LRA Call For IDEAS - Here Are A Few

It's good to see another promising step forward emanating from this current LRA in their latest call: 'If funding was not a problem, what projects would you like to see in Lonehill? We want to hear any and every idea from you, no matter how big or how small'.

Now that is what many quality Lonehillers are not short of. There are some great ideas around amongst the positive community-oriented people I know. I'll share some of my own below.

The challenge of course is that ideas require strategic-thinking, decision, action and implentation.

I must admit that, on reading of this request for ideas, a biblical quote first crossed my mind - something about not casting 'pearls before swine' - but only because I have been totally unimpressed and wholly lacking in confidence in the ineptly named 'The Big Idea' administration function's ability to come up with any idea at all or to apply any useful action or implementation of any idea to benefit the Lonehill community in a big way.

I am one of those who is of the opinion that, for people who have been paid so well, 'The Big Idea' have no idea at all as to how to service the ongoing and future growth needs of this community adequately.

Case in point, to show that nothing much changes under their administration, is the latest email announcement regarding the hard-copy newsletter that again shows how little concern there is for service-delivery in this community. 'Distribution teams handed these out to every complex that has a Fidelity guard at the gate and dropped off copies at Engen Lonehill and the Lonehill Vet.' What about the single-dwelling households?

Now here's an idea. Surely, with a million rand supposedly spare in the kitty and proactive roving guards walking the streets who could drop off a hard-copy at each single-dwelling they walk past, or heaven-forbid, a positive relationship with some friendly community estate agents who'd love to have a reason to drop off info at our homes, a way could have been found to deliver the hard-copy letters direct to those +- 600 single-dwelling households that have been an important foundation of the initiative from the very beginning.

As a single-dwelling householder and committed contributor to this initiative from day one, I have never yet received a hard-copy newsletter delivered to me in any format by our admin service-provider... not since they took over this function. Does anyone think that something is wrong with that? No wonder people complain about a lack of communication in this project.

I also requested a copy of the LRA Sect. 21 Articles of Association recently and was told to go to the LRA office to get a copy. BULL DUST..! Here's another idea. An organisation with great service as a priority would have this on image file or pdf. and be able to forward it to the person requesting by simple email. Why is it that the paying consumer in this initiative has to chase the tail of the paid service provider to get some service? It's like paying our waste removal council dues and being told to take our bins to the rubbish dump. Just wrong.

There is just something wholly unsavoury about us paying this administration team all the money that we have in the past and still have to be doing the servicing of ourselves... when such simple service delivery solutions can be applied.

So with that off my chest, the request for ideas is a promising start... as is the latest announcement that discounts are being arranged for Lonehillers who connect via community Wi-Fi and who convert to a friendly short-term insurance company.

I smile wryly as I recall taking the LRA directors team to similar such financial service providers (some high-profile) almost three years ago who wanted to make major investments into this community. Then definitely it was a case of casting pearls before swine as very few of our then LRA could see how to apply the massive benefit that would come from these ideas. A simple lack of understanding of strategy, decision-making, action and implementation.

So here we are about to get back on that track of providing MASS-CONSUMER benefit to our stakeholders, a good few years later, and after silly ineffective decisions almost driving the LRA back onto the rocks. What a waste of time, effort and money..!

So... 'If funding was not a problem, what projects would you like to see in Lonehill? We want to hear any and every idea from you, no matter how big or how small'... here are a quick sample of many ideas that can be applied for brainstorming purposes.

IDEA 1. Bring in enthusiastic specialists who have proven their ability to excel. Get back to OPEN TENDERING of mutually-beneficial community/business related projects. Allow the tender winner to win as the community wins. Attract the finest quality entrepreneurial thinkers to conduct their presentations and allow all stakeholders to participate in the selection process... as we did when we launched this initiative.

IDEA 2. Modernise Lonehill's image and attraction - it is no longer a '20th century rural horsy bridle-path village' as it was originally developed (the shopping centre and Summercon developments have seen to that) - let's get real and refocus its future vision to fit the 21st century. Make it a WOW statement to stimulate national and international interest and recognition. If only to ramp up the desirability of living in this area (good for our property prices). There are many concepts that can be brainstormed here.

IDEA 3. Provide Lonehill stakeholder security services FREE..!

IDEA 4. Treble to quadruple the proactive guarding force and reaction vehicles, and their quality and standard of pay (for performance incentive) and marry that with quality PROACTIVE surveillance equipment..

IDEA 5. Treble to quadruple the Estate Management/Environment function to beautify every area of Lonehill.

IDEA 6. Re-assess the actual benefit of the current LRA offices... is it really needed in it's current format... ... is it needed at all (freeing up funds for other projects)... and/or perhaps get back to the original idea for a community centre that will be of benefit to every contributing stakeholder.

IDEA 7. Turn Lonehill Dam into a Bio-Diesel plant. This was almost my April 1 email subject-headline: 'Lonehill to build bio-diesel plant on local dam'. Purpose of this idea (and IDEA 3.) is to stimulate seemingly crazy ideas to approach solutions from a different perspective... no idea should be pooh-poohed. In all ideas lies the kernel of the next MASSIVE breakthrough.

Take a look at this blog link - GREAT Ideas - http://icgreatideas.blogspot.com/ - for more ideas on how to get get creative and manage ideas effectively.

See Ideas Are A Dime A Dozen... Or Are They? & Possibility Thinking - Managing IDEAS Effectively

IDEA 8. Share the ideas. Ideas can be expanded upon by the inputs of others. Ideas stimulate ideas. Provide a list of all the ideas submitted so that someone can get excited enough to take it to action and implementation stage.

IDEA 9. Bring important, enthusiastic, interested Lonehill stakeholders together in an eye-ball to eye-ball brainstorming indaba - already mentioned in previous post.

IDEA 10. Develop a competition to reward the very best ideas. Provide incentives. Give recognition. (Reminds me...as yet no follow through on the recognition program stated at the last open feedback meeting).

Having said that 'Ideas Are A Dime A Dozen', I myself am one of those local residents who make their entrepreneurial livings by acting on and implementing ideas (i.e. monetising ideas into sustainable business projects)... ideas such as being the initiator and an enthusiastic voluntary key driver of this very Lonehill community initiative under discussion (now well-over a R100 Million revenue-generating project).

There are other enthusiastic local community contributors just like myself who have put in a ton of personal, voluntary time and effort to make this initiative happen. So why is that we are last in line to be consulted as professionals, with the money that we have helped raise for this community being channelled to outsiders or to seemingly ineffective and/or unproven insiders (first-timers)?

It is highly disconcerting to see people now seemingly pulling off deals behind closed doors to offer discount products to the Lonehill community without an open tender process being conducted to allow fair opportunity for others to compete for the business (how do we know that they are the best deals we can have got as a community?)... especially when such concepts were raised before and effectively pooh-poohed by the then LRA directors (refer the flawed Marketing Tender process that signalled the beginning of the slide of a successful growing LRA operation to one of 'mis-management and disarray' as identifed by the current Chairman).

Here's a parting idea for our current LRA directors - restore and apply some simple integrity to appraising and working with local entrepreneurs who have proven themselves in this community. Do it openly. Allow them to compete by open tender. Allow stakeholders to have their public viewing of the presentations, have their say, and to vote on who or what they want. No one minds being beaten by a better operator who delivers on what they promise. Do what's right..!

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident