Herding cats!

Went to the AGM of one of my artists' special interest groups tonight.  This is a well established group,with formal by-laws and a good executive.  But--I don't think any of them have ever heard of parliamentary procedure!  With many of such groups I find the meetings, generally, chaotic.    Tonight, it appeared that the executive had put very little planning into the meeting, and most of the time was given to general discussion on a variety of topics, often all at the same time. This doesn't appear to be only the case with artists, as I've had the same type of experience with other volunteer groups.

 Now, much of my background is in management, where the idea is that you should be able to finish any meeting within an hour. Since retirement, my experience is now within the volunteer sector, and I don't know if people have more time, but the meetings are much less of an information exchange and more of a discussion/decision-making event.  This is an entirely different approach, and needs to be experienced to be understood.  It's tremendously frustrating unless you are used to it, but--things actually get done.  A much slower process, but more of a collaborative process, which means a better 'buy-in" from the participants.

Thank Goodness I've been getting a little experience with saying "no" lately, so was able to escape involvement when I was nominated to the Board. I am determied to protect my "sabbatical", but the pressures are certainly all around me.