Common responsibilities

A committee is a group of three people who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the work of the team is carried out in the manner expected by the Trustees, coherent with the values of Student Robotics. Each committee is accountable to the Trustees.

A committee will focus on management of time, resources and volunteers within the team. It will ensure the team has an appropriate balance of relevant skills and will provide support and guidance to team members to allow them to be as effective as possible in delivering the work of the team.

All committees have the following responsibilities:

• Organising and running team meetings

• Maintaining a log of decisions made

• Managing the work of the team

• Inter-team communications

• Reporting on progress to the Trustees

• Preparing and managing a budget for team expenditure

• Managing relationships within the team

• Ensuring projects are run in line with the values of SR

• Documenting processes/tools

• Managing and tracking assets

• Supporting the recruitment and induction of volunteers

• Raising any concerns with the Trustees

• Ensuring a clean handover to a new committee

Organising and running team meetings

Each team should have regular meetings and the date and time of upcoming meetings must be added to the organisation calendar.

Maintaining a log of decisions made

All important decisions made by the committee must be logged in a shared spreadsheet (stored in the organisation shared drive), listing the following details:

• Date

• Decision

• Reasoning

• Who was present

• Proportion of vote

Managing the work of the team

Committees should should maintain a record of team members and work to understand the contribution that each member can make to the work of the team, taking into account the individual's experience, abilities and desired workload. They should make sure that work is allocated fairly and check that volunteers are not overloaded and can cope with their allocated tasks. Teams can be divided into smaller self-organising subgroups if this works for the team, but the committee must maintain overall responsibility.

Inter-team communications

Committees are responsible for ensuring they communicate adequately with the other teams. Many teams will be reliant on the other teams for information to allow them to work effectively. Any break down in communications must be reported to the trustees.

Reporting on progress to the trustees

Committees should ensure that their team is appropriately represented at the monthly meeting with the Trustees and provide an update on the work of the team (in the document that is surfaced ahead of the meeting).

Preparing and managing a budget for team expenditure

Committees are responsible for drawing up a budget for the following year within the overall framework provided by the Trustees. The budget must be submitted to the Trustees for approval when requested. Committees must also follow the requirements defined in the Money Matters section to play their part in the sound financial management of the organisation.

Managing relationships within the team

Committees should work hard to build relationships and try to tackle any issues that may arise within the team. If any intractable issues arise, these must be reported to the trustees at the earliest opportunity.

Ensuring projects are run in line with the values of SR

The mission statement articulates the values of SR and all projects, whatever size, must be be consistent with these values.

Documenting processes/tools

Committees must ensure that their team maintains documentation on what it does and how it operates. This documentation must be available to all volunteers and must be held in a form that is accessible and easy to understand.

Managing and tracking assets

SR is a small charity and our assets are of great value to the organisation. These assets include physical assets (e.g: kits) and digital ones (e.g: trademark, social media accounts, software licenses). Committees should make their best efforts to take care of their assets and to know the whereabouts of the assets that belong to, or are managed by, their team.

Supporting the recruitment and induction of volunteers

All teams should take an active role in supporting the search for new volunteers and helping with their induction. Committees should make sure that volunteers who express and interest in joining their teams are made welcome and understand how to get involved with the work of the team.

Raising any concerns with the Trustees

Committees are responsible for ensuring that any concerns raised within their team, or any issues observed within the wider organisation, are reported to the Trustees.

Ensuring a clean handover to a new committee

Committees are responsible for ensuring a clean handover to a new committee at the end of their term of office.