INTRODUCTION / The Power of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised

Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) can change the world for the better. This essay illustrates how.

 INTRODUCTION: TED WEISGAL

“I hate Robert’s Rules of Order!”

That was the parting shot from my boss as she returned the FM radio I lent her. My hearing had just ended. She fired me from my position at the University of Houston (UH) as a Campus Activities Advisor, a job I’d held from 1973 to 1978.

I knew people hated Robert’s Rules, but in my 15 years of exposure to and use of parliamentary procedure, this was the most overt statement I’d ever heard.

Given my activist family background, it was natural that I got involved in campus organizations during my college years. I co-founded the Student’s Civil Rights Organization, and was elected president of my dorm. As a VISTA Volunteer, I worked with a junior high PTO, and served on the Student Faculty Staff Academic Senate (SFSAS) at San Jose State University. Throughout these years, training in Robert’s Rules of Order was never provided.

When I served on the Inter Club Council as a college freshman, I was incorrectly told that abstentions go to the majority. Today, I know better: Abstentions go nowhere.

This same lack of training continues to this day. The effect of this is truly calamitous. This essay cites many examples.

After the last meeting of the SFSAS, I remember asking the outgoing president why faculty members were so restrained. 

“Why was I the most outspoken member?”

His response floored me: “There is a pecking order at this university, and we are not unique. Professors want to become department chairs, department chairs want to become deans, deans want to become vice presidents, and vice presidents want to become presidents. They factor that into everything they say or don’t say.”

I wonder if training in Robert’s Rules would have made a difference, and exposure to these skills would have enabled them to communicate diplomatically. To this day I fear that this lack of participation plays a significant role in the inflexible aspects of many areas of American education.

Last year, I had a chance to speak with a chair at Rice University, who serves on a prestigious council that advises federal agencies. In response to my question, do you use Robert’s Rules, she said “yes.” To my next question, “where did you learn it?” she replied, “through trial and error.”  Her honest answer confirmed what I already knew. Thankfully, this is not how doctors learn surgery.

Recently UH made front page news. The Houston Chronicle reported that the body that approved my hiring in 1973, the Student Government Association, had been suspended by the university administration. RONR is in the thick of it.

According to the article, “a tumultuous year has led to the group’s dissolution. Outside consultants are working to reconfigure the SGA. UH students will be involved in the process but some worry that the revamped organization will weaken their influence and serve administrators’ interests more than their own.”

Long before the debacle involving UH bylaws that I describe later, I tried to educate people on the value of RONR and how, in the short term, it could help reduce the chances of situations like this one and advance knowledge of the democratic process.

_______________________________________________________________

Throughout the world today, there are an abundance of diplomatic failures and a pandemic of violence that has been equated to World War III. Every day, lives are lost in war, while people on all levels don’t know how to talk with each other to reach solutions.

In highlighting RONR, this essay attempts to raise awareness and address the void in education.

Committees and their unique rules are key to successful organizations. The rules for small boards and committees are critical. These rules were originally treated the same as the rules for large assemblies. However, recognizing this error in 1915, Robert revised his document. It should have created a sea change in how small boards and committees operate. Unfortunately, most people never learned these rules. They still don’t!

The following captures a conversation I had with a career educator regarding RONR. It illustrates the aforementioned knowledge gap.

She began:

“I’ve done it all. I’ve been a teacher, an assistant superintendent, taught math, English, elementary school, and middle school. At one time, I was a member of the National Pickleball Association Board of Directors, but I quit. The leaders played fast and loose with meeting rules.”

I told her about rules I’d recently discovered for small boards and committees:

“In committees, motions do not require a second, and motions to close debate are generally not allowed.”

She responded:

“They’re always coming up with new rules.”

“No, no, no,” I said. “These rules have been around since 1915.”

She was dumbfounded, but the change by Robert made sense. These 1915 rules are essential when it comes to the proper functioning of small boards and committees. Thus, this essay.

___________________________________________________________________________________

THE POWER OF RONR

Before being introduced to Robert’s Rules, in 1990, the Planning Committee for Ryan White received $1 million in federal funds to combat HIV/AIDS. However, due to a lack of knowledge of RONR and internal dysfunction, the Harris County organization almost lost future funding.

As an educator in RONR, I was invited to conduct a 3-hour workshop to address their problems. After receiving this knowledge which helped bring order to their meetings, the committee not only saved their funding, but has since increased it to $25 million.

Their success story indicates the power of RONR.

When I began writing this, my target was to bring attention to the rules on pages 464-465 of the current (12th) edition of RONR that apply to small boards and committees. Along the way I discovered numerous tangential issues.

I believe if the seven rules targeting small boards and committees are implemented and advance protracted debate. By spending more time training generations of future diplomats, we can create a larger pool who can produce win-win situations. It is my hypothesis that this can save the world trillions of dollars and reduce the chances of war. This--not factoring the excitement it will engender--is the potential benefit of adding RONR to school curricula for all students at every grade level. 

Initially, this is what I have in mind:

Advancing the learning process by emphasizing these lesser-known rules of debate that are applicable to small boards and committees.

During this essay, I address: 

  • The history of this subject and why it is important.
  • How becoming familiar with these rules will improve meetings and, in so doing, reduce loneliness and isolation, which the Surgeon General of the United States has recognized as a pandemic equal to the effect of smoking “15 cigarettes a day.”

According to an AI analysis of the Surgeon General report, “RONR is a system of parliamentary procedure used to conduct meetings and debates in a structured and democratic manner” and “structured meetings can facilitate communication and connection.” Clearly, RONR facilitates “communication and connection in meetings,” but even more so in small board and committee meetings. This essay conveys that in multiple ways.

  • Bylaws, their vital role: Behind the current dispute at the University of Houston, a major contributing factor is the failure to recognize the power and limitations contained in bylaws.
  • How to establish meeting schedules—Some organizations place this information in their bylaws that, by design, are difficult to amend. Such organizations are oblivious to the flexibility of Special Rules. This essay brings both documents into focus.
  • The importance of committees—This was the catalyst for this essay.
  • Why selecting a Parliamentary Authority is vital:

Compared with RONR, now in its 12th edition, it would be a huge mistake to attempt to create your own parliamentary authority to address problems that may arise. RONR provides a process for creating your own exceptions to the rules, using RONR as your fallback for everything else.

On the other hand, not having RONR is like driving a car without a seatbelt. Too many organizations do just that.

“Of the 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S., thousands fail each year, and according to Forbes, 50 percent hit the wall in the first 12 months.” According to AI, “The key to success lies in having clearly defined procedures and a willingness to engage in open and respectful debate.”  Training in RONR is essential.

  • Standing Rules—Most organizations make the mistake of not creating them. They don’t even know they are an option. Now, you have no excuse.
  • Special Rules—Ditto.
  • Agendas—Like much of what’s in RONR, the thinking is done for you if you adopt RONR as your parliamentary authority. This is one more illustration of why you should.
  • A Starting Point—Learn how to use this tool throughout the K-12 experience for its intrinsic value as well as to advance critical thinking. This is an egalitarian approach.

I finish where most people start--and most go no further—with the 98 motions for formal meetings. These motions serve people better once they are aware of the preceding foundation.

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