It's time to schedule big committee business, and since I'm chairing one, I get to try to set up meeting times.
I started with a master schedule that one of our admin assistants did, Xing out all the times the five committee members are teaching. Then there's the university committee one of us is on, that has to be Xed out, too.
Amazingly, we all had MWFs midday open. So I suggested Wednesday, or Monday, or Friday times.
And the responses trickled in: no, I don't like Mondays. Can't do Friday. Wednesday's out.
So I tried the 8am times. The trick is, none of us teaches at 8am, and that likely means that none of us wants to be in a meeting at 8am. So I also suggested that maybe the Monday midday would work after all.
First response: 8am is bad because of getting kids off to school.
Then the Monday dislike agreed that midday Monday was better than 8am. Voila, schedule figured out!
One of the people who couldn't do one of the times is someone who will likely set the committee time for another committee I'm on. I bet zie will set the time based off an Xing out schedule, and just insist that we do it. (I need to not be petty or passive aggressive about that.)
Our college decided to set permanent meeting times for major committees: thus, if you wish to be on a specific committee, you must plan your teaching schedule around it. That decision has worked well the last few years!
ReplyDeleteOur college and university committees are set up that way, often, but not department committees.
DeleteOoh that would work better wouldn't it... I am afraid that I am sometimes the colleague someone below didn't care for, as I REALLY try to avoid having to work a split shift... (Like if a committee meeting gets scheduled for 8am on a day that I have to work that evening until 10pm) - and because there's as few of us librarians as there are, we're all spread out on the committees, so there's generally one of us on a committee full of teaching faculty, so they don't quite get our schedule issues... (We're t-t but we have to work a regular 37.5 week like staff (even though of course we still end up doing things at home anyway...) so we're kind of odd ducks)
DeleteI do make an effort to make sure that people who teach late don't have 8am stuff, and vice versa, but sometimes it's hard.
DeleteThis is always such a pain. My favorite is "I live far from campus, and I'd rather not come in on X day." Well, you chose where you live. (Grump, Grump.)
ReplyDeleteAll week I've been working on scheduling an important meeting, and I have found a time that works for everyone except the one final committee member who will not respond to my e-mails. Is it possible that ONE person could hold up an entire committee's business? Indeed it is.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! That person will NOT be able to meet then.
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