Different Strokes for Different Folks

Australian statistics showed 78% of table tennis players were men and 22% women.
We wanted to increase the percentage of women playing.  So at our planning day we showed the statistics and outlined a possible plan.   We held planning days every year and anyone in the club could attend.  We also invited speakers from other sports who had been successful in an area of need for us.  The Women’s National Table Tennis Competition was born.  We made it happen because we wanted it, but it was work.
That has come to mind because I was thinking how so often people say we need something and then go to where it is happening, rather than make it happen where they are.
Sometimes it is right to move on and at other times the solution is not to just complain, but to do something.  Sometimes I am the solution.  It is not a forcing of something despite others, but working with others.
Volunteers are becoming harder and harder to get.  So many organizations say there is an absence of young people to take on the tasks.  There is a real sense of organizations dying out unless people are willing to take up the mantle.
A lot of what I think is theory rather than practice, but it is certainly what I would try if I was in the position to do so.  Some things I have done.  Some not.  They may have been the next step, but the operation intervened.
I have a real problem with people doing things the same way and expecting different results.  To me, a different approach is needed.  When it comes to volunteers, I prefer it is not just anyone to fill a role, but someone who has a passion for the job.  Someone who will take ownership.  Sometimes anyone filling a role is the way to go because no-one else steps forward.  Somethings just need to be done.  Occasionally a perceived role is more a want than a need.  I ask myself what would this look like if it was not there?
I am of the opinion that if something is needed and no one will take it on it is up to the one in charge to see it gets done.  I will never forget a group of us visiting a club and the President cooked the bbq.  I do not know the back story but that to me is leadership.
I am also big on rest and recuperation.  So often people volunteer like they are superman, but no one is.  Everyone has a limit.  That limit can be extended by the wise use of the resource.   Enthusiasm is always good, but enthusiasm without knowledge is doomed.
At the club we went to a free course run over a number of weeknights by someone who had been employed to study clubs.  They knew what worked and what did not.  They had seen it time and again.  So often people think they know best, but experience has taught otherwise.
One thing that stood out was the need to occasionally walk away.  It did not need to be permanent, but a rest always helped with perspective.  To me it also keeps someone who may be the wrong person for the job from becoming entrenched.  It can be inconvenient, but I prefer a flame to burn consistently rather than burn bright and burn out.
 I am a big believer in making things easier rather than harder.  If it works, I’ll do it.