100
Days and Looking Ahead
After participating and witnessing the Gold Coast Marathon on the night
of 6th July 2014, seating at my apartment in Wyndham Surfers Paradise, I
realized that in 10 days, on the 15th July 2014, it would be my 100th day as
president of PAC. While PAC is not a political party, nevertheless, it is not
unreasonable for members to ask their president what has been achieved or being
planned. By coincidence, 15th July 2014 is also the opening day for registration
for the Pacesetters 3030 Run 2014. This event to be scheduled on 2nd
November 2014, will be the first of the three public events the club is
offering to its members.
Forming the Team & Volunteers
Recruitment Strategies
We have made
many small initiatives that will take the club forward. The most significant piece is that we will focus
on people, recruiting the team beyond the 11 elected office bearers. We need
about 35 core volunteers to manage the club’s various initiatives. In the next
E-Fooloose, we will disclose all the names of those that are holding
non-elected positions in the club that will help to drive the club forward.
I am an
admirer of Jim Collin, the author of “Built to Last” and “From Good to Great”.
I consider these two books as essential reading for leaders, not only in the
business field, but across communities such as an NGO like ours.
The first
lesson in the book “From Good to Great” is getting the right people on board. I
have been on the lookout for individuals that can contribute to the club and
have spoken to a number of them. Of course not everyone buy my story and quite
a few turn down my invitation to join the Exco or be appointed in a non-elected
position such as Group Leader etc. As
for those who are holding appointed positions, we reaffirm their commitment or
we accept their decision to discontinue their services.
It
is not easy to recruit volunteers given the current culture in the club, with
members asking “What are the benefits for me”.
While this is a fair question, at this juncture we have to be honest
that we can’t offer much tangible stuff other than a set of club shirts or
merchandise. However, we would like to
convey that serving the club enables one to derive invaluable benefits and memorable
experiences which money cannot buy. To the working adults, it is a good break
from their routine, very healthy and therapeutic, relief stress and help to
recharge, makes one become more effective, enable better time management and
sharpen their management skills. It's an antidote. It works better than a paid
holiday and the best part is that it's free except in the time invested.
To
quote the former President of Maybank, the job will be:
- "Professionally Enriching" -
learning new and sharpen existing skills, broaden exposure;
- "Socially Enlarging" - making new
friends from different circles and strengthening bonds, and
- "Spiritually fulfilling" - contributing
and giving back to society by doing good deeds.
(Source – Chong Ting
Chow, Treasurer PAC)
In my research
back in 2009, I read from the American Association of Retired People (AARP)
website and here is their statement on volunteerism:
•
People volunteer for many reasons. Some people
may want to learn a new skill; others want to make new friends or contribute
their time and talent to improving the well-being of others or society in
general.
•
Many people enjoy a sense of accomplishment
and making a difference in the life of others through their volunteer
activities.
•
Research indicates that people who participate
in their communities through activities like volunteering may lead healthier,
happier and longer lives.
•
AARP encourages all citizens, including older
persons to consider volunteering in their communities.
We will be sending out a flier to
recruit more members for various sub-committees or appointed positions. We
sincerely hope more members will come forward to offer help one way or another.
Communication Sub-Committee
The first
sub-committee we formed was the Communication Group as they play a critical
role in this whole Strategic Plan 2014-19. We are happy to bring on board Linda
Trivino, Michael Gan, Foo Sook Ying and Mahendra, with Tammy Lim our Secretary
of the club as the head. The Footloose has migrated to E-Footloose with the
first issue released on 28 June 2014. Prior to that, our blog was revamped with
Michael Gan as the chief blogger. Mahendra, who was elected into the Exco, had
to relinquish his position as he is a foreigner (Malaysian law does not permit
foreigners to hold elected positions in societies). He is appointed as our administrator
for the club’s new Facebook page (for members only). Sook Ying’s role is to compile
the stories for the Footloose and Linda remains as the Footloose Editor. The
migration of Footloose from print version to e-version has posed some
challenges. While Mahendra has designed the template in WORD, the Communication
Sub-committee has to learn new application skills to complete the formatting
job from various articles, in particular the BC generation. In the computer
era, we have 2 generations of people, the BC and the AC. BC is born before
computers and AC is born after computers. I belong to the BC era but have
successfully acquired new computer skills after my retirement from the bank.
Likewise, Linda & team have to upgrade their computer skills and shortly
they would be able to provide lessons to senior members who are now unable to
keep up with the club’s new mode of communication via electronic medium. We
have discontinued most paper based communication except for the AGM package and
an annual print issue of the Footloose that will have a collection of all
activities of the club in the past 12 months.
Area Group Leaders & Area
Representatives
I instrumented
the formation of the Area Groups back in 2000 as an important strategy to
expand the outreach of the club, which was partially successful. Fast forward
to 2014, we are left with only one functioning area group, the Kuantan Area
Group led by William Chin. The Kuantan Area Group is an excellent example of
what an Area Group should be. We did a diagnosis
of the various Area Groups listed up to the most recent Footloose in March 2014.
We concluded that only four area groups could be salvaged; the Bukit Aman mother
group, Permaisuri, Kiara TTDI, and the Sabak Bernam. We have decided to
discontinue FRIM, Gasing Hills and Bukit Jalil. As for Singapore and Penang
that do not have the required membership base of at least 20 members, we have
re-designated the Group Leaders there as Area Representatives. I have drafted
the revised role and responsibilities of the Area Group Leaders and Area
Representatives but would share them after our Strategic Plan briefing on 19
July 2014.
Strategic Plan 2014 – 19 (Teaser
Only)
We had a
Strategic Planning session on 14 June 2014 at the OCM Board Room and various
ideas were tossed about. I have taken in all the suggestions and have given
them much thought over the last 3 weeks.
As president, I have the prerogative to put in the final touches that I
will share with the Exco and all the appointed position holders on 19 July
2014. Their feedback will be fodder for the refinement of, and thereafter we
will disclose, our strategies in each area to all members. The Strategic Plan
will not be a 100 page blue print but will be a concise booklet focusing on the
WHATs. The HOW, WHO and WHEN would be thought out and executed by
sub-committees appointed to the various initiatives. The Strategic Plan is just
the 1% inspiration and we need the 99% perspiration to make it a success!
Managing Conflict of Interest
When I was
first elected as president on 12 April 2014, I received feedback from friends
that some members had asked how I was going to manage the potential conflict of
interest, given that I am a run event organizer and the club is also involved
in run event management. Good question and I shall take it head on. Conflict of
Interest is not a legal consideration and more of a moral consideration and I
shall use a few examples to properly explain the difference and the materiality
involved. When Tun Daim was appointed Finance Minister, he was a successful
businessman owning several businesses that was worth many millions. To avoid
conflict of interest, it was reported that he put his business in a blind trust
during the duration he was the Finance Minister.
My run event
business is larger than that of the club but not a multi-million dollar
business. It is more of a vocation for a retiree to spend his time rather than
a business. We can’t discuss this on the same breath as that of Tun Daim’s
business. The easiest way to resolve all this is that I do not hold the president
position which is not the solution now as most of the members who voted me in
were aware I have a run event management vocation. The next best solution is to
figure out how to mitigate it.
Let me share a sport example; if you are a football fan like me, you
would recall Pierluigi Collina,
the bald headed Italian football referee for World Cup Finals between Germany
and Brazil in 2002 – he is regarded as the best football referee in the world in
his time. Pierluigi Collina is sponsored by Opel for various commercial
activities. His contract with Opel, also sponsor for AC Milan resulted in
conflict of interest as he was also the referee for Division One Italian
Football League where AC Milan was playing. He was later only allowed to
referee in the Division Two to avoid this conflict of interest.
In my own case, the potential conflict of interest
can be managed too. The club has two broad types of events; own events like
Pacesetters 3030 Run, Pacesetters 4 x 3km and Pacesetters 15km. Examples of
third parties’ events are the Kuala Kangsar Run, the BHP Orange Run and the
Mizuno Wave Run. These third parties’ events are owned by others and PAC acts
as event manager. I have come to this understanding with the Exco that I would not
get involved in third parties’ events. The organizational structure has been
drawn up with Tai Kok Keong, the First Vice President in charge of third
parties’ events. I would not get involved at all. Engagement with these third
parties will follow the policies and guiding principles set up by the Exco.
Even for those third parties’ events negotiated by the club but not taken up, I
on my part have given the commitment that I would not touch those events. I can
afford to do this not just to avoid this potential conflict of interest, I also
have enough repeated events from my regular clients such as MPI, SCKLM, IEM,
Alliance Bank and MWM. This year I got a few more in PUMA, BOH, MRCA and
CENTRO. I am busy enough as a retiree and do not need to take any event from
the club! I need to set aside time to travel while I still can; my annual
pilgrimage to China etc. Of course as for club’s events, I will be at the
driver seat to do the best to build them up to be the “best in class” events
regionally.
Life Long Learning – My Experience
During our
strategic planning session, Chong Ting Chow our treasurer mooted the inclusion
of “Learning” as one of our core values. This would mean the club would be
forward looking in terms of skill sets that are required to propel the club
forward. Two cases in point are the migration to E-Footloose and adoption of an
online members system that allows members to carry out their renewals online
and new members to sign on online. Linda
Trevino, our editor and Chong, my fellow BC Era members have to upgrade their
skills to perform their role. Michael Gan learned to update a blog at a ripe
age of 50 plus. At this juncture, I like to share my experience on what I did
after I left my full time employment in 2009 at the not so ripe age of 52. I
went through a transformation from a high ranking bank executive to a young
retiree and now a proud self-employed professional. I managed to achieve this
through a series of self-discovery processes, learned and relearned new skills.
When I knew I was leaving the bank in early 2009, I was wondering what I could
do with my spare time. Catching up on all my TV series and movies was one thing
but that could not be totally fulfilling. At the encouragement of Datuk Sieh
Kok Chi, General Secretary of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), I signed
up for an 8 month Advance Sport Management Program (ASMC) at OCM. This program
is entirely funded by the Olympic Solidarity, Switzerland and delivered by
local program directors. I signed up as
a member of PAC and use PAC as my case study. I was very committed and
diligently completed all my six assignments via six Power Points presentations
and six written assignments with more than 3,000 words each. I learnt the use
of Power Point the hard way with my eldest daughter Adeline as my coach. I
swallowed my pride and listened to her attentively and she was unlikely to show
me many times. I was unofficially regarded as the best student from my batch. I
was offered to take up the master program from Olympic Solidarity twice but it
did not happened due firstly to limited slots for the English medium session
and secondly to some timing reasons as the course required me to travel 4 times
during the year to attend the sessions in countries that are far away;
Switzerland, Slovakia and Trinidad & Barbados. I just could not fit into the
traveling schedule.
All was not
lost. I was instead invited back as the facilitator for the ASMC for 2010 and 2011. In late 2011, an
opportunity came when one of the two incumbent program directors of ASMC
decided not to continue and I was nominated to become a program director and
was sent to Switzerland for a one week induction program. I have since been the
program director for ASMC from 2012 to 2014. Tammy Lim, our Secretary of the
club is my student for the 2014 batch. She too felt that she needs to upgrade
her sport management skills to better manage the club. My training at the ASMC
since 2009 has been enriching. I have enlarged my circle of contacts to beyond
the running fraternity as the participants of the ASMC came from a variety of
sport. I was able to learn from them during the discussion sessions that I need
to participate as moderator. I am also required to mark their assignment papers
and give feedbacks such that their final assignments are better crafted before
we send their assignments to the Olympic Solidarity. While it is entirely up to
local program directors to pass whoever they deem fit, the assignments sent to
Switzerland is a form of check and balances that quality worthy of the Olympic
Solidarity is maintained.
The ASMC has
strengthened my sport management skills that I first acquired during my
presidential term from 2000 to 2005 and now with my experience gained from the
various events I operate as a run event project manager. I am well equipped to
lead the club. I would encourage my fellow Exco Members and those appointed
into various non-elected positions to improve their skills and it would come in
handy in years to come. As for the senior members, you too have to upgrade
skills to lead a more meaningful life. Air Asia was the first to push this
forward when they came out with their online ticketing system and if you want
to buy cheap tickets you have to go online. Sorry, there is no turning back
this IT tide, you have to upgrade your IT skills to engage with modern society.
On the part of the club, I wonder if we could get someone to teach the seniors
better IT skills, including how to better use their smartphones that they can
afford to buy but don’t know how to extract full potential from. I have one
such person in mind…Uncle Sonny Ng.
Wan Yew Leong
wanyewleong@gmail.com
7 July 2014
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