Many organisations which have a committee of management will often have subcommittees.  They will operate by delegation from the main committee of management.  The committee of management oversees all aspects of the organisation but a subcommittee is created so it can focus on a specific area.

A subcommittee may be established on an ongoing basis or may only be in existence for a short period of time.  Either way it is still important to have terms of reference and to be very clear about the role it will perform, who can be on the subcommittee and the time frame they have for their existence.  While sub committees are often made up from members of the committee of management, it is not unusual to be able to appoint external experts who can provide relevant advice and assistance.

In addition, the terms of reference need to make it clear how decisions are going to be made. Often minor decisions can be made by the subcommittee but any major decisions need to be approved and ratified by the committee of management. 

An example of an ongoing subcommittee could be a Finance Subcommittee that, for example, may review the financial performance, budgets, audit issues, purchasing, grant submission and acquittals.  Often this subcommittee will approve the accounts and financial reports for the relevant period of time and then recommend to the committee of management that they be approved and endorsed with a formal motion. Robin Hood might have arranged an ongoing subcommittee to monitor the movements of the Sherriff of Nottingham so the Merry Men knew when it was safe to go robbing those rich people.

An example of subcommittee that may be established for a short period of time may be for the recruitment and appointment of a new CEO, management of a building project or maybe for a specific fundraising activity.  For Robin Hood it might have been for the appointment of minstrels to create his next song.

Most committee of managements are made up of volunteers and that leads to another important benefit of the sub committees – it helps to spread the workload across all members of the organisation, not just the committee of management.

If your committee is struggling to get everything done, perhaps you should think about creating subcommittees to specialise in various areas.  It’s a great way to get a lot of work done quickly and well.