The response effectively kick-started our initiative with +- 540 contributors investing R1500 into the capital fund.
If there has been one important community feature that seems to have been forgotten, ignored or completely missed in the 'marketing' of the Lonehill initiative in recent years it is that a quality community WORKS by feedback and suggestion from the household-level-up (from street-level-up)... and not by dogma and instruction from the top-down (further below, I'll touch on how I believe community leadership should LEAD by example).
Last weekend, many people commented on a Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) contact table being manned by volunteers - the Jones and Boulanger family, and one Joey O'Rourke - at the entrance to the Lonehill Pick 'n Pay. From what I hear they touched base with close to 400 Lonehillers and received update contact details from people who were mostly pleasantly surprised to bump into someone representing the LRA.
And, this weekend, our street had the pleasure of being invited to a Saturday Evening STREET Braai arranged by Alletia & Steve Parrymore - with 12 of the 14 households in our cul-de-sac attending.
What really stood out was how amiable this group was in their interaction with one another, all seeming to enjoy the opportunity to meet and chat for a few hours rather than to just wave as they pass each other on the street on their way to and from work.
Of major concern however should be the insight of how little this group seemed to know about what the LRA was doing in Lonehill.
Alletia & Steve undertook this as an exercise to build on the community-database-building efforts of the folks mentioned above and also succeeded in updating our street's resident contact details.
This, to me, is where community begins - in the streets - talking to real, live residents.
So I want to give a further warm pat-on-the-back to those VOLUNTEER residents who are giving of their free time and helping to do the one thing our paid service-providers should have been doing all along, and should BE DOING almost every day, as a priority - communicating effectively with our community, meeting residents face-to-face, and keeping our community database fresh and up-to-date.
Some have been commenting that I have been getting 'soft' as I age with my recent compliments to our current LRA leadership structure for seeming to begin to open up (as compared to their immediate predecessors) to the contributions of others. Fact of the matter is that this forum merely represents comments and opinion that come straight from the heart of concerned Lonehill stakeholders... and I am sensing that our current leadership is beginning to recognise that this forum actually offers a very POSITIVE, if hard-hitting, contribution to our Lonehill initiative.
So, what should we expect of our LRA Leaders?
Personally, having complimented our LRA leadership in last week's post for seeming to stabilise and put the brakes on 'the downward spiral of 'mis-management and disarray' as identified by 'new' LRA Chairman - Rob Gillespie', I think it is now time for our leaders to begin openly nailing their LRA strategy and personal accountability colours to the mast for us all to see. A declaration of their future intent, as it were. I'll happily carry their inputs on this forum.
I'd like to know what is they're going to do to help guide and make Lonehill a truly special, extraordinary place to live in, or whether they are just going to repeat the dreary uninspiring ordinariness of boring old-style resident associations which doom themselves to continual boom-and-bust failure through pathetic leadership and egotistic political in-fighting.
I'm looking for inspiring LRA leadership that includes an open understanding of questions like:
1. What is the LRA's proposed long-term strategy, objectives and time-related targets?
2. What do the individual LRA directors hold themselves accountable to (i.e. measurable performance targets)?
3. What are the personal feelings of the individual LRA directors towards this community's challenges?
4. Where is The BHAG - the BIG Hairy Audacious Goal for our community? (see below)
I first touched on this in my Dec. post - How Do We MEASURE Up - where I made this comment:
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.
In similar vein, in January's post Move Over For The INNOVATION Generation - I offered comment and links to one of the finest strategy thinkers around offering insight and templates that can be used to make magnificent things happen in our community, I wrote (extracts with links to stunning resource material):
Another big trick that we are missing, I believe, is the inspired thinking and input of 'Good To Great' INNOVATION Generation input.
Where ARE the big ideas? Where is The BHAG - the BIG Hairy Audacious Goal for our community. Where are the FRESH dynamic minds and inspired thinkers? Where are the Church leaders, street & complex leaders, business leaders, Crawford college students and other young minds (whether 80 years 'young') being encouraged to give of their input?
And, if YOU are indeed the innovative leader we seek in this community - show us by stimulating some BHAG action and results!
Here's a great link to stimulate Good To Great thinking, leadership and application: http://www.jimcollins.com/
This site has EVERYTHING Lonehill leadership needs to contruct a great future strategy... e.g.: 'If you need help to find your core values and core purpose, it may be time to consider a “Mars Group.” - Download the “Mars Group ” PDF - http://www.jimcollins.com/pdf/Mars_Group.pdf
The site also contains Jim Collins' latest writing: Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking Is Not the Answer - http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/articles/socialsectors.html .
Collins discusses what can be the '..fundamental difference between the business and social sectors. The third circle of the Hedgehog Concept shifts from being an economic engine to a resource engine. The critical question is not “How much money do we make?” but “How can we develop a sustainable resource engine to deliver superior performance relative to our mission?”
As Jim Collins says: 'Good is the enemy of great!'. I ask, so how much worse is mediocrity? How do our leaders and stakeholders rate our Lonehill community project... mediocre... good... great?
When I look at all the great online resources available to leadership it is almost inexcusable for anyone calling themselves a 'leader' to deliver on piddle-poor performance.
On the other hand, no one minds leadership that 'fails upwards' by genuinely trying to apply inspiring, inclusive models that stretch people to new levels of achievement. That's the leadership that I'm looking for in our community.
Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident
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