Having people with a diverse range of experience, skills and backgrounds involved in your Club leads to more effective decision-making. By encouraging independence and diversity of thought, and creating constructive and open debate, Clubs can make better decisions that will help them achieve their goals. 

Recruiting and engaging a diverse range of people also helps to ensure your Club understands and can cater for the needs of different groups from within your local community. For more on effective recruitment click here.

To help identify the best candidate for the position there should be a role description which lists the technical abilities, experience and knowledge required. In addition, each representative, regardless of role, should demonstrate complementary ‘soft’ skills such as:  

• Listening - to understand each other's perspectives and promote healthy debate.
• Communication - oral and written, enabling clear, concise and constructive communication, especially in meetings.
• Analysis - the ability to prepare for meetings by understanding the key issues and asking constructive questions.
• Demonstration of Club values - lead by example with the values and leadership behaviour visible to staff, members and visitors.
• Integrity and confidentiality - keep in confidence the issues, discussions, and actions of the Management Group. The role descriptions should include the term of office, who the person reports into and sets out clearly the roles and responsibility of the Club. 

When recruiting new people for committees it is important that they have a common set of values and attributes, so decisions are made in the best interest of the Club. They also need skills and knowledge to help the Club reach its strategic ambitions and objectives.  

Samples of role descriptions can be found HERE.