Going Forward

​It is true my mind does go all over the place. I console myself in the fact that if I am mad, I am happy mad. Yesterday was dinosaurs and today is completely different.

I have been considering why people leave an organization. There are many valid reasons such as moving or going to a place where a person may be a better fit. The reasons I am looking at, are undesirable ones. Ones where the failure was on the part of the organization being represented.

That to me has always been a sad thing. When I was in charge of the table tennis club, I was always wanting feedback. What I wanted to avoid was someone leaving because of a failure on my part. Part of the reason I wanted feedback is that the only way to do anything about something is to know if its existence.

There are those that know but do not care. Mostly they are building their own little edifice and people are a means to their own end only.

I had a simple philosophy concerning other organizations that had the power over us. Make them look good and they would want to make us look good. It was a case of our needs being met as we met the needs of others.

I feel it is impossible to change the sort of culture concerned only for itself without there being a willingness to change from the top.
I do remember intercepting a guy I knew was not happy at the club. I intercepted him in the car park and we had a good talk about what was troubling him, and how we could make adjustments where concerns were legitimate.

I will never forget the guy telling me that before our talk he was not coming back, but after it he had decided to stay.

That to me is what clubs need to be about. They do not exist only as a means of self-perpetuation, but they exist to meet the needs of those who attend so that want to return and more than that, contribute to it. The club I was involved in was a table tennis club. Some may think that the needs of a table tennis club are to provide a place to play table tennis only.

But I found needs extend beyond that. The culture needs to be genuinely welcoming. It needs to be a place a person wants to return to, because not only are the things required to play table tennis provided, but it is a place where friendships are made. A place where it is possible that lifelong friendships result.

Most clubs intent only on self-perpetuation die. It is amazing the number of clubs and organizations that cease to exist as a result of there being nothing more to them except their own existence. This is an observation only. It is the result of the study of many clubs. When a club succeeds or fails I want to know why. All clubs form a part of a bigger picture and trends emerge.

I know I do not gravitate to something that exists for itself alone. I want to be involved in something I feel is going somewhere. Something that I want to be a part of, and although work may be involved, it is rewarding work. Work that has an outcome that improves the lot of many rather than maybe one concerned only for themself alone.

Building is not easy, but it is worth it.