Individual-Level Impact
- A volunteer member leader consistently undermines or dismisses another’s contributions, leading to disengagement or withdrawal from responsibilities.
- A member or volunteer member leader feels harassed or bullied by another, and attempts at informal resolution have failed.
- A conflict results in missed deadlines or incomplete deliverables due to breakdowns in communication or collaboration.
Location-Level Impact
- A board is divided over a leadership decision, resulting in stalled programming, budget delays, or attrition among volunteer member leaders.
- Multiple volunteer member leaders resign or disengage due to unresolved interpersonal tensions within a local team.
- A location’s reputation suffers due to public airing of internal disputes or complaints.
Organization-Wide Impact
- A conflict escalates to involve multiple-level committees, creating confusion about roles, responsibilities, or decision-making authority.
- Disputes between senior volunteer member leaders result in contradictory messaging or policy enforcement across HBA.
- A situation risks legal exposure or reputational harm to the HBA due to discriminatory behavior, ethical violations, or public conflict.
Mediation will be managed by the geographical operating board affiliated with the location where the conflict occurs, along with an HBA Central Staff member. If there is no such geographical operating board, the HBA Central staff will bring in a senior volunteer member leader to mediate.
This plan supports HBA volunteer board leaders in resolving conflicts involving their volunteers, members, and board, facilitating resolution before the conflict escalates to more significant measures, such as calling for the resignation or removal of a board member.
This is an essential step in the process, and recommendations will be considered as helpful advice to assist leaders experiencing conflict. While not binding, there is a strong recommendation from the HBA that the guidance be followed.
First Step in Utilizing Mediation Support: Upon reaching an impasse that warrants a more concerted conflict resolution effort, volunteer member leaders of the board in question should notify the Operating Board Executive Committee and/or HBA Central Staff via email that they are seeking assistance and support. This written notice should include a brief description of the main issues and the efforts already taken to resolve the situation.
The Operating Board Executive Committee, along with the HBA Central Staff, will review the notice and provide relevant information to the volunteer group/board on association procedures and best practices that may be useful.
Note: Staff’s role is to facilitate resolution, not to approve or authorize any specific course of action.
Mediation Process: If the Operating Board Executive Committee’s help is warranted, the following process has been designed to support the timely resolution of the conflict. Adjustments to this process will be made to best meet the needs of the situation.
- Volunteer leaders experiencing the conflict submit relevant documentation to explain their situation to the operating board executive committee and/or HBA Central Staff (in general, this should not exceed a few pages).
- A member (or members) of the Operating Board Executive Committee will speak with each volunteer member leader involved in the conflict individually to understand the situation and the parties’ preferred solution.
- The mediation team will facilitate a joint session with all parties to develop a shared understanding of the issues so the parties can identify and ideally agree to solutions and next steps.
- Steps 2 and 3 may be repeated as deemed necessary by the mediation team based on the severity of the conflict and the willingness of the volunteer leaders experiencing the conflict to stay in the mediation process.
- The mediation team issues a written recommendation, shared with all parties, on how to proceed.
As the purpose of this process is to help facilitate conflict resolution, the proceedings and the recommendations are confidential to those involved, except for the Operating Board Executive Committee and the HBA staff member involved. In instances where there may be legal implications, the HBA executive committee and possibly the board of directors may need to be notified.
The mediation process ends with the team's recommendation. At that point, the volunteer leaders experiencing the conflict are strongly encouraged to follow the recommendations of the mediation team and work to implement a resolution to their conflict. The parties may decide, however, to progress to the existing procedures (found in Appendix I) to formally remove the volunteer board member(s).
The role of the Mediation team is to provide facilitation, advice, and support to parties in conflict, with the ultimate goal of helping the parties themselves resolve their own conflict. In providing service to the parties in conflict, the committee may request information from the parties, share relevant information with the parties, facilitate conversations, give feedback, and make recommendations. The committee is not responsible for resolving the conflict, but rather provides a written recommendation for resolution. The parties agree to go through the mediation process until the committee deems that the issue is resolved or the parties decide to progress to the formal removal of the board member(s) as per the HBA removal policies.
Mediation committee members must notify the HBA Central Staff liaison immediately if they have any existing relationships or interests with the parties in a particular conflict that would interfere with their neutrality, so they can be excused from that particular process. In this case, a third committee member will be appointed by the HBA COO.
In cases of board member conflict, the first step is for the board/parties to attempt to resolve the issue directly, including engaging the association’s Mediation process as appropriate.
If mediation efforts fail, and the volunteer or board member in question does not wish to resign from the board, and the board remains resolved to remove the volunteer or board member, then the board will call a special meeting to address the issue, per the bylaws (global board).
Prior to calling the meeting, those who intend to call the meeting should consult the HBA Central Staff to advise them on their course of action and to ensure they are in compliance with all local, state, and federal statutes.
The board president, the executive committee, or 25% of the board members may call for a special meeting and must provide at least five (5) days’ written notice or two (2) days’ personal notice to all board members as to the purpose of the meeting, per the bylaws.
The director in question must be given the opportunity to address the board prior to a vote being called, with a time limit specified to the director in advance of the meeting to allow them to prepare comments. After the director in question has given their comments, they should be asked to leave the meeting.
After establishing a quorum and stating the purpose of the meeting, the discussion and voting on the issue should be done in executive session.