Robert's Rules in Real Life

After a dozen years in this business, it seems to me that questions of authority are some of the hardest to resolve.

Over and over I find city councils, boards of directors, and other governing boards struggling with the question, “Who’s in charge here, anyway?” If a group understands certain fundamental principles, it becomes much easier to resolve those tensions and move forward effectively.

During a recent consultation, this sentence from a set of “council rules and procedures” made my hair stand on end:

“All persons present at a meeting must obey the mayor’s orders.”

This rule is profoundly wrong. It may look legitimate, but it isn’t. The mayor, when running a meeting of the city council, is the presiding officer, not a dictator. The presiding officer runs the meeting as the servant of the members. The correct rule is similar to the one cited above, but has a subtle and essential difference:

“All persons present at a meeting must obey the legitimate orders of the presiding officer.”

The legitimate orders of the presiding officer are those issued in accordance with the rules and procedures adopted by the group, to serve the group. And according to Robert’s Rules of Order and common parliamentary law, those orders are subject to appeal by any two members of the group. For example, if the presiding officer declares that someone is speaking off topic and must stop forthwith, the member can say “I appeal.” If another member says “second,” then the group itself will vote to decide whether the member may continue.

Why don’t people know this? Why do councilmembers, county commissioners, directors of special districts and nonprofit board members allow the mayor, the chair or the president to ride roughshod over the group, acting as if he or she were the final authority?

We have lost the common understanding of meeting procedure that grew up in this country when America was alive with associations, astonishing the Frenchman de Tocqueville and English authors who toured the continent. We are used to the image of the “captain of industry,” the hard-charging boss who carries everyone in her wake. We want to be nice and “get along,” and it may seem safer to keep our heads down, letting a bully or an autocrat rule the roost without a challenge.

Members of our community, unite! Elected officials, citizens appointed to commissions and committees, long-suffering volunteers, seize your rights! Repeat after me, THE GROUP IS THE FINAL AUTHORITY. Yes, we have to obey the mayor when the mayor is enforcing the rules we chose, but when the mayor goes off-course or runs amok, he or she must obey US.

Ann G. Macfarlane, PRP

(c) Jurassic Parliament 2012. All rights reserved.

What do mayors, trapeze artists and board chairs have in common? An article in the Seattle Times about the aerial troupe Cabiri, rehearsing for their Halloween show, suggests the answer.

Personally I’ve never been tempted to try out a trapeze, but a feature about Cabiri caught my eye the other day. This is a troupe of dancers, athletes and gymnasts who bring myths from around the world to life. They practice in the Georgetown area of Seattle, and rehearsals are videotaped. Not only are the sessions videotaped, all the members of the troupe review the tapes and offer tips on what works, and what needs more practice.

Like these folks, mayors and board chairs are, in one sense, performers. They engage in activities in front of others which require the use of the whole person, and in which mistakes are inevitable. Unfortunately in the world of meetings, we don’t have the friendly custom of reviewing tapes of performances and offering “constructive criticism.” I suppose it’s because meetings are so ubiquitous that they seem easy. But they’re not.

Anybody who gets elected mayor of a city or chair of a board is going to make mistakes while running the meetings, unless she has had a most unusual background of training and experience. So why not ease up on ourselves, and accept that mistakes are inevitable? Getting feedback from councilmembers, board directors and meeting attendees might be a good way to improve fast.

It is certainly true for me that I’ve learned the most about good meeting process when I messed up. People who are willing to set aside what T.S. Eliot called “the endless struggle to think well of ourselves” and analyze their mistakes can make marked improvement. Hmmm, maybe that trapeze isn’t so alarming after all…

Ann G. Macfarlane, PRP

© Jurassic Parliament 2011. All rights reserved.

“The council shall determine its own rules and order of business, and may establish rules for the conduct of council meetings and the maintenance of order.” RCW 35A.12.120

Some councils have adopted, by resolution or ordinance, a set of guidelines for this purpose, and others have not. Many of these guidelines include reference to Robert’s Rules of Order, using such language as “meetings shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order and these council rules of procedure. In case of a conflict, the council rules of procedure shall prevail.”

Recently it was suggested to Jurassic Parliament that Robert’s Rules of Order is too complicated for small cities and towns, and they would do better not to adopt it. We agree that the book is complicated, but we believe that Robert’s Rules still provides the best and most useful set of rules of order for civic bodies in our state – provided that folks are willing to do a little work and learn how to use Robert’s Rules properly. Our argument runs like this:

(1)   The fundamental principles in Robert are common to all our civic discourse and are not hard to learn. Everyone participating in council debate and discussion should understand that the majority will rule, that the minority have rights that must be respected, that members have a right to information to help make decisions, that courtesy and respect are required, that all members have equal rights, privileges and obligations, and that members have a right to an efficient meeting.

(2)   The use of written motions and amendments provides an efficient and fair way to consider proposals and modify them in accord with the group’s preferences. The method is a little unusual, in that amendments are taken up before the motion is voted on, but once groups get used to it, the system works well.

(3)   Robert’s rule that no one may speak a second time until everyone who wishes to do so has spoken once is vital to equalizing power imbalances and giving everyone a fair shake in discussion. We believe that it should be observed by all groups, whether or not they have formally adopted Robert.

(4)   Robert provides “special rules for small boards” that can be useful for smaller councils, should they choose to apply them.

(5)   Robert also allows groups to develop and apply their own “special rules of order,” so if a body wishes to change something in Robert, it is perfectly free to do so.

(6)   In sticky situations, “do-it-yourself” rulemaking can lead to ad hoc invention of rules, likely supplied by the chair on his own authority. A chair who makes up rules or improvises on the basis of vague memories from student government days is a sure path to problems, especially if the rule-maker has an air of authority about him (or her).

(7)   While councils often rely on their attorney for advice in this arena, in our experience few attorneys have had serious training in parliamentary procedure and few correct the common and widespread misunderstandings about Robert’s Rules.

(8)   A body cannot do its work without some guidelines. Failing to adopt Robert doesn’t mean that there are no guidelines – but without a specific “parliamentary authority,” in times of conflict a group will be driven back to rely on “common parliamentary law.” Finding out what “common parliamentary law” requires and how it applies to a given situation is likely to be complicated and expensive, requiring time and attention from legal counsel and qualified parliamentary consultants. Far better to have set the terms of discourse in advance, so that everyone knows and agrees to the way they will consider matters.

We believe that adopting a set of common-sense guidelines based on Robert’s Rules, incorporating Robert by reference for the more unusual or complicated situations that may arise, and then committing to the education necessary to get everyone on the same page, will pay big dividends for every council willing to make the effort.

That education can be quite affordable. Every city budget ought to be able to provide a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief to each council member. This little book is a splendid summary of the rules applicable to all but the most exceptional situations. At $7.00 it’s an amazing buy, and you can read it in an evening.

Ann G. Macfarlane, PRP

(c) Jurassic Parliament 2011. All rights reserved.

One of the neat features of WordPress, which hosts this blog, is the ability to see what readers have searched for. Recently someone searched for “first reading Robert’s Rules.” My visceral reaction was “be careful!”

At Jurassic Parliament, we believe that it is unfortunate that the authors and owners of Robert’s Rules have allowed the authoritative book, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 10th edition, to become so large and intimidating. A reader who is new to the book is likely to feel overwhelmed on picking up its 800+ pages. Though the cover is gold and beautiful, the text is dense and hard to navigate.

And yet, we also believe that the heart of the book, its core, is vital for good group decision-making. The principles enshrined in Robert’s Rules are essential to a democracy and can help any group make better, fairer decisions.

We encourage readers to start with Robert’s Rules Newly Revised In Brief. This modest paperback, about 200 pages long, can be read easily. It offers a clear introduction to the full Robert’s Rules, and includes useful supplementary material.

One word of caution, though – IN BRIEF cannot be adopted as a “rule of order” for meetings. It is a signpost to the big book, not an independent authority.

We also encourage readers to check out some of the free downloads and other papers offered on our website and online store. Jurassic Parliament strives to provide comprehensible, reader-friendly and useful materials that will guide the user through the golden tome of the current edition, and on into meetings that function fairly and well.

Ann G. Macfarlane, PRP

(c) Jurassic Parliament 2011. All rights reserved.