Committee overload is one of the most common problems in volunteer organisations — and the answer isn't working harder, it's building smarter structures. Portfolios, subcommittees and working groups are three tools that every committee can use to share the workload, draw on skills from across the membership and free up committee meetings for the governance conversations that actually matter. This episode covers all three: what they are, how they work, and critically, where the boundaries are.

In This Episode

• Portfolios: giving every committee member a specific area of strategic ownership — and why it puts an end to seat warmers and passengers
• What portfolios should cover and how to match them to the skills already around the table
• Subcommittees: formal, ongoing groups that do the detailed work between meetings — and who can sit on them
• The governance principle that's critical but often misunderstood: delegation, not abdication
• Terms of reference: what they must cover and why defining what's NOT delegated matters just as much as defining what is
• Subcommittees as a talent pipeline — and what to do when someone turns out to be a nightmare to work with
• Working groups: the flexible, time-limited tool for specific tasks — and why they attract people who'd never join a subcommittee
• How to mine your membership for hidden gems — accountants, lawyers, marketers and IT specialists hiding in plain sight, waiting to be asked

Free Download

A terms of reference template is in the show notes. You'll be able to download it and use it as your starting point.

This Week's Challenge

Look at your current committee. Does every member have a portfolio? Are your subcommittees working from clear and up-to-date terms of reference? When did you last think about a working group for a specific task? Pick the gap that matters most right now and close it. The terms of reference template in the show notes is a good place to start.

And if you haven't yet surveyed your membership for hidden gems — that's a worthwhile afternoon's work right there.

Got a Question for the Kates?

If you've got a governance question you'd like the Kates to tackle on the show, or a situation you're not sure how to handle, use the contact form at thecommitteeroom.com.au. No question is too basic — if you're wondering about it, someone else is too.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. Her Committee Companion is a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars for committee members. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

Together they offer governance health checks and practical support through Fresh Allsorts.

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:04 — Sharing the load — or not

00:56 — Introducing the Kates and this episode on portfolios, subcommittees and working groups

02:02 — Portfolios

02:46 — What should the portfolios be?

03:09 — Portfolio leaders

04:30 — Match skills to portfolios

05:08 — Subcommittees

05:44 — Who sits on a subcommittee?

06:37 — Delegations

07:57 — Terms of reference

08:59 — Standing subcommittees

09:15 — Subcommittees as a talent pipeline

10:05 — Working groups

11:40 — Mine the membership for hidden gems

12:31 — Recap

13:17 — This week's challenge

13:36 — Terms of reference template

13:55 — Ask Us Anything!

14:37 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Once you've built the structures — portfolios, subcommittees, working groups — how does everyone know what they're actually authorised to do? Next episode, the Kates tackle delegations: the difference between 'I wasn't sure if I was allowed to' and 'I didn't realise I couldn't', and why both are governance failures.

Resources & Links

🎙️  The Committee Room  thecommitteeroom.com.au — episode archive, show notes, downloads and contact form

🍬  Fresh Allsorts  freshallsorts.com.au — Governance Health Checks and practical services from both Kates

Kate Hartwig Consulting  katehartwig.com.au — including the Committee Companion, a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars

Liquorice Allsorts Consulting  liquoriceallsorts.com.au — including Just a Tick, Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide

LinkedIn:  Kate Hartwig   |   Kate McPhee

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

You can run the best election process in the world and still have new committee members who are still finding their feet six months later. The difference between a new member who contributes from day one and one who takes half a year to get up to speed usually comes down to one thing: induction. Not a pile of documents — a proper process. In this episode, the Kates walk through what good induction actually looks like, from the nomination pack to the first informal coffee to the dedicated induction meeting that sets the tone for the whole year.

Show Notes

Handing someone a 100-page manual and a thumb drive is not an induction. It's a pile of reading material with good intentions. Real induction is about people, not paper — and it starts earlier than most committees think, well before the AGM. This episode covers the full induction process: what goes in the manual, who's responsible, what the personal touch looks like in practice, and why that first committee meeting deserves a very different agenda than every meeting that follows.

In This Episode

• Why the induction manual matters — and why it's not enough on its own
• The complete list of what should be in a new committee member's manual, and why each item is there
• Why induction starts before the election, with a nomination checklist that sets expectations from the start
• Who's responsible for making induction happen — and the personal welcome letter that sets the tone
• The pre-meeting coffee: where induction really comes alive
• The dedicated induction meeting: why the first committee meeting after the AGM deserves its own agenda
• Why reviewing foundation documents together isn't just for new members — it's a useful annual reset for the whole committee

Free Downloads

Two resources from this episode to get you started:

• Induction checklist
• Manual contents list

For the full list of foundation documents every committee should have, Kate McPhee's Just a Tick covers all of them. Find it at liquoriceallsorts.com.au. And if you want checklists, guides and exemplars, Kate Hartwig's Committee Companion might be the head start you're looking for. Find it at katehartwig.com.au.

This Week's Challenge

Have a good look at your current induction process. Is it a process, or is it just a pile of documents? Pick one thing to add or improve before your next AGM — just one. Maybe it's a welcome letter from the chair. Maybe it's a pre-meeting coffee with the president. Maybe it's finally organising that shared drive so new members can actually find what they need. The induction checklist in the show notes is a good place to start.

Got a Question for the Kates?

If you've got a governance question you'd like the Kates to tackle on the show, or a situation you're not sure how to handle, use the contact form at thecommitteeroom.com.au. No question is too basic — if you're wondering about it, someone else is too. Your question might even become the centrepiece of a future episode.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. Her Committee Companion is a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars for committee members. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

Together they offer governance health checks and practical support through Fresh Allsorts.

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:05 — Your first committee meeting

00:52 — Introducing the Kates and this episode on inductions

01:48 — Not just an induction manual

03:52 — What's in the manual?

06:09 — Who makes this happen — the Secretary!

06:48 — The personal touch

07:51 — The induction meeting

09:46 — Recap

10:39 — This week's challenge

11:02 — Induction checklist and manual contents list

11:12 — Ask Us Anything!

11:34 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Why is it always the same three people doing everything? Next episode, the Kates tackle subcommittees and working groups — how to share the load properly, how to set them up so they actually work, and how to make sure they report back to the committee rather than going rogue.

Resources & Links

🎙️  The Committee Room  thecommitteeroom.com.au — episode archive, show notes, downloads and contact form

🍬  Fresh Allsorts  freshallsorts.com.au — Governance Health Checks and practical services from both Kates

Kate Hartwig Consulting  katehartwig.com.au — including the Committee Companion, a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars

Liquorice Allsorts Consulting  liquoriceallsorts.com.au — including Just a Tick, Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide

LinkedIn:  Kate Hartwig   |   Kate McPhee

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

Most committees have a story like this one — the meeting where everyone noticed something and nobody said a word. In this episode, Kate H and Kate M tackle the governance failure that hides in plain sight: the question that didn't get asked. They dig into why people stay quiet, what they should actually be asking across finance, risk and strategy, and how to build a committee culture where hard questions are welcome before they become hard problems.

Show Notes

Asking questions is how a committee does its job. Not asking is a governance failure — not because people are lazy or malicious, but because there are very real human forces that keep people quiet in committee rooms. In this episode, the Kates name those forces, work through what good questions actually look like across finance, risk and strategy, and tackle the thorny question of how to ask in a way that gets you information rather than defensiveness. They also take on the quiet meeting — the one where every agenda item sails through without a single question — and explain why that is not the sign of a well-functioning committee.

In This Episode

• The four forces that keep committee members silent — and why none of them are good governance
• Why silence in the face of something that doesn't add up is a transfer of responsibility, not neutrality
• Groupthink: how the duty of care fails not through malice but through everyone assuming someone else has checked
• The baseline financial, risk and strategic questions every committee member should feel comfortable asking
• How to frame questions that get you information rather than defensiveness — including the phrase that does a lot of heavy lifting
• The quiet meeting: why a committee where nobody asks anything is a warning sign, not an efficiency win
• What a good chair does to make asking questions normal — and what happens to the committee member whose hard question gets shut down
• The elephant question: the one sitting in the room that nobody's asking — and why being the person who asks it is governance, not troublemaking

Free Download

The Questions Are Gold checklist is in the show notes — a one-page reference with the most useful questions from today's episode that any committee member can keep with their meeting papers. Download it at thecommitteeroom.com.au.

This Week's Challenge

At your next committee meeting, ask one question you've been holding back. Just one. You don't need to set the room on fire — just ask the thing you noticed and didn't say. See what happens.

Got a Question for the Kates?

Kate H and Kate M want to hear from you. If you're dealing with a governance situation you're not sure how to handle, or there's a topic you'd love them to cover, use the contact form at thecommitteeroom.com.au. No question is too basic — if you're wondering about it, someone else on a committee somewhere is wondering about it too.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. Her Committee Companion is a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars for committee members. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

Together they offer governance health checks and practical support through Fresh Allsorts.

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:05 — Why did nobody say anything?

01:05 — Introduction to the Kates and this episode on asking questions

02:48 — Why don't people ask questions?

03:06 — Feeling underprepared

03:23 — Not wanting to look stupid

03:38 — Deferring to the "experts"

03:51 — Assuming it's already been checked

04:36 — Silence is a choice

05:00 — Not rocking the boat is not OK

05:32 — Silence is a transfer of responsibility

05:54 — Groupthink

06:35 — What should people be asking?

06:55 — What are the baseline questions?

07:01 — The financial questions

07:40 — The risk questions

08:07 — The strategic questions

08:35 — Confrontational questions?

09:54 — Keeping it real

10:17 — Framing your questions well matters

12:25 — What questions to avoid?

13:04 — Timing

13:38 — The quiet meeting

15:22 — The good chairperson

16:59 — The elephant in the room

19:44 — Recap

20:38 — This week's challenge

21:10 — Your questions!

21:59 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Now that you've got the right people elected and asking the right questions — how do you bring a new committee member in properly? Next episode, the Kates tackle induction: the difference between handing someone a folder and actually setting them up to contribute from day one.

Resources & Links

🎙️  The Committee Room  thecommitteeroom.com.au — episode archive, show notes, downloads and contact form

🍬  Fresh Allsorts  freshallsorts.com.au — Governance Health Checks and practical services from both Kates

Kate Hartwig Consulting  katehartwig.com.au — including the Committee Companion, a practical governance reference for committee members

Liquorice Allsorts Consulting  liquoriceallsorts.com.au — including Just a Tick, Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide

LinkedIn:  Kate Hartwig   |   Kate McPhee

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

The annual general meeting. Four usual suspects nominate each other, a hand shoots up from someone nobody recognises, and seven people are declared elected to enthusiastic silence. Sound familiar? In this episode, Kate and Kate explain why nominations from the floor are one of the worst things you can do for your organisation — and walk through the eight-step election process that actually gets the right people in the room.

Show Notes

A good committee starts with a good election process. Not the hands-up-at-the-AGM approach that most associations still rely on, but a proper process where candidates are informed before they nominate and every member gets a genuine opportunity to vote. It's more work upfront — but the Kates have seen what happens when you skip it, and it's a lot more work to fix. This episode covers everything from the nomination pack to term limits to what to do when a president doesn't want to let go.

In This Episode

• Why nominations from the floor at the AGM feel democratic but aren't — and what to do instead
• The eight steps of a best-practice election process, from nomination pack to announcement on the night
• Why a candidate statement isn't too corporate for volunteers — and what it tells you before anyone's elected
• The returning officer: who they are, what they do, and why they matter
• Staggered terms, term limits, and why one bad AGM can cause organisational amnesia
• Why a clean break when leadership changes is better for everyone — including the outgoing president

Free Downloads

We mentioned two resources in this episode. Download them at thecommitteeroom.com.au:

• Election process checklist
• Candidate statement template

Kate McPhee's book Just a Tick has more on running a great AGM — find it at liquoriceallsorts.com.au.

This Week's Challenge

Have a good look at how your organisation runs its elections right now. Is it a proper process, or is it still the hands-up-at-the-AGM approach? You don't need to change everything overnight — just identify one thing you could improve before your next AGM and do it. The election process checklist in the show notes is a good place to start.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is also the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:00 — How to ruin a perfectly good AGM

01:07 — Introducing the Kates and today's episode on elections

01:52 — Nominations from the floor? Don't do it!

03:32 — Eight steps in an election process — Step 1: Nomination pack

04:07 — Step 2: Call for nominations

04:19 — Step 3: Candidate statements

05:11 — Step 4: Returning officer

05:29 — Step 5: Voting

06:24 — Step 6: Count and verify

06:40 — Step 7: Notify and thank

07:09 — Step 8: Announcement at the AGM

07:38 — Election of office bearers

08:31 — Staggered terms of office

09:35 — Term limits

09:53 — When it's over, it's over

10:38 — Recap

11:17 — This week's challenge

12:09 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Now that you've got the right people elected, how do you make sure the hard questions actually get asked? Next episode, the Kates tackle the power of questions in the committee room — why asking questions isn't a sign of ignorance, why staying quiet is never neutral, and how to build a culture where problems get raised before they become crises.

Got a Question for the Kates?

We'd love to answer it on the show. Submit your question at thecommitteeroom.com.au/ask-us-anything.

Resources & Links

🎙️  The Committee Room  thecommitteeroom.com.au — episode archive, show notes and Ask Us Anything

🍬  Fresh Allsorts  freshallsorts.com.au — Governance Health Checks and practical services from both Kates

Kate Hartwig Consulting  katehartwig.com.au — practical governance support for SA NFPs

Liquorice Allsorts Consulting  liquoriceallsorts.com.au — including Just a Tick, Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide

LinkedIn:  Kate Hartwig   |   Kate McPhee

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

Care. Loyalty. Obedience. Three words that sound a bit like an old-fashioned wedding vow — but it turns out they're the foundation of every committee member's legal duties. In this episode, Kate and Kate unpack what those duties actually mean in practice, what happens when they're ignored, and why the reasonable person test is both the standard you're held to and genuinely your best protection.

Show Notes

From the moment you're elected to a committee, you carry legal responsibilities — whether anyone told you about them or not. Most people join a committee because they care about the organisation. Very few of them have ever had anyone sit them down and explain what they've actually signed up for. This episode does exactly that, in plain English, without the jargon.

In This Episode

• Why the duty of care is about being engaged and diligent — not about being an expert
• Groupthink: how good committees fail not through malice or laziness, but through nobody wanting to be difficult
• Why 'I assumed someone else had checked it' is not a defence
• The duty of loyalty — what it means to put the organisation first, always
• How to handle a conflict of interest properly (and why the appearance of a conflict matters just as much as an actual one)
• The duty of obedience — following the rules, and changing them properly when they don't work
• The reasonable person test: the standard you're held to, and why it's more reassuring than it sounds

Free Download

📥 The Three Duties — Quick Reference Card Care, Loyalty and Obedience — the three legal duties every committee member carries. Print it out and share it with your committee.

Download your free copy

This Week's Challenge

Ask yourself honestly: has your committee genuinely met all three duties? Not to beat yourself up — just to have an honest look. Think about care: are members actually reading the papers and asking questions when something doesn't look right? Think about loyalty: are decisions being publicly supported once they're made? Think about obedience: are you following your constitution and your legal obligations, or quietly working around the bits that are inconvenient?

The committee that asks this question is already ahead of most.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is also the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:05 — Knowing what you're getting into — or not

00:52 — Welcome and intro

01:38 — The three duties of committee members

02:02 — Duty of care

03:04 — The dreaded groupthink

03:31 — Duty of loyalty

03:47 — Conflicts of interest

04:44 — Speaking with one voice

05:13 — Duty of obedience

06:19 — The reasonable person test

07:48 — Recap

08:32 — Free download — three duties summary card

08:45 — This week's challenge

09:03 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Next episode: elections. How to run a process that gets the right people into the committee room, why nominations from the floor at the AGM are a disaster waiting to happen, and what a well-run election looks like from start to finish.

Got a Question for the Kates?

We'd love to answer it on the show. Submit your question at thecommitteeroom.com.au/ask-us-anything.

Resources & Links

• The Committee Companion Essentials — practical governance for committees starting out: katehartwig.com.au/essentials
• Just a Tick — Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide: liquoriceallsorts.com.au/just-a-tick
• Fresh Allsorts — good governance for associations of all sorts: freshallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig Consulting: katehartwig.com.au
• Liquorice Allsorts Consulting: liquoriceallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig on LinkedIn
• Kate McPhee on LinkedIn
• Got a question for the podcast? Ask us here

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

You've been elected to the committee. You're keen. You turn up to the first meeting. And then... nobody really explains what you're supposed to do. In this episode, Kate and Kate unpack what it actually means to be a committee member — the three dimensions of responsibility, why confidentiality matters more than most people realise, and why a job description isn't too corporate for volunteers. It's just common sense.

Show Notes

Being on a committee involves a lot more than turning up and having a vote. There's an organisational dimension, a cultural dimension, and a group dynamics dimension — and understanding all three is the foundation for everything else. This episode also covers the practical tools that make expectations clear from the start: job descriptions for every role (yes, including the general committee member) and a code of conduct that's actually worth having.

In This Episode

• The three dimensions of committee responsibility: organisational, cultural and group dynamics
• Why the 'fish rots from the head' — and what that means for committee culture
• The Vegas rule: what happens in the committee room stays in the committee room
• Why speaking with one voice doesn't mean pretending you agreed
• Job descriptions for volunteers — why they're not too corporate, and what they should cover
• What makes a code of conduct genuinely useful (hint: aspirational words on a laminated poster don't count)

Free Download

📥 Committee Member Role Description Template We mentioned this in the episode — here's a simple template to get your committee started. Adapt it to suit your organisation.

Download your free copy

Kate McPhee's book Just a Tick covers job descriptions in detail — find it at liquoriceallsorts.com.au.

This Week's Challenge

Two things this week. First: does your committee have a written job description for every role, including the general committee member? If the answer is no — or you're not sure — that's your starting point. Links in the show notes.

Second: pull out your code of conduct if you have one (or honestly acknowledge that you don't). When did anyone last actually look at it? Put it on the agenda for your next meeting — not to rewrite it, just to read it out loud together and ask: is this still us? Does it match how we actually operate? You might be surprised by the conversation it starts.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is also the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:00 — Your first committee meeting — how did it go?

00:45 — Introducing the Kates and today's episode

01:27 — What is your job as a committee member? Exactly?

02:05 — The organisational role

02:43 — The cultural role

03:47 — Living your values

03:56 — Group dynamics — common sense and common courtesy

04:37 — Confidentiality

05:04 — Debate inside the committee room — support outside

06:17 — Job descriptions for everyone!

08:33 — Code of conduct

10:35 — How to build your code

10:57 — Summary

11:50 — This week's challenge

12:38 — Wrap-up and next week's episode

Next Episode

Next episode the Kates go deeper into the legal side of committee membership — the three duties of care, loyalty and obedience. Three words that sound like an old-fashioned wedding vow, and turn out to be very serious indeed.

Got a Question for the Kates?

We'd love to answer it on the show. Submit your question at thecommitteeroom.com.au/ask-us-anything.

Resources & Links

• The Committee Companion Essentials — practical governance for committees starting out: katehartwig.com.au/essentials
• Just a Tick — Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide: liquoriceallsorts.com.au/just-a-tick
• Fresh Allsorts — good governance for associations of all sorts: freshallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig Consulting: katehartwig.com.au
• Liquorice Allsorts Consulting: liquoriceallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig on LinkedIn
• Kate McPhee on LinkedIn
• Got a question for the podcast? Ask us here

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

You know that committee where half the people have been there for decades and nobody can work out why the whole thing feels stuck? In this episode, Kate and Kate tackle the question most committees have never really answered: who should actually be in the room, and why does it matter? From committee models to the right size to the kind of diversity that leads to better decisions — this is the episode to share with your whole committee.

Show Notes

Before you can govern well, you need the right people around the table. That sounds obvious — but most committees are structured the way they are because that's what the constitution says or that's how it's always been done. In this episode, the Kates unpack the three committee models, make the case for getting size right, and explain why genuine diversity of perspective isn't a nice-to-have — it's the thing that stops groupthink in its tracks.

In This Episode

• Why most committees are structured the way they are — and why that's not a good enough reason
• The three committee models: representative, skills-based and hybrid — and when each one makes sense
• Why seven to nine is the sweet spot for committee size (and why odd numbers matter)
• How executive committees tend to create more problems than they solve
• What genuine diversity of perspective actually looks like — and why a committee where everyone agrees is a warning sign, not a success

This Week's Challenge

Look around your committee table — literally or in your mind's eye. What mix do you see? What's missing? Is there a skill that's been quietly absent? A perspective that's never been represented? You don't need to solve it today — naming the gap is always the first step to filling it. Have that conversation. It might be more interesting than you expect.

About Your Hosts

Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. katehartwig.com.au

Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is also the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps

00:00 — Setting the scene

00:50 — Introduction to the Kates

01:25 — Great People, Great Committees

01:47 — Getting the right people around the table

02:09 — What does your committee look like?

02:32 — Committee models

04:44 — Committee size

05:42 — Terms of office

06:40 — Diversity — not just a box-ticking exercise

09:12 — Summary

09:40 — This week's challenge

10:11 — Wrap-up and what's coming next week

Next Episode

Now that you know who should be in the room — what are they actually there to do? Next episode, the Kates unpack the three dimensions of committee responsibility, and why understanding your role is the foundation for everything else.

Got a Question for the Kates?

We'd love to answer it on the show. Submit your question at thecommitteeroom.com.au/ask-us-anything.

Resources & Links

• The Committee Companion Essentials — practical governance for committees starting out: katehartwig.com.au/essentials
• Just a Tick — Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide: liquoriceallsorts.com.au/just-a-tick
• Fresh Allsorts — good governance for associations of all sorts: freshallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig Consulting: katehartwig.com.au
• Liquorice Allsorts Consulting: liquoriceallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig on LinkedIn
• Kate McPhee on LinkedIn
• Got a question for the podcast? Ask us here

You don't need good luck if you've got good governance.

The Committee Room  |  thecommitteeroom.com.au

It's 8pm on a Tuesday. The meeting started late, Dave hasn't read the agenda, and three decisions in you already know you'll have to reverse two of them next month. Sound familiar? Welcome to The Committee Room. In this first episode, Kate Hartwig and Kate McPhee — yes, they're both called Kate — cut through the jargon to answer the most fundamental question in governance: what is it, and why does it matter? Spoiler: it's eight words, and everything else is detail.

SHOW NOTES 

If you've ever sat in a committee meeting wondering whether any of this is actually worth it, this episode is for you. In Episode 1, your hosts Kate Hartwig and Kate McPhee introduce themselves, the podcast, and the single most important concept in governance — doing the right things and doing things right. Simple in theory. Here's how to make it work in practice.

In this episode:

• Why governance matters even when everything seems fine
• The difference between strategy and process — and why you need both
• Why every committee member is responsible for the whole organisation, not just their own corner
• Good governance as an insurance policy — and why the premium is worth paying
• What's coming up in The Committee Room over the season ahead

This week's challenge: At your next committee meeting, ask just one question: do we actually understand what good governance really is? You don't need to answer it at the meeting. Just ask it and see what comes up.

About your hosts: Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is also the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards.

This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal advice.

Timestamps: 00:07 - The chaos of a typical community hall committee meeting 01:02 - Introduction of the hosts and their backgrounds in governance consulting 02:38  - Defining governance: the importance of structures, procedures, and stakeholder expectations 03:10 - Simplifying governance: "doing the right things and doing things right" 04:05 - Why does governance matter?04:42 - Governance as an insurance policy   05:25 - The cost of ignoring governance 05:44  - What's coming up in future episodes: committees, meetings, documents, finance, and more 07:21 - The challenge: ask your committee, "Do we understand what good governance is?" 07:51  - Wrap-up and encouragement to subscribe and share

Resources & Links

• The Committee Companion Essentials — practical governance for committees starting out: katehartwig.com.au/essentials
• Just a Tick — Kate McPhee's plain-English governance guide: liquoriceallsorts.com.au/just-a-tick
• Fresh Allsorts — good governance for associations of all sorts: freshallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig Consulting: katehartwig.com.au
• Liquorice Allsorts Consulting: liquoriceallsorts.com.au
• Kate Hartwig on LinkedIn
• Kate McPhee on LinkedIn
• Got a question for the podcast? Ask us here