organizations.

Context:  I’m tenured cc faculty on the board of two voluntary organizations.  One’s a professional, multidisciplinary academic organization (not specifically my field – let’s call it PMAO); the other’s a community service organization that both Mr. Rebel & I are involved in (let’s call it CSO).  Each takes about 60-70 hours/year (maybe not a lot, but starting to feel like a lot).  Service is expected at myCC: most discharge that via committee work on campus (which I also do), so while serving on these boards make a nice plus at supervisor eval time, helps with college visibility, etc., neither’s required.

Conflict:  I want more time for research & writing – hard to keep up with developments in my field, given my teaching load.  Sabbaticals have been k.o.’d by the economy and may not come back even if the economy rebounds.  So I’m looking for things to throw overboard.  My gut’s telling me to step off the PMAO’s board when my present term expires (I’ve been on it for almost a decade).  Mr. Rebel and I are both passionate about our community group’s mission – plus it’s something we do together.  But….

Over the past 5 years or so, PMAO’s board lost a lot of people to retirement.  The past two exec officers both burned out and resigned from the board after their exec terms ended.  I’ve been one of a few active board members with designated roles in organization management & have urged the board to designate specific jobs for all board members, so work gets shared . . . a tough sell, since some members like to participate in discussion and see that as sufficient.  FYI, PMAO puts on a good conference & modest publication annually.

“Crisis”: We just talked about people’s commitments for the next academic year:  I said that I was going to step down at the end of my term [this summer].  The response – holy cats & kittens! “You can’t!  Who’ll do [job I’ve done for past x years]?” (Someone else?) “You’ve got the institutional memory!”  (There are others.)  “We neeeeeeed you!” 

Post-meeting, I got long emails telling me that “this is a really critical time for us” [when hasn’t it been?], “it used to be traditional for board members to serve [more than the almost 10 I’ve already served],” “you should “recruit your replacement” [I’ve recruited several new members over the past couple years], the organization “can’t afford to lose you,” [I’d be campus rep & still come to conferences, for heaven’s sake] etc.

OK, the organization has needs that I fulfill well, but isn’t something wrong if they think I’m irreplaceable? If an organization with a dozen people on its board and a reasonably active membership can’t recruit new board members, or get less active board members to step up, maybe the organization needs to rethink how it does business. 

I’m kind of thrown off-balance by the responses – guilty-trippy, hard to withstand, making me weaken – almost - reconsider. I like my fellow board members and I hear their concerns about keeping the organization alive. I just feel like I’ve served my time and now it’s someone else’s turn. . . . but I’m being told I don’t have the right to step down, in effect.  That rubs me the wrong way. I realize that voluntary organizations come under special pressures during economic downturns, and PMAO is no exception, but I guess I’m not seeing a last ditch crisis in which I’m jumping off a sinking ship. 

Yikes. I guess I need a reality check. WWTFD? 

[notaprof]

Every time I have been told I was irreplaceable, I wasn't. 

Those who are wailing and gnashing their teeth at the thought of you stepping down are wailing for themselves, not for the organization.  With you in place, they don't have to do anything different, and above all else, they don't want to do anything different.  You have given them plenty of notice.  Be flattered, be gracious, be strong.  Buy yourself some Guilt-Be-Gone spray and walk away.   

[msparticularity]

If an organization with a dozen people on its board and a reasonably active membership can’t recruit new board members, or get less active board members to step up, maybe the organization needs to rethink how it does business. 

This. Having you around saves them from having to deal with doing anything different--which is very definitely not your responsibility

[larryc]

It is like any other breakup. You want out, they are cycling through resistance and denial and all that stuff. They want to talk you into not breaking up and will come up with an infinite number of reasons you guys should stay together, for as long as you engage them in the conversation. So you have to end the conversation. Give them short, definitive sentences.

"Sorry, I cannot remain on the board. I will finish the responsibilities of my current term but that is it."

When they come back at you, you send them the exact same message. Or none at all.

[rebelgirl]

Thanks for all three responses - those were the reality check I needed!

If an organization with a dozen people on its board and a reasonably active membership can’t recruit new board members, or get less active board members to step up, maybe the organization needs to rethink how it does business. 

This. Having you around saves them from having to deal with doing anything different--which is very definitely not your responsibility.

Yes. - I'm leaving this board and not the other because of the refusal to look at changing things.  After I saw your response, I realized that was part of the reason I got so annoyed - we had that conversation a year ago, after the last exec quit the board.  I noted that we'd now lost 2 execs in a row b/c the work kept defaulting to them, b/c we hadn't made sure everyone picked up a share, and still nothing changed.

It is like any other breakup. You want out, they are cycling through resistance and denial and all that stuff. They want to talk you into not breaking up and will come up with an infinite number of reasons you guys should stay together, for as long as you engage them in the conversation. So you have to end the conversation. Give them short, definitive sentences.

"Sorry, I cannot remain on the board. I will finish the responsibilities of my current term but that is it."

When they come back at you, you send them the exact same message. Or none at all.

:)  Thanks, larryc, it *is* like a breakup!  I tried saying the equivalent of "it's not you, it's me," when I told them I couldn't give the time anymore.  I didn't want to be confrontational about the issues noted in response to ms.particularity.  The short, definitive sentence strategy is great. . . .

Buy yourself some Guilt-Be-Gone spray and walk away.   

. . . as is this.  "Guilt-Be-Gone spray"  -I love it.   Thanks again, folks.

[hegemony]

And remember the saying, "'No' is a complete sentence."

[theritas]

Every time I have been told I was irreplaceable, I wasn't. 

Be flattered, be gracious, be strong.

This.  In hindsight, people were just saying, "ugh, this means more work for me" rather than, "whatever shall become of me?"