Blogalogue of Random Writings

Getting rid of nuisance members

When you are a member of a club or organisation, there will sometimes be a member who creates havoc for the club and drives members away. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that your club can survive and if the executive is strong enough, remove the nuisance member from the organisation.

Firstly the executive must ensure that the rules of the organisation are strictly adhered to. If there is a nuisance member, the rules of the club must be strictly enforced. It can be difficult to justify cancelling a person's membership for breaches that have been routinely overlooked by other members. Most importantly, the committee must have a good knowledge of the constitution and by-laws. It's hard to enforce the rules, when you don’t know what they are.

Often the nuisance member does not break any of the rules, but just agitates and makes members feel uncomfortable. This may make it hard to rid the organisation of the member. Hard, but not impossible.

One strategy is to make sure that all new members get voted into the organisation. If this is not being done, then propose that the new rule be implemented. Then you must move a vote to accept each existing member.

Once this procedure has been set in place, you can then move that the vote accepting the nuisance member be rescinded. Technically, the member is not ejected or expelled, but their acceptance is no longer valid. This can allow a club to expel a member even if the rules do not give that option.

Remember that you should check your constitution to see if this strategy does not break any of the existing rules. For a complete guide to how to run meetings properly, contact your nearest Toastmasters Club, or head to your local library for the book "A guide for meetings and organisations" by N.E. Renton.

posted by Kevin Paine @ 8:45 pm