Who reports to whom.
The REALTOR® organization is not member-run. It is member-governed. The misnomer is that the association's president (chair) or the CEO makes all of the decisions. However, that is inaccurate. Not one person unilaterally runs a member-governed association in the REALTOR® organization. The president or chair doesn’t have the authority to do what they want on any whim without the support of the body (the board of directors). Nor can the CEO run things outside the framework approved by the board of directors (budget, strategic plan, governing docs) before the year ahead.
So, if not one single person is “in charge,” then who makes the decisions around here?
This is a question I get asked often when conducting leadership and governance training for local boards. The answer is “the body” makes the decision. In our case, the board of directors makes the decisions for the organization. Most REALTOR® association bylaws state that the “property, affairs, activities, and concerns of the Association shall be vested in a Board of Directors” - at least, that is what our bylaws say in Oklahoma.
Therefore, if you are an AE in this organization, you serve at the pleasure of the board of directors (the body) and not at the pleasure of the president (or anyone individual) in particular.
If you are the president, you also serve at the pleasure of the body (board of directors) and not that of the AE or any one individual member.
While working on presenting this for governance training sessions, I worked up this graphic that may help visualize the org chart. Keep in mind that the board of directors is the governing body. From there, the authority is divided into to two parts or columns; the committees and the staff.
The association is co-piloted by a volunteer president (who is elected by the membership with a one-year term that runs January 1 thru December 31) and the association executive (CEO) of the organization, who is hired by the board of directors. The president and the association executive work in tandem for the organization within the framework set forth by the board of directors. The president governs the members, and the AE/CEO manages the staff and operations.
It is essential to know each body's role to understand this a little bit further.
I will break it down here (briefly) according to OAR’s specific bylaws. Again, most REALTOR® organizations run similarly, so reference your bylaws. If you want further details on each person's role in the organization, I cover this in my cliché leadership presentation under cliché #2, “the right hand should always know what the left hand is doing.” Click on this graphic below to access the presentation and navigate to cliché #2.
The full membership of the organization does two things:
They elect the officers of the board at their annual meeting.
They approved bylaws changes.
The board of directors does six things:
They set the amounts of the annual dues.
They oversee the finances of the association.
They approved the legislative priorities and the strategic direction of the organization.
They ratify the slate of officers for election by the membership.
They propose bylaws changes to the membership to be approved at their annual meeting.
They hire/fire the association executive/CEO.
And the chief staff executive of the organization manages the operations and the staff.
Through all of this, the president (by way of the leadership team, executive committee, and board of directors) should stay in communication with the association executive. And vice versa. General communications (emails, conversations, status updates) should include both parties working in tandem on a two-way street. That is the way to keep members informed and ensure that the right hand really does know what the left hand is doing.
Final thought:
Are you sure it’s “whom” and not “who” in the org chart graphic above?
Yes. I am 99% sure it is “whom” and not “who.” I mean, I checked around, and the Google along with a few fellow grammar nerds told me it was correct. Even though I argued with them about it at first.
My fellow “Friends” show watchers will understand that I had to pull out my inner-Monica. Ha!
