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The Committee Member

Posted 7 months, 17 days ago

The Committee Member
Strange thing about sailing and other clubs the world over, they are run by committees composed of volunteers who are 'elected' to their positions of trust. We 'elect' these people to run our clubs, pay them nothing, take away their enjoyment of why they joined the club in the first place and occasionally abuse them for 'not doing a good job' or 'not paying attention to detail' or 'not being available' during the time they are supposed to be at work putting bread on the table. I use the term 'elect' very loosely as most of the time these people are 'co-erced', forced to 'walk the plank' or identified as having 'leadership potential'. Don't get me started on the people who volunteer to run and staff our regattas. Imagine if you had to employ a new staff member under the following conditions: Work in the sun, rain and on a heaving boat for 8 hours per day. Return to shore and take abuse from sailors whilst also acting as a Jury Officer. Working time to include Public Holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. Remuneration: One packed lunch a day and a bottle of warm red wine at the prizegiving. How many thousands of people would line up to do the job above? Not one I am sure. Okay, so we have now established that there are certain tasks associated with yacht clubs and regattas that really, to put it mildly, SUCK. And yet, we still get people standing up year after year and doing these thankless tasks, Why? Well, the way I see it, the world is made up of two distinct groups; Givers and Takers. The Givers volunteer to stand on committees and man regattas, and the Takers tell the Givers to "Go To Hell". This is not a diatribe for or against one group or the other, just plain fact based on years of quietly working in the background GIVING. Sometimes the line between giving and taking becomes blurred and the givers appear to other givers to be takers, but that is just too deep to go into on a Thursday after the Wednesday the night before! I am going to tell you the secret to ensure that a GIVER stays motivated. It is the most simple thing in the world and will not cost you a cent. But before that happens let's put the amount of GIVING a normal Executive Committee member from ABYC puts into his volunteer job. Don't forget that this volunteer job actually ends up costing the committee member money as in promotion of the club he or she will: Use private resources such as cellphone, landline, cameras, computers, printers, secretarial time, bandwidth and stationery in the conduct of his job. When promoting the club to outsiders drinks and snacks are for the Committee members account, not ABYC's. Continuous purchasing of Chocolates and Flowers for the better half as compensation for HAVING FUN at the yacht club and ignoring the longhair. Sundry purchases of fuel and other running costs for regattas. Reminds me of another indefatigable volunteer, nicknamed Mrs List, as I embark on yet another list of average time spent on Yacht Club Affairs by Committee Members: One Exco Meeting a month - one hour preparation plus two hours meeting. New members meetings - two hours a month. Portfolio Meetings - one hour preparation plus two hours meeting per month. Portfolio Admin - ranges from portfolio to portfolio, average probably around an hour a day per weekday. Portfolio Activities - the more active portfolios average around 16 hours a week. Grand Total of time spent on Volunteer Activities: 98 hours per month. Maybe I shouldn't publish these figures as I will probably chase all volunteers away. Bringing the employment analogy back, let us have a look at the figure of 98 hours and let us say that a lot of that time could be construed as being yakking, non productive, schmoozing time and put an actual work related figure of 50 HOURS down. Now take the number 50 and times it by the amount of money you earn per hour (In my case the figure comes to One Thousand Million Dollars Zimbabwean! By the way, who put the bob in Zimbobwe?). The big question is; "Could you afford to give up that amount of money and volunteer to work on a committee?" If the answer is no, then thank your lucky stars that we still have people who volunteer and do the work that demands broad shoulders, thick skin and the occasional deaf ear to abuse and people saying; "You C**** do not know how to organise a piss up in a brewery", "Go to Hell", "Are you so stupid that you don't know that I have paid?", "Why haven't you fixed X?", "The problem with this club is....", "I want .....", "Make sure that the following happens....." And my personal favourite is when sitting having a meal with family who haven't seen you in a social setting in ages, you get approached by a member who says; "I just walked past such and such a problem and I want you to sort it out NOW." Just as in business where 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your clients, so it is in any club or association. At least when you are in business you can make the decision to retain or release that client and there is the mild sense of satisfaction you get from knowing that that client IS paying you and keeping food on YOUR table. Not so in the club or association situation where the relationships are much more complex and are 'not really' supposed to run along accepted business lines, OR are they? I challenge any one of the hundreds of committee members that ABYC has had in the past to stand up and state categorically that being a member of the committee was a rewarding experience that led to many profitable business contacts. Each and every committee member leaves the committee with a bitter taste in his or her mouth as we, as a nation, have still not become accomplished enough to ease the past aside to make way for the future of fresh ideas, eyes and legs. Sad. Lest I be accused of being an old moaning grouch, let's get to the good stuff and talk about how to reward a committee member in such a way that he or she puts even more effort, time and enthusiasm into looking after your club: Say "Thank You", not publicly but privately, and start with all ex committee members first. Take one aside and express your appreciation. Volunteer without being asked. Come with a solution, NOT a problem. Take ownership of your club, don't expect a small committee to do it for you. When aggrieved, go straight to that person who p***** you off and try to meet halfway. Have FUN. Go SAILING. Remember that YOU are a shareholder in the club, the better it becomes, the more valuable your share - simple Mathematics. Invite a Committee Member to sit at your table - the only reason why this particular breed called Commitus Excessus congregate together is because they are afraid that members will give them more WORK or COMPLAIN. Never forget that even although a Committee Member is a volunteer, each and every one of them only wants to give YOU and the club the best service humanly possible. You catch more bees with Honey than with Vinegar. Waddya Think? Hit the Leave a Comment link below and MOAN, if you dare :-) Full Story »

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