When NFP Boards give the impression that they are doing something?

We got our first black and white television set in 1958 which was a major event for our family and initially the whole family spent most of the afternoon and into the evening watching it no matter what was on. We even watched and liked the ads!!

 

One such ad was for Trix Detergent which the Cussons Company marketed as the first sudless detergent. The main message was that suds were nothing but froth and bubble on the surface whilst nothing was happening below the water.

 

The initial shot was of a raging ocean which then panned to a sink of sudsy water and the script went along the lines of " Beneath the swirl of froth and foam, What mysteries? What deeds go on?" then the camera panned beneath the water to a nice clear sink of water then the "tag line" - "Absolutely Nothing"!!!

 

I am constantly reminded of this ad when I watch from outside the Ryde Ex Services Memorial and Community Club Ltd ( Under Deed of Company Arrangement) from which I am still suspended for having the audacity to criticise the actions of the previous Board for its failed governance of the Members' Funds.

 

Apparently the Administrator, Mr Greg Russell, has a team of staff overseeing the operation with the assistance of a 7 man Committee of elected members.

 

I have been viewing this operation for the nearly six months since the Administrator was appointed and the nearly three months since the "Committee of Management" were elected and I will attempt to analyse the result.

 

I do occasionally talk to a few of the Committee but as far as I can see despite meeting on an almost weekly basis for three months the only change that has so far been effected to the "failed business model" is the change of hours for the daily " Happy Hour".

 

Now as I have previously asserted that most Boards of Licensed Clubs in New South Wales, at least, are composed of " bogans, barflies, bums,losers or no-hopers" I am not surprised by this lack of results on behalf of the Administrator or the Committee in a Company that needs urgent resuscitation but I am amused that these people actually believe they are conducting some sort of business strategy.

 

"Do nothing " is not and never has been an effective business strategy. To continue the above nautical analogy most Boards of Licensed Clubs think that by providing poker machines, a bar, a bistro and maybe a function room that all they have to do is sit back and wait for the customers to arrive. This is akin to launching a boat and relying on the currents, winds and tides to push you to a certain destination.  That destination, however attractive it may be, is not planned and there is no guarantee that you will stay there unless you do something proactive to either anchor the boat or take up some power unit that puts you in control of the boat's progress.

The current actions by the Administrator and the Committee of Management and lack of any business plan employs the old Tibetan tradition of busyness which is the art of conducting lively but meaningless activities and producing "absolutely nothing" !!

This has often been referred to as the "ultimate laziness".