Lonehill - What A Difference A KNIGHT Makes

Almost one year ago to the day, I wrote - When Is an AGM Not An AGM..? - in which I made pointed reference to 'mediocrity', 'incompetence', and specifically to: 'The lack of financial statements at today's meeting, together with a quick sight of the hurried collection of two copies of the statements, raises questions as to INEFFECIENCIES and LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY that may well exist in the minds of service-providers who are not being called to account for piddle-poor deliverables'.

One year later, and after perusal of the Chairman's Report - well-prepared and timeously delivered to our homes before the impending AGM meeting - confirms that LRA Chairman Rob Gillespie is the white knight that was so sorely needed to step in and stop the rot. I have already conveyed my compliments to Rob and his LRA team in Lonehill: Give Credit Where Credit Is Due.

The Chairman's Report confirms everything that made this writer and others a trifle unpopular last year, with the report confirming that our service providers 'had been allowed to slip into a mode of "below-expectation" delivery, which is typical of a poor management environment'. So point made and the stance of those courageous few who stood up to ask questions and investigate the matter is vindicated as having being in the best interest of our community.

I find myself in total disagreement with the Chairman's comment that criticism of the Finance and Administration portfolio 'was unwarranted and undeserved'. In my opinion, it was totally deserved and the Chairman is too loyal to a fault to those who were paid a bundle to deliver the mess that he (and his new team) had to fix up. I cannot find myself at all confident in the abilities of such operation to ever manage itself in the future... in my opinion, making them too highly paid in the past for what they didn't deliver, and still now at R50,000 p.m., for the service that they currently deliver.

Loyalty is admirable, but when it appears to entrench incompetence it serves primarily to invoke criticism of leadership, just as in David Bullard's latest blog criticism of our Minister of Safety & Security and our latest crime figures where he comments: 'Anyway, nobody ever gets sacked from Thabo Mbeki’s Cabinet, however incompetent or mediocre their performance'.

There are a number in this community who will NOT work with this F&A portfolio team due to a lack of faith in their ability or capability to support a project with any semblance of enthusiasm or sustainability. I have written before in this forum of the importance of getting the 'right people on the bus' and referred to http://www.jimcollins.com/ site to underscore the point.

This will continue to present a substantial divide for many that have proven to be major contributors to the Lonehill Community Initiative (i.e. those who truly know how to think and deliver in a big way), and my view is that if the Chair wishes to remain loyal to a group that others don't believe in then the Chair should allow for another bus to be manned by those who have differing (read 'higher') standards of project delivery for Lonehill. That would be 'Leadership'.. and the community would benefit from a wider net of people who want to contribute in their way!

I would still like to see much more open and transparent leadership, board-meetings, goal-setting, accountability and reporting than happens right now. The last quarterly-feedback meeting revealed that arbitrary/autocratic/unilateral decisions are STILL being taken without referring to the community (refer the Lonehill Control Centre idea mooted and roundly pooh-poohed by residents in attendance).

Community association directors should not have the unfettered ability to take arbitrary decisions without conducting reasonable research of their stakeholders opinions and, if they do so without such research, should hold themselves wholly accountable to such decisions (as they should for all decisions, but don't right now). Groupthink and arbitrary decisions taken behind closed doors proved to be a very dangerous, destructive force in the immediate past debacles... and must be guarded against by the community.

Why, mark my words, just now someone will want to entrench the directors for a 5-year term... shades of Mugabe-style entrenchment, heaven forbid. It ain't healthy! My view is that a community association Chairman should have a maximum of 2 years in the Chair... and the second year should be spent grooming the Vice-Chair to take over (i.e. a succession plan to ensure continuity but also injecting fresh thinking). This keeps us away from the demigod-like characters that seem to abound in our society.

Too much is still hidden behind the veneer of Section 21 legalese and a balance sheet, when in addition here's what is really required: Management KPI's need to be evaluated to show how effective our LRA Service Providers really are - and therefore how effective our leadership is. Because I don't have access to the numbers (which I should as a stakeholder), I fear that we are some way off the contributing numbers we were at when things began to fall off the 'moral high-ground' rails.

Also, to me, very little effort has been stimulated by current leadership to directly engage positively with those who have made significant contributions in the past. It has been mostly those who have wanted to contribute who have pushed leadership to enter into any discussion, with very little response other than a seemingly passive condescending ear. From my direct personal experience, it appears that 'assumptions', mostly incorrect, seemed to have perpetuated through to current leadership that is a carry-over from a time and ethos that should forever be an embarrassment to those who contributed to what led up to the AGM debacle of last year.

If I am wrong in my perceptions above, I will be happy to be so convinced.

That all being said, the timeous and pretty complete Chairman's Report leave me feeling upbeat for the security and well-being of our families in Lonehill in the coming year. I'm pretty much in agreement with much of what is outlined by the Chair as needing to be focused upon in the coming year. For me Rob Gillespie gets 100% PLUS for effort and achievement in pulling the LRA act together once again. So I extend my heartfelt personal 'Thank You' to Rob and his LRA team.

I would like to think that it is the sign of a mature community that allows for stakeholders to work towards progress for the community in general whilst they may be in disagreement on specifics. I still look for the 'great INDABA' of all interested stakeholders as the starting point for our next big growth move forward. I hope to see it this coming LRA year... ;-)

If my business meetings end in time I hope to be able to make this AGM meeting. See you there.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident