Member-only story
The Rules of the TDG
Throwing Robert’s Rules under the bus
I entered the back rooms of politics in 1986. This was my reward for helping with the previous election. A few inside people thought this young man was someone worthy to bring to the inside. I believed I was going to become a person of influence.
I had some exposure of Robert’s Rules of Order. So I kind of understood what was happening in these political meetings. But sometimes things were a little fuzzy.
I had political ambitions in those days. But my public speaking was “wooden.” To improve my political future, I joined Toastmasters (TM) in 1988. Coupled with TM’s public speaking training is training for Robert’s Rules of Order. Being in politics, I could see the relevance of this skill. So I took some additional TM training and read some books. With maybe 20 hours of study, I was able to see the purpose for all these seemingly rigid rules. The rules were a great balance to provide fairness, discussion, and a decision. The rules did not seem so rigid to me anymore.
When I returned to the political backrooms with this training, I was more influential in shaping the direction of my constituency association.
After politics and after Toastmasters, I served on a few community boards. Ostensibly, these boards were governed by Robert’s Rules of…
