So much for the community 'apathy' that we were told about at the previous meeting!
Just a little stirring of the community pot and we find plenty of applicants ready to step up to the plate and make their mark. That's the Lonehill community that I believe in.
I just cannot understand why the typical, silly, bureaucratic mentality keeps creeping in to managing our community... such as, to put limitations onto the number of people who want to contribute on the board. Flatten the hierarchies and get with today's world of recognising the quality and input of independent people.
Who says there should only be 10 director's? Who made that silly, arbitrary suggestion/decision? Especially when 15 or so concerned community members have the COURAGE to stand up in front of a crowd to openly commit to making a difference in Lonehill. Every one of them should be applauded for standing up and actively encouraged to get onto the board and make things happen.
I hear tell that someone said that it was because there wasn't a meeting room large enough to accomodate so many people. I sincerely hope that comment was not true, because if it is I will ask... why is 'common sense' so uncommon?
Being that I may well not be considered the brightest kid on the block for expressing my simple views, I offer an insight into the simplicity of information that I can understand. To each of the 'new' LRA board of directors, I seriously recommend that each reads a copy of Leadership for DUMMIES - by Marshall Loeb and Stephen Kindell to produce the kind of leadership and results that Lonehill is really looking for.
I'm very much a 'cause & effect' kinda guy, and when one sees the debacle that unfolded in Lonehill's community affairs in the past +-60 odd days (arising from the July AGM deacle), it's not difficult to trace back how this became the pressure valve release for a 2005/2006 season that left this writer, and many others, totally 'underwhelmed, unimpressed and unhappy' at the poor level of service delivery that we experienced. The signs were so simple to see.
So what in this writer's opinion can be pointed to as reasons for our recent debacle... especially for the 'new' leadership to take note of and rectify:
1. Rotten ATTITUDE towards customers and stakeholders. When leadership gives the impression that it thinks its own community is 'apathetic', 'unfairly critical', or 'uncooperative' they tend to become dismissively arrogant towards any criticism and develop a 'them & us' antagonism. This rotten attitude rubs off on to service providers who forget that the 'customer is king/queen' whether they are right or wrong. Both our recent leadership and service providers, in my opinion, treated their publics as their 'enemies' without being aware of it. I have a simple view: Apathetic Communities arise from Pathetic Leadership.
2. An acceptance of the MEDIOCRE. When leadership and service providers closet themselves away from their publics and ignore the unhappy feedback and fallout symptoms all around them they begin to believe in their own internal 'marketing' hype. Consequently they can become complacent and fallible to being caught out embarrassingly with their knickers.around their ankles. One's publics will tend to forgive the discretions of those who make them in the visible, active, open and transparent pursuit of higher goals with clearly demonstrable results. The same publics will take those same discretions - when made in a low-trust, high-suspicion, closed, non-inclusive, no-result environment - and they will crucify those who they believe to be the perpetrators. It's just human nature. What we will look for in this community is visible productivity, demonstrable achievement of goals,
3. Lack of understanding of Polar Opposite Management Styles - the danger of GROUPTHINK. Uncommon sense is counter-intuitive, and often the road that 'groupthink' takes one down is directly opposite to that wanted by one's publics. A common saying is that 'Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely' and I believe that this applies in an environment where only one voice or idea is allowed to become the sole, almost intimidatory, 'power'. The only way to overcome 'groupthink' is to encourage open debate, criticism and comment - to turn current thinking on its head and to encourage full assessment of ALL alternatives.
Take a look at the polar opposite management styles below and choose for yourself which you believe last year's board and service providers chose to follow... and which you want for this year:
Interactive vs. Top-Down - Do you want to be able to interact openly with your Board before major decisions are taken or do you want your Board to prescribe to you what they believe is in your best interest?
Two-Way vs. One-Way - Do you want your Board to open channels of communication to listening to your honest input or do you want your Board to control and censor information?
Open vs. Closed - Openess creates a sense of belonging and teamwork, closed systems breed paranoia and suspicion - what community management system do you want in Lonehill?
Inclusive vs. Exclusive - Do you want your Board to include everyone who wants to participate and to motivate those currently not engaged or do you want your Board to promote ‘them’ vs ‘us’ divisions?
Fact vs. Spin - Do you want your Board to give you the honest facts, or to dress them up in 'spin' that masks the true picture?
I have my opinion as to what management style was adopted by our past LRA board and service providers... and I know that I want the direct polar opposite from this year's LRA board. What do YOU want?
So what would be the first magnificent step that the new board can take... well to me, it would be to immediately broaden the number of directors onto the LRA (just find a credible way to do it ASAP) to include all of those willing to commit to our community initiative as demonstrated at the AGM ... to introduce new thinking and innovative debate to search for and apply new alternatives and ideas.
My congratulations to those who stood up to the plate to be considered for the LRA board... may you take us massively forward with giant leaps.
Please don't fall into the trap of thinking that everything is now 'hunky-dory' because it ain't... find out why we were 'underwhelmed, unimpressed and unhappy' and nip that in the bud immediately. There is much that still has not been said that needs to be discussed. It's simple to do. Call that first FRIENDLY, non-confrontational public forum to openly discuss and debate the issues that really concern your publics.
Trevor Nel
4 Etterby Close, Lonehill - 705-2790
