Recall the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The story’s hero, the tortoise, challenged the confidant hare to a race. The favored hare started the race off quickly, but decided to take a nap along the way. He awoke to see the tortoise cross the finish line. What lesson did Aesop’s tale teach us? Slow and steady wins the race.

Let’s change the subject for a moment and talk about committees.  

I remember my first committee.  I joined the bake sale committee in the 7th grade.  Our goal was to raise money for a charitable cause. The committee had a leader and several members.  The leader wrote a list of tasks on a sheet of paper and asked us to sign up for our desired task. I reviewed the list and signed up for the task of publicizing the sale.  I worked with a few other students who signed up for the same task.  Our idea was to promote the bake sale by creating posters and hanging them throughout the school.  Based on the knowledge of the date of the bake sale and a few guidelines from the school administration, we created our own timeline and specifications.  It did not require meetings, lengthy documentation, signoff, or full consensus.  I am happy to report that the bake sale was a huge success.

Since then, I have served on numerous committees.  Most of my committee experience has been as a paid member of Corporate America.  Thinking back, I can’t recall a better committee than my first.  Instead, I remember long meetings, agendas that no one stuck to and meeting minutes that no one read.  Many committees started with a bang but dissolved quickly and quietly never to be heard from again. Other committees were an obvious attempt to collectively make a decision so blame could be shared.  Once I spent an entire year avoiding real work by attending meetings that produced a lot of talk, but not a fraction of action.  It was this realization that caused me to seek another job with a new company.

Committees are costly. I am currently on a committee to create requirements for the redesign our intranet homepage.  The committee consists of over 10 people.  To date, we have collectively logged over 100 meeting hours.   The number of hours has exceeded the number of words of actionable requirements. 

I’m not the only one who has negative words about committees.  Scott Adams has built a career out of it.  Milton Berle is credited with saying, “a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours”. We have all been victims of Design by Committee and Group think.   If there is anything good to say about committees in Corporate America, it is that it would make Aesop happy. Committees ensure slowness and steadiness.

So I ask you.  Does the concept of slow and steady belong in today’s business environment?   If it does, then I will have to agree that committees are useful.  If it does not, then perhaps we should start thinking like the hare. The movement-loving hare quickly left the starting block in route to his destination. He knew the goal and knew how to reach it.  He had taken the path many times before and if decisions were needed along the way, he would make them then.  He was an independent type who liked having the freedom and flexibility to adjust when adjustment was necessary.

Sure, the hare made a few mistakes along the way, but at least he made it to the finish line.