Roles Of Liaisons And Assistance from Headquarters

Every NCTE committee has an Executive Committee liaison officer and a headquarters staff liaison officer.  The Executive Committee liaison's task is to report periodically to the Executive Committee on the work of the group and its needs and, in turn, to relay to the group the wishes, opinions, and advice of the Executive Committee.  The Executive Committee liaison also monitors the progress of the group, reviewing its work once or twice annually.  The staff liaison is at times a facilitator, at times an advisor, for the committee.  Questions of substance--what a group should be doing, how it should be doing it, or how well it is doing it--should be directed primarily to the Executive Committee liaison, with copies to the staff liaison.  Conversely, questions about headquarters operations and more mechanical matters, such as member appointments, meeting times, etc., should be directed to the staff liaison, with copies to the Executive Committee liaison.  
 
On sensitive matters, the staff liaison will confer with the Executive Committee liaison and/or with the Associate Executive Director or the Executive Director before responding.  In other cases, one of the liaisons will list possible approaches to solving a problem, suggest interpretations of committee roles, etc., inviting the chair to refine and develop the ideas.
 
The primary services of liaison officers to the committees are advising and clarifying.   In contrast, actual committee functions should be carried out by the leader or a designee from the group.  Some examples:  reminding committee members about deadlines or forthcoming meetings and events; finding, copying, and distributing articles or fugitive materials; giving critiques of manuscripts; coordinating intra-committee selection processes; and settling disagreements within a committee (as opposed to interpreting policy to the committee).  The liaison officers' other responsibilities preclude such extended aid, but again, chairs are encouraged to seek guidance and counsel from the liaison officers on these and other matters.
 
Sending copies of correspondence to the other members of your group, to the Executive Committee liaison, and to the staff liaison is a necessary and effective practice.  Because NCTE groups work primarily by correspondence (including fax and e-mail), activities can languish for months when those involved are not kept informed.  Chairs should therefore include both liaison officers in all general communications--announcements, minutes, progress reports, and the like.
 
A designated Associate Executive Director carries out general coordination for all committees, The duties of this role include informing groups of policies and procedures pertinent to their work; sending out announcements and requests applicable to all groups; monitoring the directions that groups pursue with regard to their charges; keeping chairs informed of other related Council activities; conferring with chairs, and liaisons on sensitive or difficult problems; brainstorming and mediating on an ad hoc basis in letters to chairs/directors about a group's directions and functions; coordinating the staff liaisons' activities; and, of course, anything else that demands attention.  The secretary to the designated Associate Executive Director is also a source of general information when leaders have queries about committees.