Cry The Beloved Community

Why should we be concerned about our Lonehill Community Security Initiative..?

Perhaps this plaintive cry below, with accompanying pictures, from a Pretoria household - just 30 or so kilometres from us - under attack this week, explains why. The date- and time-stamped pictures seem to verify that it is not a myth and a very real incident report.

Don't let the communication be demoralising... take it as a motivation for us all to develop the BEST quality anti-crime initiative we can... it's OUR community... not the criminals!

Subject: Pta, Newlands gisteraand 24-01-07:

I would like to share with you a terrible experience I had on the 24th of January 2007, which ended well under the circumstances.

I live in (address supplied), Newlands in the Pretoria Eastern suburbs. Just another Wednesday night, and busy rounding up some work on my computer, when I see that my brother in law returns home after visiting his girlfriend.


After my brother in law has parked I notice some guys sneaking in just before the gate closes. I try and refocus, the picture I have just witnessed, thinking it cannot be.


When I realise the criminal act that is in progress, I recollect my thoughts and actions, I run towards my alarm console and activate the panic button.


Not to bothered by the sirens of the alarm, these criminals still struggle away with the gate and basically rip the entire gate off of it's rail.


Now all 4 of the criminals are on the premises. The first 2 that snuck in is busy holding my brother in law at gun point, taking his car keys, cellphone and wallet, and questioning him about the presence of more people on the premises (Just your typical armed robbery scenario according to Brooklyn Police officers). Luckily my brother in laws response is "No". At this time my 3 kids are sleeping not aware of any danger just happening outside of their bedroom windows.


My Neighbour next door starts to shout out towards my side, mocking the alarm, not aware that a crime is in progress.


At this stage I had contacted one of my police friends, who immediately called in assistance.


My brother in law starts to shout out in a frantic panic, and this is when the criminals decide to head out. My neigbour realises what is happening and shouts out towards the criminals. They fired 2 shots in his direction in the breakaway run. One of the bullets traveled up to the second story window, where my neighbours son was standing watching the incident.


My neighbour across the road fired a warning shot which probably helped convince the criminals they are not welcome. The criminals got into the car seen in the very first picture behind my brother in laws car, and drove off.

In the very first picture, you can see the typical normality of just arriving at home, and wanting to continue with your every day evening events, not realising that a car that has just passed you are filled with hardened criminals, that is out to prey on the normal citizens of society. When the alarm was triggered they still continued with their act of crime, not too bothered by any possible consequences. (Probably because jail life in SA, is better than making your own living)

I thank God that he directed my eyes towards the camera's at that very moment seeing the incident happen, it could have gone very south for me and my whole family.

I raise a salute towards the SA Police of Brooklyn and ADT which arrived on the scene within 5 minutes from the initial call."Well done!!!"

I am thankful for following my own premonition's a few weeks earlier to invest in a CCTV system, fixing my electric fence and alarm system, that had been out of action for a few weeks then. (Isn't this just sad how we are forced to live in the greatest country in the world?)

Now we just need to hope and pray that our country will start moving to action and implementing stricter rules and penalties to help protect the citizens that are making a difference.

In the last few months our media has been so filled with similar incidents and crimes, just many of them weren't as fortunate as we were. It is sad that our country wants to be a world class player in major events, but it doesn't even have the capacity to provide protection to its citizens. What about power, transport and a dozen other basic necessities.

What is the government going to do? is the question. People I urge all of you who are currently a part of this nation to apply pressure in all ways and means within your powers to ensure your voice be heard regarding this unacceptable lifestyle we have to be satisfied with, in the most beautiful country in the world.

S S (Full name supplied)

What is the government going to do? Perhaps a better point to make is what YOU would do if YOU were in Government - and then rally for that support and action.

In Lonehill, we have proven that increased VISIBILITY and proactive-security initiatives can make a BIG difference - and that would be my suggestion to Government - take the Police to the people in the communities - put more visible police on the beat (in vehicles) in defined areas.

Perhaps community security initiatives (using Security companies) should be funded/subsidised by Government in much the same way as the Taxi industry is funded (R50,000 per vehicle) as part of Govt's national transport 'solution'.

In the meantime, what we can do is to work TOGETHER to INCREASE anti-crime VIGILANCE and VISIBILITY initiatives in our community to deter this societal-blight from taking our families out. The pictures above show the critical importance of taking such initiatives seriously.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Building Community-BUSINESS Partnerships

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. - Benjamin Franklin

If our community initiative is to grow it will mean that something DIFFERENT will have be done in a BIG way from previous years.

Here are some hints as to the way can go - perhaps we need a dedicated strategy to forge community-business relationships.

Here are some interesting resource links:

1. Building Business-Community Partnerships - http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/management/view_help_sheet.do?articleid=547

2. Community Business Partnerships - Are You Ready? A Checklist of Points for Implementing a Successful Community - Business Partnership = http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/business/view_help_sheet.jsp?articleId=820

3. Help Sheets - Before You Get Started in a Partnership - http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/business/view_article.jsp?articleId=1155

4. Community Leadership Centre - http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/leadership/leadership_article.jsp?articleId=488

5. Auditing your community assets - http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/management/view_help_sheet.do?articleid=9

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Move Over For The INNOVATION Generation

Was at the University of Pretoria (Tukkies) Orientation Day for Students and Parents on Sat. 20th Jan. (yup, as older daughter finishes at UCT, youngest enters into Tukkies - it doesn't stop) where I was captivated by the Vice-Chancellor's address.

In essence, Prof. Pistorius underscored how Tukkies had 'rid itself' of the old-fashioned, autocratic, conservative-style of 'management by decree' to instil a 'value-based participatory democracy' to 'produce respected world-leaders of the INNOVATION Generation'.

I just smiled as I thought of how his speech echoed the simple messages promoted in this blog to our local Lonehill leadership - i.e. open transparency, value-based leadership and innovation.

But first, let's doff a cap in recognition of the continuing signs of open transparency beginning to return to our initiative... the emails discussed below are an inkling of what this commentator has been looking for.

The latest LRA emails - Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 9:40 AM Subject: INCIDENT UPDATE & Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 5:59 PM - Subject: IMPORTANT SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT - begins to get us all back into understanding that we live in a REAL community with REAL issues.

What the five incidents in the past week allow us to do is:

1. To ensure that our wives and daughters are aware that bag-snatchers are a reality in our shopping centres and to ensure that you continuously - WATCH YOUR BACK - in your rear view mirror as you return home. If there is someone you don't know on your tail drive to the nearest patrolling guard.

2. For the LRA sales team to approach the non-subscriber households broken into to find out why they are not part of the security initiative important market research)... and to also approach each non-subscriber household with this story to promote the benefits of the community working together by being part of the initiative.

3. To demonstrate to all that, whether in complex or in free-standing home, criminal elements are constantly in our midst and we have to continually hone our security game to beat them

4. To question why security companies and/or personnel still cannot proactively prevent such incidents at shops and homes despite the numbers around. Seems to me that there must be poor training into awareness of what constitutes suspicious characters profile looks and actions... especially considering the numbers of security personnel in our area at any one shift (I estimate between 80 to 100).

5. And if 4. above is considered an unfair observation, let us see the good news about where and how our proactive security IS working.

I firmly believe that any community that is spending close to or over a R1 Million in security spend is missing a big trick by not demanding FAR MORE liability cover for specific non-performance from such security company directors when crime incidents occur in their territories. When such company directors begin to feel the pain of crime in THEIR pockets they will put their minds to training and strategically utilising their workforce to do the job we really pay them to do.

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?

It is not for their not being around - I know where some of them are in our community! Why are they not already invited on board?

If any of our local leadership are standing in the way of this needed progress, move over to the portfolios you CAN handle well, and invite/bring in the fresh innovators to allow this community initiative to grow. There should be plenty of room for everybody in an open and inclusive community environment.

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?”

Personally, I think it is a healthy combination of the two that has to be considered in the Lonehill community initiative - money and/or resource - whatever terminology attracts the passionate drivers. But that's the point of conversation... to openly highlight, discuss and select ideas for implementation. All the ideas in the world are useless if not actioned!

I'm hoping to see MASSIVE progress in this vein on our OPEN community discussion evening on Tuesday 6th February.

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?

This communication covers some of the questions and insights that I'd like to see discussed and answered on 6th February.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

OPEN Inclusive vs. CLOSED Exclusive

It's nice to see the encouraging comment in the latest LRA email: 'There have been no reported criminal incidents in Lonehill for the past two weeks. The last incident was on the 30th December, where the premises had no alarm and was not an LRA subscriber.'

Hopefully this means that something DIFFERENT is being applied by our new leadership team to carry this trend forward.

It is also encouraging to see some OPEN reporting of actual crime trends for us to begin once again to analyse the local crime situation for ourselves as mature stakeholders. I'd certainly like to see a weekly feedback of such crime incidents or lack-of-crime-announcements attached to our weekly emails or posted to our community website.

Which gets me thinking as to how the core of our local leadership policy, since the beginning of the Lonehill Community Security Initiative in 2000, had clearly swung from being an 'OPEN & Inclusive' model in its initial 3-year launch phase... to a 180° polar opposite 'CLOSED & Exclusive' model, which in my opinion squandered opportunities that normally present themselves in the most important growth phase timing window open to most serious projects of this nature.

I view the former model as an ABUNDANCE model, and the latter as a SCARCITY model.

My postulate for discussion in this post is that the 'OPEN Inclusive' model of community leadership is by far the healthier alternative to the 'CLOSED Exclusive' model - which to me is a cancer to any community initiative.

See how Pitkin County build OPEN & Inclusive values into their Community Relations Guiding Principles and Policies.

Here's what I learnt very quickly when initiating the original Lonehill Security Action Group back in 2000... when you bring together an up-market community grouping of independent, self-made, high-ego, assertively opinionated individuals, you are guaranteed to be confronted by very different opinions on almost every subject of discussion.

What takes place is much like the initial few days of hierarchical positioning by the marooned challengers on the reality TV series - SURVIVOR. Some individuals make instant first impression decisions about people they like or dislike, and most set about quickly forming alliance groups to further their own individual aims - whatever their vested interests (and make no mistake, EVERYONE has a vested interest whether social or commercial) - for being part of the overall group.

I firmly believe that the initial 3-year launch phase 'OPEN Inclusive' model we followed allowed for personal likes and dislikes of others to be mostly suppressed in favour of allowing interested contributors to openly attend any meeting they wanted and to make meaningful contributions as they saw fit.

I am also of the opinion that the introduction of paid administrators in Year 4 coincided with and/or led to an unfolding 180° polar opposite shift to the 'CLOSED Exclusive' model of leadership which in my opinion led to the first 2006 AGM meeting debacle. The error here may well have been the apparent belief by some that the community really doesn't care for what the few do with their resources. 'Nuff said, if that was the belief, hopefully it was stopped dead in its tracks.

In seeking to understand the difference between the two models I offer this possibility of what people may say/think at the extremes of each model.

The 'OPEN Inclusive' extremist may say openly: 'Hey, I don't like you and/or your opinions, but I acknowledge what you're good at, so select your role and I'll wish you the best of success in greatly improving the lot of our community and give you all the information you need to be successful - now get on with it and deliver.'

The 'CLOSED Exclusive' extremist may or most likely, may well not say (but instead, act out on this mind-set): 'Hey, I don't like you and/or your opinions and I'm going to make it as difficult as possible for you to have any part to play in this community. I'll leave if you do. It's you or me! There is no room for the two of us.'

Such 'CLOSED Exclusive' individuals are easy to spot, they are generally 'control'-oriented and sprout about the importance of hierarchical 'order' and 'closed meetings' that they can control, like to have 'yes'-people telling them what they want to hear and generally do everything to cover up or justify the incompetence of their underlings to maintain their 'superior' status, and pointedly react in disgust and alarm at the mere mention of controversial individuals names who dare to question or cross them.

Clearly, in a community of independent, self-assertive people - of the qualities I have described a few paragraphs above - the 'CLOSED Executive' model is DOOMED to failure. The only people who don't see this are such thinkers themselves.

Why broach this subject? Simple. I have this little feeling that remnants of the 'CLOSED Exclusive' model protagonists are still seated within our current LRA leadership structure whose thinking it is to preclude members of this community from open access to any and all information or to preclude individuals from participating in taking the project on to new heights. I maintain that this thinking is cancerous to our community initiative ideals and I challenge such thinkers to find a way to INCLUDE every willing participant who wants to play a part in growing this initiative - or to at least hold up their hands and say why the 'CLOSED Exclusive' model is their preferred option and why they exclude clearly capable people from actively participating.

Of course, I am happy to have this inclination of mine proved wrong - it will be refreshing if it is.

I'm looking forward to this new leadership's first OPEN public feedback meeting on Tuesday 6th February at 19:00 - venue: The Lonehill Village Church.

To end, I notice that posters that are nailed into poles and trees at a height of two metres or higher remain for longer than 3 weeks (Franschoek & Boulevard) and that the grass in the parks and bridle paths are reaching embarrassing heights. Surely these instances just takes some instant ACTION (with a two metre ladder) within 24 hours & a little forward PLANNING (we have a rainy season every year where the grass grows at twice the normal cutting rate)..?

I don't get paid for these observations, but we do pay over a MILLION RAND per annum for service providers to make these observations and take instant action. After a good couple of years on the job you would think that they could do these little things with their eyes closed, wouldn't you? Until they do, like it or not, they will always open themselves to criticism for incompetence.

There is an old strategy maxim that maintains that experience is not gained by making the same mistakes year after year. Our service providers are in danger of showing just how inexperienced they may well be at delivering on a quality community project. It's clear, I am not an INCOMPETENT service provider's friend! On the other hand, show me what a great job YOU do and I'll praise you to the hilt.

I am a believer that to be accepted as a paid service provider in Lonehill should be a privilege responded to by the delivery of EXCELLENT service levels above the norm, diminishing the need for volunteers being required to monitor them (this is not to take away from those volunteers who WANT to and ENJOY providing community observations - such action is highly commendable and implies a positive desire for upliftment of standards in our community). Otherwise find service providers who will respond to the privilege accorded to them by our community.

For those who are doing their absolute best to make a difference in our Lonehill community I say a BIG THANK YOU... for those that know that they are an embarrassment to themselves and holding back our initiative, have the grace to move aside into your own channel (hey, I'm of the OPEN Inclusive model remember) and open up the information available to allow others to participate in making a difference where they believe they can.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Want To Enrich The World? Start In YOUR Community

Writes ANTHONY WILSON: Trevor, I think the following quote, spoken by President Woodrow Wilson in the early twentieth century on the subject of the spirit of achievement, may be appropriate in the context of community collaboration:

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

Anthony.

ANTHONY WILSON
+27 83.592.61.33

Thanks Anthony, your quote captures the essence of my opinion of the leadership and service provider CHALLENGE in Lonehill, and that is to lead and motivate the entire community by example to '..live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement... to enrich the world'.

I see that Saturday morning meetings with the LRA directors at Mugg & Bean in Lonehill resume again this weekend... this is a great opportunity for individual stakeholders to share their honest opinions and input with our community decision-makers.

And it seems that our 'first' public feedback meeting of this current LRA board's tenure will take place in February. I'm looking forward to that - reminds me of a 'First 100 Days In Office' review. I'm hoping to see an honest, OPEN appraisal of where we've come from, where we are, and where we're going as a community.

As Anthony opened with a quote, I'm going to close with a quote which points to where I believe the greatest CURRENT challenge lies for our community to achieve great ambitions:

“The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.” - Thomas Kempis

For me, the legacy that every LRA Board leadership team should leave is a MORE SOLID foundation to enable the next board to take the community to NEW heights.

Nothing can be more soul-destroying and damaging to a project than for others to have to pick up its crumbling pieces each year. Nothing is learnt by doing the same things and repeating the same mistakes year after year.

And Community FOUNDATIONS, in my opinion, are built upon CORE VALUES. I wonder if anyone can recall the founding values of the Lonehill Community Initiative. I'm guessing that they'd been forgotten over the past couple of years. To me, a community without foundation values is as ineffective as a compass without a magnetic needle.

Check out this link for a neat article on how to Build a Strategic Framework: Mission Statement, Vision, Values...

To see how a community embraces the importance of establishing a foundation of core values go to www.whitebear.k12.mn.us/schools/corevalues.html

I look forward to the LRA annual AGM handover to a new leadership team that goes something like this: 'That's what the last year's team handed on to us as their legacy, this is what we ADDED to the project in the year that it was under our watch and we're proud to hand this legacy over to the new leadership team to improve upon.'

Having said that, great architects & engineers will tell that lessons CAN be learnt from projects that don't rise to any heights or even collapse in the process... and that is to analyse what processes, systems, people, materials were involved that led to the collapse - and to remove the weak links so as not to repeat the mistakes. Sometimes one just has to adjust the mix to get a different result.

Just don't believe THAT to be easy, because the egos of those involved in the past will resist and fight the change in every way possible (even subconciously) - it's just human nature. Quality leadership, to me, recognises the reasons for that resistance and ensures that it does not stop progress towards the ideals extracted from Anthony's quote: '..live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement... to enrich the world'.

Looking forward to February's public feedback meeting.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Communities Are CONVERSATIONS

Here's wishing you all a prosperous 2007 that makes you HAPPY.

My wish for our Lonehill community in 2007 is that our NEW LRA leadership recognises that the world of community and associated technologies - aka social networking - has changed markedly over the past 6 years since launching our community initiative. What was done in the past may very well not work in the future.

The change is akin to moving from the ox-wagon agricultural society of the early 1800's to Stevenson's 'Rocket' steam engine (1829) that ushered in new Industrial Revolution innovations of the time.

And that's my wish for us in 2007... innovative leadership & ideas in Lonehill.

We need leadership to recognise that communities are about conversations, collaborations, connections, communications. That communities must be OPEN... not 'closed'. That all comments and contributions (no matter how mature or immature) are to be welcomed for the input and insight that can be gathered from them. That there are no such things as community conversations that are 'negative' or 'anti' or 'slanging matches' unless leadership gets too sensitive or precious about themselves and cannot handle the criticism that comes with the position.

Here's some examples of how other 'communities' prepare for the above:

1. Building Blocks To Community Inclusion - a deliciously simple insight into stimulating community conversations. PDF
2. Vancouver Foundation: Community Conversations - Honest, open assessment feedback of internal/external challenges. PDF
3. Strengthening Community Collaborations - Simple layout of frameworks and processes for stimulating collaboration
4. ‘Conversation, Community, Connection, and Collaboration: Practical, New Technologies for User-Centered Services' - technical
5. The Attributes Of Community - Great piece on what makes a community buzz (see also ten tools for network building)
6. A Community Conversation - A professional assessment example format for stimulating feedback. PDF
7. The Cluetrain Manifesto - Markets Are Conversations - Elvis said it best: "We can't go on together with suspicious minds."

Here's what I'd like to see happening ASAP in Lonehill (preferably before end January - seem to recall that this is an LRA intention)... an intensive collaborative meeting of all interested and specifically-invited stakeholders to contribute their input into what will make Lonehill GREAT.

I'd like to see Malcolm Pike and his team from Crawford College there (with pupil representatives perhaps Grades 10's and 11's who can form a junior LRA council to add their inputs and innovations); local Church leaders and their teams; all complex and street leaders; business leaders (especially representing major business interests in and around our community); fire station and police/metro leaders, et al.

To my mind, we MUST have a community of some of the most talented individuals in society to have made it in life and business in and around Lonehill... why not tap into this source of immense innovation and ideas?

More than anything, wouldn't it be great to wrap up such a meeting with a social game of 20-over cricket - the community vs. the pupils and teachers of Crawford - to begin an annual tradition in Lonehill..? I can see braais burning and salads being eaten on the bank as the community wolf-whistles and cat-calls the heroes and fluffs of the day. If I can still see the ball I'd love to play - perhaps there can be a handicap advantage for over-50's... ;-)

Above picture found on link to Village Green Cricket.

May your 2007 be everything you want it to be.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

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

Here's OUR Challenge & Why WE Must Speak UP

What is our BIGGEST challenge that we face in this community?

Well, if you had driven up Franshoek Drive on Tuesday morning you would have seen it with your own eyes... spread-eagled at the feet of our local security reaction personnel and police officers.

From what I hear, it seems that THREE opportunists - reportedly from Alexandra - rang the bell of a Franshoek Drive home. When no one answered, they jumped the wall and attempted to force their way into the home.

Fortunately they were seen by construction workers up the road who raised the alarm with Fidelity and, together with some domestic gardeners a miscreant was apprehended... later leading to the arrest of two others.

For me, this shows how all DECENT South Africans, regardless of race, colour or creed, are sick & tired of crime and willingly pitch in together to fight it.

As if to underscore the point I am about to make, on Thursday I received a call from an elderly friend who was in a severe state of shock as his daughter-in-law had just been released after a two-hour ordeal of being accosted and tied up in her Blairgowrie home by THREE black teenagers - youngsters - again reportedly stating that they were from Alexandra.

And now this incident report just arrives in my inbox: 'Robyn street, Jukskei Park - The complainant arrived home at approximately 17h55. As she stopped her vehicle to wait for the garage doors to open, three black males accosted her. They pulled her out of the vehicle and forced her into the house where they threatened to rape her if she didn't show the the safe. The complainant opened a safe. The following property was taken by the suspects : ID books and Passports, house keys [with panic alarm and remotes], credit cards, DSTV; DVD player, cellphone, jewellery. The suspects took the complainant back to the garage where they tied her up with electrical cable. They stole her vehicle, a blue Mini Cooper, registration number *******. This vehicle was later recovered by NETSTAR in Alexandra township.'

Notice any commonalities?

My Point: Our challenge will be to proactively stem the influx of opportunistic criminal elements into our midst and thereby to protect our families peace-of-mind and security.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not bleating about living in South Africa. Having traveled widely, I love this place as one of the best locations in the world. Also, lest anyone interpret what I am about to share incorrectly, I'm not being xenophobic in any way at all. I believe that people should be able to relocate freely to improve their lot. However, I also believe that organised and opportunistic crime is a hugely-increasing social phenomenon almost everywhere in the world.

Here's where our challenge gets bigger. If you think that our community challenge is going to get any easier, you've got another think coming. Take a look at this report on economist Mike Schusler's research: More illegals set to flood SA - 23/11/2006 21:13 - here are the key extracts from the report:

- 'South Africa is home to as many as 10 million illegal immigrants and must brace for a flood of new arrivals'

- 'Yes, some of them are involved in criminal activities.'

- 'Schussler said the positives of having so many illegal immigrants far outweighed the negatives for South Africa.'

WE must speak up for MASSIVE ACTION & PREPAREDNESS in our community. WE must be prepared for BIGGER challenges coming - both positive and negative. WE must stimulate NEW IDEAS & INNOVATIONS. WE must support those who recognise that we cannot afford to sit back and rest on our laurels. We must speak up against any lack-of-interest/enthusiasm and incompetence within our own structures.

I'm a believer that the little things are very important - which is why I fume as this week I again drive past scrappy little posters left on street poles for days, graffiti (it's still there outside of Studio Park and Lonehill Village Estate) and developing potholes appearing once again.

Do our service providers honestly have no understanding of the Broken Windows Syndrome?

Personally, I believe it can only be laziness, lack of interest, or gross incompetence that allows such little things to continue unattended in our community. It seems that our service providers management are not touring Lonehill twice daily to see what I see. Sometimes I get the feeling that they are 'majoring in minor things' in their cushy little office environments. Get out and manage by walking around! Soon the long grass is coming because of the big rains... are we ready for it? The little things do count.

And then, the BIG things are MASSIVELY IMPORTANT in my opinion.

Here are some of the biggies (amongst others):

1. Communication about crime in our community. Hey, we're all adults! I, for one, can handle the reality of what's happening around me. But, I want to KNOW about it so that I can make up my own mind as to what to do. I want to know that these gangs are operating in threes, I want to know that they are youngsters, I want to know that our proactive security guards know this so that they can question/follow loiterers. I want to know what is happening in my community that can potentially compromise my family's safety and security, don't you? Let's get past the old nonsense of restricting information to the few, this ain't the apartheid era... this community needs more open revelation of mature information and instant spreading of crime alerts.

2. Strategy, Communication & Marketing. Please someone, SHOW me consistently that we are treating our initiative seriously as a MULTI-million rand per annum initiative... and GROWING it. Show me how EVERYONE who wants to contribute - the astute minds and leaders in this community (they're here in big numbers) - is/are being encouraged to contribute and being harnessed to achieve these BIG objectives. I've already begun to get the feeling that this may unfold, but I'd like to see quarterly OPEN public meetings and highly visible indications/signs/PR demonstrating this commitment.

3. Show me the money - BIG MONEY thinking. Everything we need for our future community initiative success - security, environment, administation, innovation, progress, social responsibility, charity et al - all requires funding. There is a limit to the funding that will come from our internal database. Show me the BIG innovative ideas & projects designed to attract MASSIVE funding from alternative sources. Show me something out-of-the-box, off-the-wall, totally unique, perhaps a world-class initiative, that says we undestand our MASSIVE future challenge for this community: More illegals set to flood SA.

Don't be silent... SPEAK UP..! It is important that WE all share our opinions - intelligent, real discourse even if confrontational and controversial - so that our community leaders can understand what we want and how we think. After all, this is OUR community initiative, WE launched it, WE fund it, WE drive it. WE want to know what's in it for us (WIIFM - what's in it for me) and we want to SEE the clear benefits from making our personal contributions - whether through time, money and/or effort.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Aaaah... REFRESHING Winds Of Change

Isn't CHANGE great?

I feel as though I again have the rare privilige of experiencing an exciting NEW dynamic unfold in Lonehill.

Having had the pleasure of a visit from new LRA Chair: Rob Gillespie during the week, and taking up the innovative LRA invitation to meet with new LRA directors at the Lonehill Mugg & Bean on Saturday (a great 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. initiative to get to meet the LRA directors), I get the distinct feeling that refreshing winds of change are set to take Lonehill on a POSITIVE new course.

As I looked into the eyes of the NEW directors sitting around the coffee table (and of those directors who popped along to say 'hi'), and listened to their enthusiastic sketching of NEW ideas, new objectives, new perspectives, and different approaches... I saw something that for me has been missing in Lonehill's leadership over the past while - a sparkle in the eye, a new ENTHUSIASM, people on a mission, people with FRESH minds.

For me, one of the essential arts of LEADERSHIP is the ability to listen, and I noted that when a concerned resident was talking, this new team was listening... and the new Chair was taking notes!

I like the way that they are going about their work. They seem decisive, committed, open to input... and most important - cheerful.

To me, to have serious folk willing to step up a gear to take our community to a HIGHER LEVEL conveys the ultimate respect to all those Greater Lonehill residents/stakeholders who launched and contributed to the foundation-building phase of the Lonehill Community Initiative.

I think that these folk on the current LRA are going to do it - they're going to make BIG THINGS HAPPEN! I feel it in my water. I'm EXCITED.

Now, why is this initiative so important that I comment as regularly as I do? Why have I made it my personal mission to ensure that it never collapses through lack of interest?

Well, it is because of the times that we live in, whether we like it or not, wherever one may be in the world, our families peace-of-mind and security is at continual risk almost every day. In South Africa we know that criminal elements are all around us waiting to rip us off. It's just life as we live it today. And, we owe it to our families to make sure that the 'good guys' win for a change.

On Thursday night in Bryanston, my matriculating daughter's school-friends were gathering at a celebration function when accosted by 3 cool-looking, smooth-talking, armed black dudes who proceeded to clean them out of their cell-phones and jewelry and who hijacked three vehicles to cart away the hosts most valuable appliances. The matriculants, of all race groups, including some of their parents were locked into bathrooms and ordered to stay silent to avoid being shot.

This is happening now, today, all around us... and no one is safe from these opportunistic thugs, regardless of race, colour, creed or whatever. I have the distinct feeling that their modus operandi is changing to hit private functions as soft targets over the coming pre-Christmas celebration weeks. But, we can outsmart them!

The Lonehill Community Initiative offers an opportunity to live a relatively 'normal' life if one calls on the LRA security provider to relocate their roving guard in your area just a few hundred metres to keep an eye over any gathering of people and their cars during partying. A simple preparatory call can save lives. Be aware. Build a relationship with YOUR community security initiative.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Community Security - Who VISIBLY Dominates Wins!

Taking an early morning walk around Lonehill last Sunday, I was struck by the number of competing security company boards encroaching on walls and fences of properties on critical corners and visible approaches where Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) boards used to be and/or should be.

I was also struck by the high visibility of three competing security company vehicles CRUISING around Lonehill in the hour that I spent around the village - almost in a show of DOMINANCE.

Anyone with the slightest semblance of marketing nous can see what's happening... competing security companies know that 'he/she who visibly dominates a community wins'. It's a game of persistence... and the persistent slowly eat away at the edges until they dominate. Which is where they were in this community before we residents changed the rules of the game back in 2000.

Seems to me that the battle is seriously on to wrest Lonehill's security revenue back from the hands of the LRA - representing contributing residents. And our own internal forces don't seem to see it happening right under their noses.

If they did, they would be making MASSIVELY VISIBLE innovative marketing/promotion 'noises' in the community to stand out above this clear competition... or to at least bring the competition into the community contributing loop.

Oh yes, I'll get the argument: '..but we have our visible street guards posted all around Lonehill.' Again, I say, if one has the slightest semblance of marketing nous one will understand that 'familiarity breeds contempt', and that these guards have been around for so long doing the same old things that they have just faded away into the community backdrop - no one really notices them anymore.

Let me demonstrate how this works: our service providers KNOW that graffiti is an absolute no-no in this community, yet daily they drive by graffiti that has been on their Studio Park electrical box for over 9 months now. Let alone that on the electrical boxes at Lonehill Village Estate. They just don't see it. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Still not being privy to any numbers from the past 18 - 24 months... and still no one from the LRA talking openly with concerned residents in OPEN meetings (a bit disappointing, I must say)... I am guesstimating that we have lost close to 18% of our individual houshold base of contributors due to a combination of the above 'lack of visibility' and poor follow-up support service from our local providers.

I also guesstimate that the LRA actually reaches less than 10% of our total householder base of +- 5000 households (I am told) via the LRA email newsletter. Would love to see physical evidence from simple tests that can be conducted to show the contrary.

I am hoping that the NEW LRA board members are jacking-up where I believe the cause of the poor service lay/lies. I do see encouraging signs of an increase in alertness all around.. ;-)

But here's my advice on the visibility side... make something MASSIVE happen... do something OUTRAGEOUS... capture the hearts and minds of your target market - make your visible points of presence far more PROMINENT... do it REGULARLY... get service providers to show this community how they really CARE for this community's business... outperform the encroaching competition by 1000%..! Until you do this the competition keeps eroding our contributor base away and we all lose.

Unless we all shake and stir, shake and stir, shake and stir (the benefits of which I sense can already be felt stemming from the shaking up of the LRA out of its recent slumber) ...our community initiative goes down the tubes. As it is we've already relinquished our claim to fame as innovators in community security dominating the moral high ground. It's time to make a MASSIVE play to recapture that position... it needs MASSIVE INNOVATION... it needs BIG THINKING... it can be done... by bringing the savvy of quality minds in this community into play.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790

Will Change Of Order Bring Change Of 'Order'?

I almost missed a little byline on the last LRA Group mailing proclaiming: LRA Chairman: Rob Gillespie .

This is Rob Gillespie's pen picture presented at the AGM: 'Rob has lived in Lonehill for 2 years and is an electrical engineer by qualification. He previously acted as the chairperson for the Glenferness Residents Association and was actively involved in setting up their security initiative. He has been chairperson of the board of Welgevonden (the largest privately owned game reserve in South Africa) for 7 years. Rob has organisational strengths and would like to serve the community by providing management and control experience.'

Well, congrats on being voted in as Chairman, Rob... whilst I don't believe that we have met, I certainly hope that YOU can bring some fresh thinking and initiative to leading a massive change in the recent past order of things.

And, what is that past 'order' that needs to be changed? In my opinion, over the last +-18 months, it has been the seemingly confused order of... 'FIRE... er, Ready... er, Aim'.

An example of this was the strange approach to pre-investing in and preparing to foist Community Improvement District (CID) status on this community as the 'only' solution for our future. The 'only' solution - says who?

CID may well be only a small part (say 10 to 20%) of an overall solution to funding our community project. Meaning that we could well be missing a good 80% to 90% in alternative funding innovations and initiatives that could be the future backbone of this community.

Proposing a list of 'one' solution only and jumping to conclusions... leads to tunnel vision, and if combined with a 'FIRE'-first mentality can lead to one barking up the wrong tree.

Another example of 'FIRE... er, Ready... er, Aim' seems to have been the Ian Bell affair. Did he 'resign' as we were told or was he unceremoniously dumped? Did he take the LRA on and 'win' a settlement of some type as the Lonehill grapevine suggests? In an atmosphere of low trust where people close up shop on information, it is difficult to get to the truth. It just seems that someone or some group had a knack for shooting themselves in the foot. That's the problem with 'FIRE... er, Ready... er, Aim'.

I can point to a number of further such examples to highlight my point, but it is perhaps not conducive to building an atmosphere of NEW positive input should they be raked up again. I really am pinning my hopes for NEW positive developments on the NEW blood on the LRA board to become open, transparent and inclusive of stakeholders input on everything they do. Hopefully the lessons have been learnt.

So the first change of order is to get back to some simple basics of leadership strategy - getting to understand the lay of the land: i.e. 'Ready, Aim, FIRE'.

For example, if individual contributing householders have declined by +-18% in the last +-18% months to only +- 20% of the total number of individual households contributing (all while costs mushroomed), perhaps some house-to-house market research of the ENTIRE community is needed (it's only 5000 households, for goodness sake).

i.e. Find out what your Stakeholders want. Find out what their mass individual WIIFM (what's-in-it-for-me) needs are... and build an incredible WORLD-CLASS value proposition that makes it a no-brainer for them to get on board.

It's clear to me that there are many savvy successful business strategists and implementers living in this community who can contribute to Lonehill becoming a WORLD CLASS initiative... if they were just openly invited in to contribute into a consultative forum. So when do we get our FIRST open community forum meeting to contribute into..?

For those reading the POSITIVE article extracts and insights into quality Community Leadership that I refer to in each of my communications (and there is so much of this material available it's almost inexcusable to not consider applying it) you may be interested in reading the "7 C’s" of leadership development for social change (click on the link).

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790

Community Leadership for DUMMIES..!

And so, after the July 2006 LRA AGM debacle, and much in-between indignant wailing and baring of fangs, I hear that last Tuesday's 'repeat' LRA 2006 AGM was a much more genteel affair with a NEW board of directors elected.

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, , EXCELLENCE and INNOVATION to increase the peace-of-mind and quality-of-life benefits to residents.

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

Why Stirring The Pot Makes For A Great Stew

After last night's 2nd meeting of proactive 'concerned residents' - aka the LRA Reform Group - I am reminded of the fresh, enthusiastic optimism within the Lonehill community team when, in 2001, we inititiated the merger of our Lonehill Security Action Group (LSAG) into a then moribund and technically-bankrupt LRA.

The impact on our community was AMAZING then... and I get the feeling that an even GREATER impact is about to be felt once again.

I was considering an alternative title for this piece - 'Why Stirring The Pot Is Better Than Boiling The Frog'... so you can choose which best suits this dual analogy below.

Quite simply, I believe that the syndrome of the boiling frog crept up on certain individuals responsible for ensuring service delivery and leadership within our LRA project over the past +- 18 months. In my opinion, with the temperature in the water never having been ratcheted too much above 'tepid', the LRA 'frog' became too fat, comfortable and glazy-eyed to notice what was beginning to happen around it.

The 2006 LRA AGM debacle then resulted in the heat being raised instantly under the pot which has made things extremely uncomfortable for the 'frog'... and the 'frog' doesn't like it.

So onto my second little analogy of the heat now being turned up under a pot of cooking stew. The more one turns the heat up, the more one needs to stir the pot to avoid two possible disasters in order to ensure that it becomes a GREAT stew:

1. The burning of the stew at the bottom of the pot - in which case, you may as well throw the stew away, and

2. In many recipes for great stews you will notice that - scum floats - and the accomplished cook tends to stir the pot to infuse the flavours or to remove the scum.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management - www.mrsbeeton.com
Stew gently for about 1/2 hour, and serve garnished with sippets of toasted bread. ... and as fast as the scum rises to the surface of the water, remove it. ...
www.mrsbeeton.com/17-chapter17.html - 105k - Cached - Similar pages

Point 2. seems to have been taken up by some some of the world's leading life masters to state these quotes:

"Society is like a stew. If you don’t keep it stirred up, you get a lot of scum on top." — Ed Abbey

'Life is like a stew, you have to stir it frequently, or all the scum rises to the top.' - Tom Robbins

So, I am more than comfortable that a little stirring of the pot will result in a much better stew that will be even tastier than we have ever had in Lonehill.

Just listening to the new, fresh inputs last night, I got to wondering if they had all been reading the "Seven Essential Skills for Teamwork" :
Listening to each others' ideas.

- Asking each other questions both to clarify and challenge ideas.

- Seeking to persuade others that your ideas are sound.

- Respecting each other's role in the discussion.

- Helping each team member to express and understand ideas.

- Sharing one's insights and information with other team members.

- Participating fully and equally in the task at hand.

Now, therein lies a great recipe for cooking up an LRA stew to benefit our community.

Regards
Trevor Nel
Lonehill Resident - 705-2790

Something Rotten In Lonehill's Hamlet?

Following the Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) July 2006 AGM financials debacle, the clear showing of a majority of dissatisfied hands, and the apparently disturbing consequent clamp-down of access-to-information as requested by concerned residents, I experience this uncomfortable ringing in my ears of Marcellus words' in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

Of latest concern is the staggering and unprecedented announcement from the LRA office, effectively stripping all Lonehill Community Initiative contributors of their LRA Membership status.

Lonehill residents responsible for contributing to the success of the Lonehill community security initiative and previously having been recognised by the LRA, by stated intention, invitation and process, as being eligible to vote at previous meetings, are now required to 'apply' to the LRA to become registered as voting members. By my reading, only then may they record their dissatisfaction or otherwise at the second-attempt repeat of the LRA AGM - set to take place at 19:00h on Tuesday 17th October at Crawford Preparatory School in Sceales Road, Lonehill.

This writer implores Lonehill residents to take note of and question events unfolding in the current affairs of Lonehill's critically-needed LRA community initiative and, if deemed necessary, return it to the the principles of common sense, open transparency, integrity of purpose, and mass community involvement that were the hallmarks of our 2001 security initiative's multi-million rand success.

In my personal opinion, we must ensure that we avoid the bumbling bureaucracy of a ‘command and control’ hierarchy and keep Lonehill residents fully in control of our own Association.

by Trevor Nel - Lonehill resident and initiator of the Lonehill community security project

Do WE Demonstrate The Characteristics of TRUE Community..?

Following the lack of delivery of financials at the the Lonehill AGM 2006, the Lonehill grapevine is now rife with all manner of concerns related to the management of our community initiative.

Given that everybody has the responsibility and right to raise issues of serious concern in their community, and that we should all be deeply concerned at the evidential reactions to such questions being raised at the AGM (and by many since), then the NEUTRAL information below is submitted to stimulate further thought on the issue.

Lets raise the simple question as to whether WE - as residents, stakeholders, leaders et al - can look at the 'salient characteristics of true community' identified by author Dr. M. Scott Peck below and honestly assess with rightful pride that WE are successfully on track with demonstrating these characteristics... or whether WE should be ashamed and embarrassed at being so far off track.

How do YOU believe WE compare..? And based on your answer, what do you believe is the way forward for OUR community initiative..? Please feel free to interact by adding your comment to this article.

Extract from Answers.com:

Community building
In his book The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace', Scott Peck says that community has three essential ingredients:

- Inclusivity
- Commitment
- Consensus

Based on his experience with community building workshops, Scott Peck says that community building typically goes through four stages:

Pseudocommunity: This is a stage where the members pretend to have a bon homie with one another, and cover up their differences, by acting as if the differences do not exist. Pseudocommunity can never directly lead to community, and it is the job of the person guiding the community building process to shorten this period as much as possible.

Chaos: When pseudocommunity fails to work, the members start falling upon each other, giving vent to their mutual disagreements and differences. This is a period of chaos. It is a time when the people in the community realize that differences cannot simply be ignored. Chaos looks counterproductive but it is the first genuine step towards community building.

Emptiness: After chaos comes emptiness. At this stage, the people learn to empty themselves of those ego related factors that are preventing their entry into community. Emptiness is a tough step because it involves the death of a part of the individual. But, Scott Peck argues, this death paves the way for the birth of a new creature, the Community.

True community: Having worked through emptiness, the people in community are in complete empathy with one another. There is a great level of tacit understanding. People are able to relate to each other's feelings. Discussions, even when heated, never get sour, and motives are not questioned.

The four stages of community formation are somewhat related to a model in organisation theory for the five stages that a team goes through during development.

These five stages are:

Forming where the team members have some initial discomfort with each other but nothing comes out in the open. They are insecure about their role and position with respect to the team. This corresponds to the initial stage of pseudocommunity.

Storming where the team members start arguing heatedly and differences and insecurities come out in the open. This corresponds to the second stage given by Scott Peck, namely chaos.

Norming where the team members lay out rules and guidelines for interaction that help define the roles and responsibilities of each person. This corresponds to emptiness, where the community members think within and empty themselves of their obsessions to be able to accept and listen to others.

Performing where the team finally starts working as a cohesive whole, and effectively achieve the tasks setof themselves. In this stage individuals are aided by the group as a whole where necessary, in order to move further collectively than they could achieve as a group of separated individuals.

Transforming This corresponds to the stage of true community. This represents the stage of celebration, and when individuals leave, as they must, there is a genuine feeling of grief, and a desire to meet again. Traditionally this stage was often called "Mourning".

It is in this third stage that Scott Peck's community building methods differ in principle from team development. While teams in business organizations need to develop explicit rules, guidelines and protocols during the norming stage, the emptiness' stage of community building is characterized, not by laying down the rules explicitly, but by shedding the resistance within the minds of the individuals.

Scott Peck has started the Foundation for Community Encouragement to promote the formation of communities, which, he argues, are a first step towards uniting humanity and saving us from self destruction.

The Meaning of True Community
Peck describes what he considers to be the most salient characteristics of a true community.

- Inclusivity, commitment and consensus: Members accept and embrace each other, celebrating their individuality and transcending their differences. They commit themselves to the effort and the people involved. They make decisions and reconcile their differences through consensus.

- Realism: Members bring together multiple perspectives to better understand the whole context of the situation. Decisions are more well-rounded and humble, rather than one-sided and arrogant.

- Contemplation: Members examine themselves. They are individually and collectively self-aware of the world outside themselves, the world inside themselves, and the relationship between the two.

- A safe place: Members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.

- A laboratory for personal disarmament: Members experientially discover the rules for peacemaking and embrace its virtues. They feel and express compassion and respect for each other as fellow human beings.

- A group that can fight gracefully: Members resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace. They listen and understand, respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, bind each others’ wounds, and commit to a struggle together rather than against each other.

- A group of all leaders: Members harness the “flow of leadership” to make decisions and set a course of action. It is the spirit of community itself that leads and not any single individual.

- A spirit: The true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. Members may view the source of this spirit as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Trevor Nel - Lonehill Resident - 705-2790

When Is an AGM Not An AGM..?

When there are no financial statements prepared for serious community stakeholders who give up their valuable time to attend the MOST IMPORTANT meeting of any Association's year.

It is time that some of the PASSIONATE contributors to the development of the Lonehill Community Initiative make their voices heard once again... to DEMAND that Lonehill Service Providers make an immediate and major upward adjustment in their attitudes towards service delivery and customer support.

In this writer's opinion, we are being delivered a service that is below MEDIOCRE and, in some key areas, borders on the INCOMPETENT, despite the fact that we pay full-time professionals good money to deliver the goods.

Most glaring weaknessess of 2006 have been an almost total incompetence in the areas of Marketing, Communication & Innovation befitting of the foundation laid by the many PASSIONATE committed volunteers who have sweated blood to get this community initiative off the ground.

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.

Trevor Nel - Lonehill Resident - 705-2790