1. July 25, 2016
By: Allison Reznick
Diverse leadership is critical to any association that intends to
remain successful into the future. Organizations that make a
deliberate effort to bring volunteers with different backgrounds and
perspectives to their committees will reap signi icant long-term
bene its.
Navigating the Transformation to More
Diverse Committees

2. Associations, by definition, support targeted communities, representing and serving specific industries
and professions. But, within those communities, a diverse volunteer base is critical to generate the
insight, perspective, and cultural awareness required for organizations to stay relevant in the 21st
century.
Your organization may have recruitment processes in place to ensure a diverse staff, but does it apply
the same effort to volunteer committees? How do you think about and define diversity in the committee
context? How do you recruit to create a balanced yet diverse group of volunteers?
If you make the effort to diversify your pool of volunteers, the process will provide invaluable benefits for
your organization. Diverse volunteer committees yield
dynamic discussions and a range of opinions
role models for members who can identify with the volunteers
access to an informal focus group whose members can offer perspectives on new programs and
services
a wider network and set of connections to use as a launching point for expanding your
membership
evidence of your organization’s commitment to inclusivity for all members
In one example, the Optical Society experienced many of these benefits after implementing a
recruitment effort to broaden its volunteer pipeline. In strategic planning discussions, OSA determined
that a well­rounded corporate committee would provide the input the society needed to accomplish its
goal of increasing industry participation.
“This focused change in our corporate­committee makeup resulted in a diverse volunteer committee
body that reflected the community that we wanted to serve,” says OSA Chief Industry Relations Officer
Melissa Russell. “The existing corporate committee consisted mostly of seasoned executives based in
the U.S. After the evaluation, goal­setting, and the deliberate recruitment effort, we had a whole new
dynamic at the table—exactly what we were looking for.”
A diverse volunteer base is critical to generate the
insight, perspective, and cultural awareness required
for organizations to stay relevant in the 21st century.“

3. In thinking through what you want to accomplish with well­rounded committees, consider scenarios like
these: If a significant proportion of your members are executives, do you want to mirror that proportion in
your committees, or do you want to target young professionals for some committee seats to build future
engagement and next­generation leaders? If your organization represents an international community
but most committee members are based in one country, should you assign a predetermined number of
committee seats to other nations to increase geographic diversity?
Even in an organization that serves a targeted demographic group, there is still room for diversity. For
example, a women’s medical organization might ensure that committee members represent different
races, locales, or levels of experience. In shaping balanced committees, consider these volunteer
characteristics:
• level of work: leaders who focus on strategy versus doers who implement tasks and projects
• professional experience: early career versus seasoned executive
• demographics: age, gender, and race
• job function: varying job types in the community the association serves
• geographic distribution: U.S. or global representation
It also helps to think about why you want diverse committees: To represent the makeup of your
membership? To attract more members of a particular group to your organization? To bring more
perspectives to the table or to evaluate program ideas?
Documenting your goals and committee criteria in writing will ensure that staff and volunteers are
moving forward together with the same vision and a consistent strategy.
Getting Started
Although every organization will have a different process, here are a few steps to get started.
Obtain internal buy­in. Depending on the scope of the change to the makeup of your committees, you
may need a mini­campaign to secure internal buy­in and to justify the effort. Who is going to advocate
for this change? Staff, department leads, committee chairs?
Get formal approval. If your committee scope or bylaws are affected by the changes, you will need to
consider updates to or votes on these documents. How does the timing of the approval affect your
recruitment plan?
Goal Setting

4. Allison Reznick
Allison Reznick, PMP, is principal at Advanced Interactions, LLC.
Email (mailto:allison@advancedinteractionsllc.com)
Review the nomination process. Be prepared to submit new volunteers’ names for consideration at
the appropriate opportunity. Is there an annual process, or is the cycle ongoing?
Don’t expect to achieve success overnight. If you make this a proactive effort year­round, it will, over
time, seamlessly integrate with your committee recruitment process. Ideally, a cultural shift will also
result, creating a more inclusive, diverse organization.
American Society of Association Executives™ (ASAE), 1575 I St. NW, Washington, DC 20005, P.
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Identify recruitment tactics. Map out your approach for this new recruitment strategy. Because the
candidates you seek to engage may not be in your typical sphere of outreach, you may need to adopt
some new communication and recruitment tactics.
This article is reproduced and used with permission of ASAE
who published it on July 25, 2016, simultaneously online
https://www.asaecenter.org/resources/articles/an_plus/2016/july/
navigating-the-transformation-to-more-diverse-committees
...and in its Associations Now Plus newsletter,
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