This Is A JOKE... Right?

This is a 'spot-the-deliberate-mistake' JOKE... right?

You tell me, does this crooked/skew effort show 'world-class' pretensions or is it just a symptom of an 'I DON'T CARE' malaise within an organisation?

Does it inspire confidence and pride in our community initiative?

Would you employ the person, or believe in the entity, conveying this sloppy lack-of-attention-to-detail as their shop-window to their publics?

To understand the contention of 'remarkable service', perhaps a reading of Seth Godin's Purple Cow and 99 Cows will help.

Just 4 of the many points made by Seth Godin can have significant meaning for our initiative:

1. 'Real security comes from growth' ( Page xiv )

2. 'Those who fit in now won't stand out later' ( Page 5 ) - It's difficult to change once you get into a rhythm of mediocrity.

3. 'Compromise kills. Doing something half-ass is worse than doing nothing' ( Page 97 )

4. 'The energy isn't in the idea, it's in the execution' ( Page 101 )

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

A Touch Of Class... or Broken?

Let's start with some welcome COMPLIMENTS to Ian Bell and LRA leadership for attending to the graffiti (just missed the yield sign at entrance to Lonehill Village Estate, Ian) and holes as mentioned in last week's mailing. They prove that it is so simple to attend to the little things in Lonehill in short time - showing more great promise for our estate management prospects in 2007.

It's just about RAISING our community's standards... raising our personal standards... raising the standards of our paid service providers... looking to achieve standards that demonstrate a touch of world class.

But it is so easy to lose the plot. Here are some examples.

Take a look at this humorous video extract by Permission Marketing guru: Seth Godin - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4101280286098310645&hl=en - where I'm almost sure that he could have been discussing our Lonehill community signs.

The gist of his presentation is how people in positions of responsibility/accountability actually show embarrassing clues as to how they clearly don't care by the things they leave 'broken' for all to see.

Say's Seth (to paraphrase): 'Why design a sign to say... NOTHING..!'

Really what our blank community signs say is that something is 'broken' in Lonehill... someone in 'charge' of communication just doesn't care that R7 200 was recently spent on refurbishing these signs - for what?


What if the signs at least contained a positive message from the LRA and interactive contact for emergencies - something to show the LRA really cares for the moment.

To get the silliness of the message being sent to our community, go to one of Seth's pet project sites - www.thisisbroken.com

Take for instance, the smell of raw sewage permeating through Lonehill this past week, as it spills down the main bridle path spruit into the dam, giving the impression that Lonehill STINKS.

When something is left 'broken' the perception is far more powerful than the reality.

Surely, after 4 or 5 such spills this year alone, that can only have had a lasting impact on our dam pollution levels, SOMEONE can now be traced and held responsible for compensation to be made to the Lonehill environment fund? If the ACSA airport fuel spillage can have consequences for polluting dams in Boksburg/Benoni, why not this?

How many people also see the fire hydrant lying at 45 degree angle at the Franschoek bend... and the red cones on over-sized manhole covers and over holes in the ground. Why not just do things right or repair them ASAP, instead of showing people how much they don't care by highlighting the 'broken' commitments with red cones for days and weeks at a time?

And a Security Guard, Manager or Service Provider walking or driving past litter on the ground, or past a young tree bent over having broken from it's stake, to me, shows someone who doesn't care... who leaves our community 'broken'.

Which brings me to the main point of this week's message. Whilst I understand that current leadership are feverishly unwinding positions from the past, the question I ask is: What do we intend to do in Lonehill that makes us 'World Class'... or that at least shows that we are working towards a touch of world class?

Here we are, after six years, having spent over a R100 Million in mass-consumer security spend... and what do we have to show for it that puts us in the 'world class' bracket?

Oh yes, in the first few years of this initiative we were at the leading edge of community security initiatives... but not today... almost every community is doing the same.... and many are doing it better.

Take a look at what Sandhurst estate agents are doing to beautify their community traffic circles and roadsides.


Why not us. Someone started in Pineslopes. Why so long for this to take root in Lonehill's circles and open spaces? Because something's 'broken'? Because no one really cares enough? What a great missed opportunity for estate agents, garden nurseries and this community to do something world-class.

So what makes us unique? What makes us special?

In the early days our innovative efforts had a massive impact on Lonehill property prices, proving what a Wharton University study has just underscored: Economic Value of Community-Based Investments - '..community-based investments provide significant economic benefits to neighborhoods as well as citywide gains. The study reveals that property values can increase 25 percent when integrated projects have been completed.'

It's easy to see what happens when a community's leadership and management sits on its backside and 'fiddles while Rome burns' - something breaks! Or as Seth says: 'It's BROKEN'.

The hard lessons of life applies to community initiatives - if it is not growing it is dying!

It's my opinion that 'scarcity thinking' is not a model for growth... 'ABUNDANCE thinking' is.

So here's what I'm asking of our NEW leadership... what is it that we do that is WORLD CLASS?

And if nothing, what will we do to take our community into the WORLD CLASS league? And, if not an objective, why not?

What is it that LRA does WELL.... with a TOUCH OF CLASS?

What is that our service providers are truly proud of providing to our community... as being truly UNIQUE?

Focus on the answers to these questions and we'll all live in, happily CONTRIBUTE to, and attract corporate investors to, and build a community that we can truly be proud of.

Why? Because we have an economic incentive in our lifestyle, peace-of-mind and property investment values to see it happening.

Seasons greetings to all.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

A Wrong RIGHTED - That's Leadership!

I'm very pleased to see that Ian Bell's, in my opinion, disingenuously expedituous removal from our Lonehill estate management function has been RIGHTED by our new LRA leadership... and I provide proactive links to POSITIVE ideas on how to appreciate the efforts of volunteers and stimulate a greater sense of community in Lonehill.

Whether anyone believes Ian is/was the right man for the job, or not, is of little importance... no individual, in my opinion, ever deserves to be treated in the manner that Ian was treated - especially given his almost 20-year long history and commitment to environment & estate matters in our Lonehill community.

The lesson to be learnt: Leadership is entrusted to do things RIGHT by their people - or to lose the respect of their community.

Ian knows that I, as something of a tough taskmaster with high expectations of the human potential, have always had higher expectations of his potential for making great things happen in Lonehill than perhaps even he had of himself... so I welcome the LRA's decision to allow Ian to cap an amazing history of contribution to this community. This is an opportunity for Ian to leave an indelible legacy for our estate and environment management into the future.

Perhaps this is the time to bring up another past dysfunction that MUST, in my opinion, be changed within our LRA management philosophy. And that is to raise the levels of RECOGNITION of key contributors to the Lonehill Community.

Nothing disturbed me more in this past year than to witness the failing health and brave cancer-stricken death of Dr. Jan Nel (no relation) - a past Chair of the Lonehill Security Committee and committed gentlemanly fighter for the Lonehill Community Initiative - with nary a blink of concern or interest seemingly shown by anyone involved on the LRA at the time. To the point of even ignoring to post a deeply-felt obituary and invitation to Jan's funeral on his passing.

These things do not go unnoticed, and it was an indication to me that our then LRA leadership, supposedly professional management and service providers were so far removed from any sense of 'community' so as to be considered ludicrous in the lip-service they deigned to provide. Perhaps a further insight into those who still seem to wonder why I was such vocal instigator for CHANGE to the fresh ideas of a NEW leadership team. To be fair, the past LRA Chair did attend the funeral.

Regardless of any of the personalities involved and how I might feel about them, or for the good or bad decisions they might have made, I believe that individuals should be feted and remembered for their critical contributions to this community. Not that I expect that any such individual ever 'needs' the recognition, but more to lay down a foundation for the future and to build a tradition of on-going respect and recognition for those contributors to come in the next 10, 20, 50, 100 years.

To me, every past, present & future Chairperson should AUTOMATICALLY be feted on a Board/Roll of Honour (if purely for their intention to step into the breach of leadership to take responsibility for making a difference in this community). Some may well be better than others - for which exceptional service honour awards can be made - but I cannot believe that anyone of them did not take their tasks seriously as best they could with the best of intentions.

LRA Boards of Directors should be team-photographed each year, framed and displayed in pride of place to recognise their contributions.

And, then there are the INCREDIBLE individual contributors to whom I have my own individual bias arising from watching their IMMENSE contributions since the launch of our mass community initiative in 2000. There are so many that stand out over this time. Without embarrassing some in our midst, I offer the late Dr. Jan Nel as an example of the type of contributor deserving of such recognition. Regardless of the number of people that may be eligible, criteria should be identified to honour such past, present and future people so critical to this community initiative.

Here are some links for proactive ideas on how to THANK volunteers and community contributors:

1. Valuing Volunteers
2. 101 Ways To Say THANK YOU To Your Volunteers
3. Matching Volunteer Residents To The Right Role
4. Community Leader Guide: Volunteer Management
5. Thanking & Supporting Volunteers - 50 Ideas
6. Thanking Volunteers
7. Survey on Preferred Recognition for Volunteers
8. When a 'thank you' can be meaningless or insulting
9. Community Volunteer Recognition Ideas

Compliments & Kudos: - To whomever had the potholes done in the last week. Comes off the list below. Also for tending to the long grass on Franschoek corner.

The Embarrassing Unattended To: - Please feel free to add to list or comment on when the matter is attended to.

i. Graffiti on electrical box outside Studio Park - since Jan. 2006
ii. Graffiti on electrical junction box - since Jan. 2006
iii. Eskom holes/diggings left uncovered and unkempt in Leslie Drive - Oct. 2006

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

How Do We MEASURE Up?

After discussing last week why the proactive prevention of crime will continue to be our BIGGEST challenge that we face in this community, I received a distressing midweek call from a concerned stakeholder to say that a Chinese family within a 'secure' Lonehill road enclosure had been attacked by criminal elements. Their dogs were apparently poisoned by the attackers.

And that's it. No further information. Not a peep from our LRA service providers to let us know what happened or what is going on.

This lack of dissemination of essential information in this community is of serious concern to this writer. Almost everybody I meet in South Africa is HIGHLY CRITICAL of the Minister of Security's moratorium on crime statistics as being, they say, something of a perverse indication of our police having lost control and crime being out of control in our country.

So it just leaves me dumbfounded when our very own community leaders and service providers do exactly the same thing and they cannot see the peverse logic of what they do compared to what they criticise government for doing (or not doing).

I repeat, as adults this community can deal with REALITY - and I, for one, will appreciate an INSTANT ALERT (and if not instant, at very least within 6 to 12 hours) when such incident occurs. If only to demonstrate that our service providers are on top of the situation and that they have a clear response strategy in place.

Contrast that with this information. I received a notification from a security forum this morning that a Craighall woman's car had been hijacked. Within minutes a tracker alert was activated and was soon notified of the following arrest in Thembisa: 'The suspect that was shot is Annanias Mathe, one of South Africa's most wanted criminals, who escaped from Pretoria's C-Max prison some two weeks ago.' - now doesn't that almost-instant feedback make one feel good?

At the moment, I have the feeling - whether rightly or wrongly - that in Lonehill this information hasn't been disseminated in the past because those accountable did not want to accept their accountability/responsibility, or just didn't know what to do, or how to respond to our concerns.

Let's face it, if YOU are charged to PROACTIVELY protect a community, and an attack happens in your midst, in your area of accountability... who is not measuring up to their responsibility? No one else but YOU..!

So, as concerned stakeholders, the message that we have to get across to our LRA service providers and leadership (and to ourselves as community stakeholders) is... How Do We MEASURE Up?

Quote: "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." - Yogi Berra

Quote: “You can't control what you can't measure” - Tom DeMarco

Quote: "Define your business goals clearly so that others can see them as you do." - George F. Burns

Quote: "The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs." Vance Havne

Quote: "If you don't do it excellently, don't do it at all. Because if it's not excellent, it won't be profitable or fun, and if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?" Robert Townsend

Each one of the above quotes, in my opinion, point to serious areas of past deficiencies in our Lonehill community initiative management process that I sincerely hope is being addressed by new leadership.

I'd like to see a firm statement of intent from our LRA board as to what every director and service provider sees themselves being ACCOUNTABLE for... and what parameters they will MEASURE themselves against. We have over six years of weekly incident report statistics that should be on record to serve as a base. At least 10 to 20 criteria for measurement should be identifiable in our community.

To help, I have sourced some complementary links, for those interested, to refer to:

1. A Model for Community-Driven Governance - this excellent article explains how and why: 'The board is accountable for ensuring the organization is providing as much benefit as possible to the community, improving the quality of life for those who will be affected by your mission'.

2. The Fable of the Beekeepers and Their Bees - this article highlights the critical difference between Activities, Outputs and Outcomes.

I'd like to hear from our LRA leadership as to what criteria we are going to measure our future community performance against... and who will accept responsibility for delivering on that performance. Without these criteria clearly displayed and measured against for all to see, our community goes nowhere.

The little unattended things that show 'our service providers don't really care':
I'm getting tired of mentioning the same simple little things that go on unattended week after week, so I'm just going to list them here with a date of when they first appeared and leave them as an embarrassing list if they have not been attended to. Please feel free to add to list or comment on when the matter is attended to.

i. Graffiti on electrical box outside Studio Park - since Jan. 2006
ii. Graffiti on electrical junction box - since Jan. 2006
iii. Pothole outside Highbrook - 2nd week Nov. 2006
iv. Eskom holes/diggings left uncovered and unkempt in Leslie Drive - Oct. 2006

I am a little concerned that illegal posters stay up in our area longer than 24 hours after being strung up - some up to a week long. With proactive security guards around, and roving management, surely they shouldn't stay up longer than an hour or two at most?

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident