This particular topic has been bubbling under wraps for a while, so I suppose for those of you reading this blog, I give you a health warning: rant coming!
It's interesting to see how the banking industry seems to have a law about running a business which follows one guideline if they are the ones lending the money or investing etc and then a completely different rule book applies when they are the business. What is worse that governments worldwide are buying into this .... (very hard not to use very harsh words) charade.
When a private enterprise comes into troubled times for economic or internal reasons, the first response is to start looking at cutting costs, streamlining the business, enforcing leaner business processes, selling of stock and assets to generate cashflow, and selling to keep liquidity in the business and stay in business, because when you go to your bank for support your bank manager (who has never run a company in their life) will tell you you are too risky for them.
When you are a bank (which has made 6billion in profit just 6 months ago) and you face difficult times, you keep paying your people exactly the same amount, assets are guarded and oh no we definitely don't do anything to keep money flowing, quite the contrary you charge your customers more for basic services, you increase the length of time to clear their money (so you can benefit from the interest in clearance), and yes as a best resort, let's go crying to the government for a comfort blanket.
This really does not make business sense????????
What is worse though is that governments are falling for it, rather than forcing a bit of their own dose on the banks. A lot of the banks have building etc, why not sell them off? That's what they would do if it was a private business. Why not send turnaround managers in to tidy up the mess and really cut down on inefficiency and over-management? Why not have the bank go for funding from other private sources, which is what they force most small business to do? What is very clear is that this industry has been working on flawed procedures and paper based security with no real value, if we came to the bank with that kind of business plan, they would laugh us all the way out of their doors. So why do we have to accept that our governments are falling for this stuff?
Personally I don't understand it. Maybe if a bank can no longer fund their business they will just have to go down, just like private businesses do. A lot of businesses will survive if they focus soon enough and restructure, they rarely survive by handouts. The problem in my view is that a lot of management in banks wouldn't have a hope of surviving in private business, hence they hide behind non-decision and this climate screams for decisive action and calculated risk taking.
We should learn from the charity model, we know that sending money as a solution is not the solution, but teaching people to help themselves is more likely to be successful long term. Banking officials and boards should be sent to business basics classes and forced to implement the learnings as a matter of urgency. The question remains if they are the people that got the bank into the mess, are they then capable of getting them out of the mess? Unless they are teachable and decisive, they should get out of the way for competent turnaround professionals.
When I work with start-up businesses, my first question would be what is the purpose of your service? Tell me what is the purpose of a bank.... is it a depository for money, a lending facility to create more money, is it something more obscure or is it about providing an essential service? More and more businesses are forced to go into trading and bartering agreements, because money is not flowing in the economy and the biggest culprits are those that claimed to have big profit only 6 months ago, i.e. the banks.
Don't get me started on their services, a simple transaction of lodging money from one account to another is not possible in real time, add a cheque into the equation and it takes between 3 to 5 days, now in this day and age of automation you cannot tell me that it isn't possibly in a matter of minutes to check whether money is in sufficient supply in one account for it then the arrive in the other a few minutes later even between banks, surely that is a matter of IT rules?
But when a direct debit presents itself for payment in your account, you needed to have had the money there at 7am the day of the presentation or else it will be bounced, even if you rectify the funding within a working day, so as a bank customer you need psychic ability and when questioned bank staf will hide behind the rule book. Explain how that is reasonable and not a double standard? When it's in their favour it takes up to five days, when my name is on the line I don't even have a business day to sort something out.....
Then bank branch staff are under the same pressure to sell their products, even so much so that they will talk to you in a quite condescending manner as to how their job is secure and that you should really have income protection, but you can't really afford it. It's frightening to see how desparate they are to sell, but when it comes to accomodating the other way there is absolutely no leeway.
In my opinion it's time to make the banks as an industry review their working habits and let them jump the hoops they have put all the private enterprises through over time. If you make bad decisions, you suffer the consequences and if the governments are the enablers for continued bad practice and well below par service then it's only a matter of time before the same problem occurs again.
Why is that our politicians don't see it this way, they all seem to be too happy to help the banks out, is it just me, am I missing something?
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Perseverance
When you are working to your own beat and looking to develop your own destiny, I have found you hit a whole load of interesting obstacles some good which will make you stronger and some some bad which will try and trip you up so badly, so you will stop.
I believe in perseverance it's how I got to everything I have achieved to date from sports selections to business awards.
It is however not always easy when people you care about, don't see the point in what you do and try to persuade you of their way of thinking. It creates doubt within you and often a bit of a sounding board, that is where you truly need someone to be in your corner with you from an objective point of view trying to tease out the reality, the criticism and the support that you require to keep moving forward.
Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroads and the way forward is not all that clear, yet you have an intuitive idea of which way you should go and then just in case you end up asking a few people for advice and low and behold you end up in a worse situation and a bigger dilemma. I often wonder whether it would have been better if I had moved forward without the advice and adjusted course afterwards.
Playing the mental game of perseverance is like those last couple of miles in the marathon where it is definitely a case of mind over matter for slow runners like me.
How do you play the game, when you are tired and fed up? Just set the goals smaller one more step, one more minute, hour, etc and celebrate the mile markers that you pass on those trips, because they end up the memorable ones.
I believe in perseverance it's how I got to everything I have achieved to date from sports selections to business awards.
It is however not always easy when people you care about, don't see the point in what you do and try to persuade you of their way of thinking. It creates doubt within you and often a bit of a sounding board, that is where you truly need someone to be in your corner with you from an objective point of view trying to tease out the reality, the criticism and the support that you require to keep moving forward.
Sometimes we find ourselves at a crossroads and the way forward is not all that clear, yet you have an intuitive idea of which way you should go and then just in case you end up asking a few people for advice and low and behold you end up in a worse situation and a bigger dilemma. I often wonder whether it would have been better if I had moved forward without the advice and adjusted course afterwards.
Playing the mental game of perseverance is like those last couple of miles in the marathon where it is definitely a case of mind over matter for slow runners like me.
How do you play the game, when you are tired and fed up? Just set the goals smaller one more step, one more minute, hour, etc and celebrate the mile markers that you pass on those trips, because they end up the memorable ones.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Leadership - to step up or not?
In the past few days I have been busy organising the Youth Leadership Competition for my Rotary club and last night attended the regional final awards, where the judges select 3 students in the region to go on a leadership trip.
Our club candidate from last year spoke at the award dinner and what it had meant to him. For our own club he had written an e-mail account of his time on the leadership trip and what he felt Euroscola did for him as an experience. But it all started with having the confidence to fill in an application form and put yourself forward as a leader. He was chosen by our club because we believed in him and then he proved to himself in various leadership tasks relating to the trip that in fact he actually had the inner ability. Now he stands up and takes leadership in his stride and wherever he goes they notice him as a potential leader.
In most of my leadership training & coaching in organisations it is exactly the same it starts with applying for that leadership position and then following it up with actions. Most of us however don't have a supportive rotary club or colleagues or family that is with us 24/7 to tell us they believe in us. so how do we generate that inner confidence to keep stepping it up?
In my travels around various corporate organisations, being in management is not always the same as being a leader, just like the business owners are not always the leaders in their business either. A leader in my view has built an inner confidence and an inner belief in themselves, to step up whenever they see fit. They are not necessarily glory hunters, but they do take pride in what they stand for. Typically they will take ownership and responsibility for what needs to be done and they expect an outcome that is better than where things started.
The hardest part in nurturing leaders which I see time and time again in my coaching as well as working with young people, is to build that inner confidence and inner belief.
Here is my thought for today, what have you done in your life to date that classes as leadership, if you were to fill in your own private apllication form to be a leader what evidence of your potential would you put on it and do you believe it, I mean truly undoubtedly believe it.
Our club candidate from last year spoke at the award dinner and what it had meant to him. For our own club he had written an e-mail account of his time on the leadership trip and what he felt Euroscola did for him as an experience. But it all started with having the confidence to fill in an application form and put yourself forward as a leader. He was chosen by our club because we believed in him and then he proved to himself in various leadership tasks relating to the trip that in fact he actually had the inner ability. Now he stands up and takes leadership in his stride and wherever he goes they notice him as a potential leader.
In most of my leadership training & coaching in organisations it is exactly the same it starts with applying for that leadership position and then following it up with actions. Most of us however don't have a supportive rotary club or colleagues or family that is with us 24/7 to tell us they believe in us. so how do we generate that inner confidence to keep stepping it up?
In my travels around various corporate organisations, being in management is not always the same as being a leader, just like the business owners are not always the leaders in their business either. A leader in my view has built an inner confidence and an inner belief in themselves, to step up whenever they see fit. They are not necessarily glory hunters, but they do take pride in what they stand for. Typically they will take ownership and responsibility for what needs to be done and they expect an outcome that is better than where things started.
The hardest part in nurturing leaders which I see time and time again in my coaching as well as working with young people, is to build that inner confidence and inner belief.
Here is my thought for today, what have you done in your life to date that classes as leadership, if you were to fill in your own private apllication form to be a leader what evidence of your potential would you put on it and do you believe it, I mean truly undoubtedly believe it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Paying it forward
In a world where more and more people are feeling the pinch of a tightening economy or even just a decrease in generosity all around us, I am wondering what happened to paying it forward. For those of you that have seen the movie 'Paying it forward', you know what I am talking about and if you haven't seen the movie in my view it's a must see. The whole idea is to help a minimum three people and in return for your assistance ask them to pay it forward to another three people.
This year for me I have been on the receiving end of a few people paying it forward to me, with plenty of business and personal challenges presenting themselves earlier in the year and I am grateful for all those that did extend their hand. Ever since watching the movie I have consiciously made an effort (in a way I probably always did, thanks to the example of my grandmother, who gave soo much to other people, without ever expecting a return from them) to help others.
What fascinates me though that there are people that join organisations such as Rotary or similar charity minded or community assistance oriented groups and then as soon as you ask for their assistance work, family or whatever else is too important and whilst they support your noble effort to launch a project they don't have even time to dedicate, basically saying I only pay lipservice to the aims of the organisation. Maybe I just have different values, because for me the paying it forward is valued in the doing and not necessarily talking about it.
So here is my challenge to you, which 3 people are you going to help before the end of 2008 and freely give of your time or other valuable input, which would mean the world to them. In return for their thank you, just ask them to do the same for 3 other people when they are ready.
In the words of the young actor in the movie 'just make it something huge...!'
This year for me I have been on the receiving end of a few people paying it forward to me, with plenty of business and personal challenges presenting themselves earlier in the year and I am grateful for all those that did extend their hand. Ever since watching the movie I have consiciously made an effort (in a way I probably always did, thanks to the example of my grandmother, who gave soo much to other people, without ever expecting a return from them) to help others.
What fascinates me though that there are people that join organisations such as Rotary or similar charity minded or community assistance oriented groups and then as soon as you ask for their assistance work, family or whatever else is too important and whilst they support your noble effort to launch a project they don't have even time to dedicate, basically saying I only pay lipservice to the aims of the organisation. Maybe I just have different values, because for me the paying it forward is valued in the doing and not necessarily talking about it.
So here is my challenge to you, which 3 people are you going to help before the end of 2008 and freely give of your time or other valuable input, which would mean the world to them. In return for their thank you, just ask them to do the same for 3 other people when they are ready.
In the words of the young actor in the movie 'just make it something huge...!'
Monday, August 18, 2008
Olympic success - it's in the expectation of a nation
One of my favourite sporting events is currently dominating my time schedule and the television, my home office temporarily moved to the living room to keep up-to-date with the Olympics and the various successes of athletes of all nations.
Having grown up in Belgium, a small nation with 11 million people and now living in a country with even less inhabitants Ireland (4.5 million), I have been watching the various responses to Olympians with increasing frustration.
Sports has always been part of my live and with my dad as a sports journalist, this often dominated family life. I played basketball, I now run marathons and sail competitively and if I ever was giving half a chance (and a bucket load of talent), I would cherish the opportunity of representing my country at an Olympic event. For most of the athletes it is their dream come true to perform on such an international scale and to be part of the top of their specific sport, with years of preparation and training leading up to this, which in my view is absolutely admirable and fantastic.
With a selection for an Olympic team, immediately comes a level of media attention and your performances are nokw scrutinised by knowledgeable people in your field, but also by a whole load of sideline critics and this is where some of my frustration stems from. I think nations are often the culprit of setting their athletes up for mediocre results or writing them off before they have even reached the starting line. I believe Olympic selection should come hand in hand with positive mental attitude coaching especially when you come from a nation where success is not the first expectation, so that athletes can manage their own mental game despite the negative support from their home country.
I was watching some of the Olympic coverage on RTE, the Irish national broadcaster and to my astonishment achievements were talked down and if an athlete did reach the next round it was nearly a big surprise as opposed to an expectation. Criticism was actively invited and guess what after half an hour of this carry on, I had to change channels and I have tried every day to give them a second chance, but unfortunately negativity prevails. I spoke to a friend of mine about my frustration and his comments were along the lines of 'we would rather have a surprise medal, than the set expectations so high that they can't be reached and then we don't have to slate the athlete after for not hitting the high scores.' Obviously I am not on the same frequency of what seems to be coming from national media and including some of my Irish friends. I don't get it! These athletes are training to be the best and the country media makes us believe that it's a surprise and they are lucky to get through??? Surely reaching the Olympic standard gives you a chance to compete for a medal, I think mentally the carry on from joe public and the media can be something to look at when your nation doesn't perform at the Games.
I changed to BBC to watch the games and thankfully and very refreshingly the reporters are all in favour of the athletes and setting very clear success expectations. Yes, there is analysis but the tone is positive, supportive, empathic in defeat, unlike slating and negative which I perceived on Irish tv.
More and more we agree that sports is played as much in the mind as it is played out on physical ability and tactics, so why not encourage our athletes and expect success as opposed to selling them short.
Obviously larger countries have bigger budgets and will spend more on their athletes than a small country can ever afford, yet each nation can develop a specialist area and focus on this as a development programme for a nation. How come Jamaica is cleaning up in sprint medals, they are small and yet they are doing it!
Ireland as an island nation is ideally positioned to be excellent at all things watersport: sailing, surfing, canoe etc, because of the virtue of being surrounded by ocean and wind. There is a tradition in boxing and athletics and yet again we are only expecting mediocre results whilst the athletes are potentially capable of way more and if they do set a world record it isn't celebrated or noted in the same fashion as their counterparts in the UK or USA. Why? Are we afraid to be successful? Is there something wrong with going after a life-time goal and actually hitting it?
I truly take my hat off to the likes of Padraig Harrington, who have proven themselves more than once that they can go out and do this once, twice and potentially more when they keep their mind on the game.
The mental game of sports is something that fascinates me and an area that I work with for successful entrepreneurs. I would love the opportunity to be part of the positive mental attitude coaching team for the Olympics, to make sure more talented athletes actually perform to the best of their ability. It will then only be a matter of time before one success story will follow another.
My question to everyone athlete, entrepreneur, business person, are you nurturing your success potential, are you setting yourself up for success or are you letting luck, surprise, mediocrity and chance rule your daily life?
What is it that you really want to achieve in this lifetime? What do you need to do to become the best you that you can be? or even how can you become the best in your field?
Having grown up in Belgium, a small nation with 11 million people and now living in a country with even less inhabitants Ireland (4.5 million), I have been watching the various responses to Olympians with increasing frustration.
Sports has always been part of my live and with my dad as a sports journalist, this often dominated family life. I played basketball, I now run marathons and sail competitively and if I ever was giving half a chance (and a bucket load of talent), I would cherish the opportunity of representing my country at an Olympic event. For most of the athletes it is their dream come true to perform on such an international scale and to be part of the top of their specific sport, with years of preparation and training leading up to this, which in my view is absolutely admirable and fantastic.
With a selection for an Olympic team, immediately comes a level of media attention and your performances are nokw scrutinised by knowledgeable people in your field, but also by a whole load of sideline critics and this is where some of my frustration stems from. I think nations are often the culprit of setting their athletes up for mediocre results or writing them off before they have even reached the starting line. I believe Olympic selection should come hand in hand with positive mental attitude coaching especially when you come from a nation where success is not the first expectation, so that athletes can manage their own mental game despite the negative support from their home country.
I was watching some of the Olympic coverage on RTE, the Irish national broadcaster and to my astonishment achievements were talked down and if an athlete did reach the next round it was nearly a big surprise as opposed to an expectation. Criticism was actively invited and guess what after half an hour of this carry on, I had to change channels and I have tried every day to give them a second chance, but unfortunately negativity prevails. I spoke to a friend of mine about my frustration and his comments were along the lines of 'we would rather have a surprise medal, than the set expectations so high that they can't be reached and then we don't have to slate the athlete after for not hitting the high scores.' Obviously I am not on the same frequency of what seems to be coming from national media and including some of my Irish friends. I don't get it! These athletes are training to be the best and the country media makes us believe that it's a surprise and they are lucky to get through??? Surely reaching the Olympic standard gives you a chance to compete for a medal, I think mentally the carry on from joe public and the media can be something to look at when your nation doesn't perform at the Games.
I changed to BBC to watch the games and thankfully and very refreshingly the reporters are all in favour of the athletes and setting very clear success expectations. Yes, there is analysis but the tone is positive, supportive, empathic in defeat, unlike slating and negative which I perceived on Irish tv.
More and more we agree that sports is played as much in the mind as it is played out on physical ability and tactics, so why not encourage our athletes and expect success as opposed to selling them short.
Obviously larger countries have bigger budgets and will spend more on their athletes than a small country can ever afford, yet each nation can develop a specialist area and focus on this as a development programme for a nation. How come Jamaica is cleaning up in sprint medals, they are small and yet they are doing it!
Ireland as an island nation is ideally positioned to be excellent at all things watersport: sailing, surfing, canoe etc, because of the virtue of being surrounded by ocean and wind. There is a tradition in boxing and athletics and yet again we are only expecting mediocre results whilst the athletes are potentially capable of way more and if they do set a world record it isn't celebrated or noted in the same fashion as their counterparts in the UK or USA. Why? Are we afraid to be successful? Is there something wrong with going after a life-time goal and actually hitting it?
I truly take my hat off to the likes of Padraig Harrington, who have proven themselves more than once that they can go out and do this once, twice and potentially more when they keep their mind on the game.
The mental game of sports is something that fascinates me and an area that I work with for successful entrepreneurs. I would love the opportunity to be part of the positive mental attitude coaching team for the Olympics, to make sure more talented athletes actually perform to the best of their ability. It will then only be a matter of time before one success story will follow another.
My question to everyone athlete, entrepreneur, business person, are you nurturing your success potential, are you setting yourself up for success or are you letting luck, surprise, mediocrity and chance rule your daily life?
What is it that you really want to achieve in this lifetime? What do you need to do to become the best you that you can be? or even how can you become the best in your field?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Are we just money mad?
Why is that some people end up volunteering or being volunteered for a lot of projects and other people just focus on themselves? I have always wondered about that.
Ever since I was a teenager I would volunteer for lots of worthy causes from sports events to charities and community happenings, so this approach comes naturally to me.
At this point in life there are weeks and I suppose especially the last number of weeks that I have had to or better thanks to my involvement in various organisations gave a lot of time free of charge to great causes. For most of my friends it's something they can't understand and for most of my business acquaintances it's well outside their realm of understanding. People just think I was born with surplus energy or time, so I can give freely.
Yet, this is not true, but I do plan for it and because I enjoy the fun that also comes with these projects and overshadows the negatives. To give you a flavour of my involvement in various things and the time reality, here is an outline.
On the May bank holiday weekend the Cork Choral Festival took place and here I am a Failteoir (welcomer) for a foreign choir. It means that for the days that they are in Cork for the Choral competition I make sure they are looked after, arrive at performances on time, schedule buses, etc and generally make sure they have a wonderful time. This typically takes 1 or 2 workings day and the weekend. Last November the choir I hosted 2 years ago from the Rigsbergska High School in Sweden asked whether I would please be their host again and that was lovely. For me it was great fun to meet them again and be their friendly face away from home. As a group of volunteers we also have a great time together and some of the people I would only meet once a year at the Choral Festival. For those 3 or 4 days it is full-time and after hours and party hours etc., yet the feelgood factor more than pays back for it. In terms of time commitment we are only talking 3 to 4 days for a whole year!
I am also the chief liaison officer for the Cork City Sports, which is an athletics event that takes place every year in July and is ranked amongst the top 10 athletics meetings in Europe. This is my first year in this role, so in terms of time -commitment to date I probably have given it about a working of which most of it has been scheduled after hours or during quiet time. My job is to make sure athletes have accommodation, food and transport. I am looking for a team of drivers and welcome staff at the airport and in the accommodation to answer athletes questions. Because of my involvement at committee level I would estimate this role taking a week of preparation work and 4 days around the actual event, which is 2 working days and 2 weekend days. Because of my interest in people and sports, especially athletics I do enjoy the interaction and I have great pride in making something run as smooth as possible.
Again I am not talking months of time, just a few hours here and there and the more intense time-commitment around the actual event.
For the past 3 years I have been a member of my local Rotary club and this year I was asked to become youth officer for the club and hence organised all events to do with young people. Now here the group consists of about 30 members, a lot of them retired or in large organisations, who like the idea of being represented in Rotary. Members join specifically with the intent of giving back to their community and the wider international community, which is very noble, however when I go looking for volunteers it is not that easy to even receive support for minor projects. I organised the Club Youth Leadership Competition, where young people are interviewed about their leadership potential and a team of judges selects a school and club winner for this one I managed to find 3 judges other than myself. Then our club at very short notice took on the idea of organising the Regional Final for the same event, which meant that was all left up to me. Seeing the calibre of students and hearing their stories made it interesting, but whilst I should have had club support for this event I spent about a week all working days on this project, as well as one day at the weekend. This is where I start questioning the noble commitment of other members and wonder why it only up to one person, whilst technically there are a good few others.
In addition to this project we also had a young chef competition at club level, which only took a few hours to organise and unfortunately I couldn't thanks to work commitments go the final, and also couldn't find anyone from the club to go on my behalf.
What was a great idea and is an ongoing saga is the set-up on behalf of my club a schools interact (i.e. Rotary for secondary schools) and a Rotaract club for young people between 18 and 30. Because I couldn't get support at club level I let a lot of this go for some time, however I still have a group of young people in the second age group that would be interested, so what do you do? Do you let it go and hide or do you stick to your original commitment? In my case I am only committing to it when I have some spare time, because it is a little disillusioning that for a club this size you are the most active in getting things done and whilst everyone is full of praise, actual time or support is not available, because they all have work to do (hello, I don't even have a family or partner in this country that I can fall back on when the money runs out and run a business on my own).
I have no problem investing time and effort when I am appreciated and have fun doing it, but when you are taken for granted it becomes a different story. What I really don't understand though is why less and less people are willing to give a little bit of their time to something that can be fun and also helps someone ahead whether it is for charity, music or sports. In this day and age more and more corporations like to be seen to do their bit as a socially responsible entity, yet ask an individual for even a couple of hours a year and they run the other way.
Have we just become so money oriented, hedonistic or selfish that all we can think about is our own pleasures and well-being? How else do large events such as an Olympics get organised if it wasn't for the thousands of volunteers? Am I just one of the few idealistic ones? Donating money is a start, but donating time can give you a lot more, having travelled to Peru and Cambodia on charity projects it's not the money that you remember, but what you can actually achieve with only a small effort.
I hope my rant may inspire you to take some action on behalf of a voluntary cause and do remember to inspire others to follow suit, at worst they may even have fun or a feelgood memory.
Ever since I was a teenager I would volunteer for lots of worthy causes from sports events to charities and community happenings, so this approach comes naturally to me.
At this point in life there are weeks and I suppose especially the last number of weeks that I have had to or better thanks to my involvement in various organisations gave a lot of time free of charge to great causes. For most of my friends it's something they can't understand and for most of my business acquaintances it's well outside their realm of understanding. People just think I was born with surplus energy or time, so I can give freely.
Yet, this is not true, but I do plan for it and because I enjoy the fun that also comes with these projects and overshadows the negatives. To give you a flavour of my involvement in various things and the time reality, here is an outline.
On the May bank holiday weekend the Cork Choral Festival took place and here I am a Failteoir (welcomer) for a foreign choir. It means that for the days that they are in Cork for the Choral competition I make sure they are looked after, arrive at performances on time, schedule buses, etc and generally make sure they have a wonderful time. This typically takes 1 or 2 workings day and the weekend. Last November the choir I hosted 2 years ago from the Rigsbergska High School in Sweden asked whether I would please be their host again and that was lovely. For me it was great fun to meet them again and be their friendly face away from home. As a group of volunteers we also have a great time together and some of the people I would only meet once a year at the Choral Festival. For those 3 or 4 days it is full-time and after hours and party hours etc., yet the feelgood factor more than pays back for it. In terms of time commitment we are only talking 3 to 4 days for a whole year!
I am also the chief liaison officer for the Cork City Sports, which is an athletics event that takes place every year in July and is ranked amongst the top 10 athletics meetings in Europe. This is my first year in this role, so in terms of time -commitment to date I probably have given it about a working of which most of it has been scheduled after hours or during quiet time. My job is to make sure athletes have accommodation, food and transport. I am looking for a team of drivers and welcome staff at the airport and in the accommodation to answer athletes questions. Because of my involvement at committee level I would estimate this role taking a week of preparation work and 4 days around the actual event, which is 2 working days and 2 weekend days. Because of my interest in people and sports, especially athletics I do enjoy the interaction and I have great pride in making something run as smooth as possible.
Again I am not talking months of time, just a few hours here and there and the more intense time-commitment around the actual event.
For the past 3 years I have been a member of my local Rotary club and this year I was asked to become youth officer for the club and hence organised all events to do with young people. Now here the group consists of about 30 members, a lot of them retired or in large organisations, who like the idea of being represented in Rotary. Members join specifically with the intent of giving back to their community and the wider international community, which is very noble, however when I go looking for volunteers it is not that easy to even receive support for minor projects. I organised the Club Youth Leadership Competition, where young people are interviewed about their leadership potential and a team of judges selects a school and club winner for this one I managed to find 3 judges other than myself. Then our club at very short notice took on the idea of organising the Regional Final for the same event, which meant that was all left up to me. Seeing the calibre of students and hearing their stories made it interesting, but whilst I should have had club support for this event I spent about a week all working days on this project, as well as one day at the weekend. This is where I start questioning the noble commitment of other members and wonder why it only up to one person, whilst technically there are a good few others.
In addition to this project we also had a young chef competition at club level, which only took a few hours to organise and unfortunately I couldn't thanks to work commitments go the final, and also couldn't find anyone from the club to go on my behalf.
What was a great idea and is an ongoing saga is the set-up on behalf of my club a schools interact (i.e. Rotary for secondary schools) and a Rotaract club for young people between 18 and 30. Because I couldn't get support at club level I let a lot of this go for some time, however I still have a group of young people in the second age group that would be interested, so what do you do? Do you let it go and hide or do you stick to your original commitment? In my case I am only committing to it when I have some spare time, because it is a little disillusioning that for a club this size you are the most active in getting things done and whilst everyone is full of praise, actual time or support is not available, because they all have work to do (hello, I don't even have a family or partner in this country that I can fall back on when the money runs out and run a business on my own).
I have no problem investing time and effort when I am appreciated and have fun doing it, but when you are taken for granted it becomes a different story. What I really don't understand though is why less and less people are willing to give a little bit of their time to something that can be fun and also helps someone ahead whether it is for charity, music or sports. In this day and age more and more corporations like to be seen to do their bit as a socially responsible entity, yet ask an individual for even a couple of hours a year and they run the other way.
Have we just become so money oriented, hedonistic or selfish that all we can think about is our own pleasures and well-being? How else do large events such as an Olympics get organised if it wasn't for the thousands of volunteers? Am I just one of the few idealistic ones? Donating money is a start, but donating time can give you a lot more, having travelled to Peru and Cambodia on charity projects it's not the money that you remember, but what you can actually achieve with only a small effort.
I hope my rant may inspire you to take some action on behalf of a voluntary cause and do remember to inspire others to follow suit, at worst they may even have fun or a feelgood memory.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Down turn, slow down, general belt tightening
It seems to be topical, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss giving you my thoughts and opinions on the downturn, slow down or whatever other euphemistic way you would like to put it when there is just less cash floating around freely in our economies.
It's funny but I was watching reports on the various stock exchanges around the world for the past week and the trends all looked similar, a big dip on the 22nd of April and then a bit of an upturn. In what could be called the larger economies (just sheer size of land and population) the upturn was a lot higher than in smaller economies, just an interesting but maybe also not so relevant fact and it could have to do with the fact that I was born in a small economy (Belgium: about 11 million of us) and now live in an even smaller economy with more land and bigger ambitions (Ireland: 4.5 million). My immediate thought was that a one week summary really only gives us a snapshot, the monthly or even yearly trend would give us a better indication of where the turn of the economy is heading, but I am sure you can read that in the trusted media, who don't like to hype anything either way or politicians who come up with new 'positive' words every day to avoid saying recession. Interesting developments, don't you think?
Anyway what does it really mean to the man in the street really? I know from my experience that getting paid for your services seems to be like drawing blood from stones lately and that alot of people are holding off on training and coaching because it's a perceived luxury for when there is money in surplus. In my (biased) view, now is 'the' time to invest in coaching and training, because now more than ever you need that focus and advantage over your competition. I deal with start-ups a lot and now is an ideal time to set up a business, why? Because if you manage to grow a business in an economy where the drivers are going the opposite way, you are building a business from the right basics and you will have a close eye on cost controls, effective marketing, operational efficiency, etc. In an up-time anyone can set up a business and gain a part of the money that is floating, in a down-turn those that really have value to offer and do it efficiently will get that slice.
Is it time to panic? I wouldn't think so, my advice to clients is keep up what you are doing, keep an eye costs and look where you are spending without returns, but marketing is really where your message may need to be adapted, finding joint venture partners where you can share skills, looking at other markets. No matter which way the economy goes, there are always large corporations making some serious profit and lots of small ones too. Small companies have the advantage that they can adapt and change and respond to a changing market, so now is a good time to have a look at which parts of your market are making money and then use focus. Also look at what opportunities are out there for you, which if you worked on them now, will create great returns in years to come.
In my case what I am doing is looking at associate partnering with a number of other organisations, I am tweaking my online presence and learning about e-commerce at a rate of knots and I am working on more products, which is something I have been meaning to do and didn't get around to because I was too busy. As for potential work I have a pipeline full of projects, that are supposedly ready to go any minute now (for the last 6 months that is if not even longer). All I am saying is do what you can do to keep your faith in your success and business, even if it is only one small step at a time.
Recession are always full of stories of businesses closing and staff losing jobs and the media does their bit to keep us focussed on this, however the same climate is also where true business success is created because entrepreneurs learn the business basics the hard way from cost control to efective marketing to the importance of the team. If you haven't figurred this out, find the best coach (I know one up close and personal) and work with them on getting the basics right. At this point in economic times putting your head in the sand and doing what you always did, is not a smart move, in my view it's asking for trouble. Remember small business is adaptable and can move quickly, and that's where you for once have an advantage over the big boys.
It's funny but I was watching reports on the various stock exchanges around the world for the past week and the trends all looked similar, a big dip on the 22nd of April and then a bit of an upturn. In what could be called the larger economies (just sheer size of land and population) the upturn was a lot higher than in smaller economies, just an interesting but maybe also not so relevant fact and it could have to do with the fact that I was born in a small economy (Belgium: about 11 million of us) and now live in an even smaller economy with more land and bigger ambitions (Ireland: 4.5 million). My immediate thought was that a one week summary really only gives us a snapshot, the monthly or even yearly trend would give us a better indication of where the turn of the economy is heading, but I am sure you can read that in the trusted media, who don't like to hype anything either way or politicians who come up with new 'positive' words every day to avoid saying recession. Interesting developments, don't you think?
Anyway what does it really mean to the man in the street really? I know from my experience that getting paid for your services seems to be like drawing blood from stones lately and that alot of people are holding off on training and coaching because it's a perceived luxury for when there is money in surplus. In my (biased) view, now is 'the' time to invest in coaching and training, because now more than ever you need that focus and advantage over your competition. I deal with start-ups a lot and now is an ideal time to set up a business, why? Because if you manage to grow a business in an economy where the drivers are going the opposite way, you are building a business from the right basics and you will have a close eye on cost controls, effective marketing, operational efficiency, etc. In an up-time anyone can set up a business and gain a part of the money that is floating, in a down-turn those that really have value to offer and do it efficiently will get that slice.
Is it time to panic? I wouldn't think so, my advice to clients is keep up what you are doing, keep an eye costs and look where you are spending without returns, but marketing is really where your message may need to be adapted, finding joint venture partners where you can share skills, looking at other markets. No matter which way the economy goes, there are always large corporations making some serious profit and lots of small ones too. Small companies have the advantage that they can adapt and change and respond to a changing market, so now is a good time to have a look at which parts of your market are making money and then use focus. Also look at what opportunities are out there for you, which if you worked on them now, will create great returns in years to come.
In my case what I am doing is looking at associate partnering with a number of other organisations, I am tweaking my online presence and learning about e-commerce at a rate of knots and I am working on more products, which is something I have been meaning to do and didn't get around to because I was too busy. As for potential work I have a pipeline full of projects, that are supposedly ready to go any minute now (for the last 6 months that is if not even longer). All I am saying is do what you can do to keep your faith in your success and business, even if it is only one small step at a time.
Recession are always full of stories of businesses closing and staff losing jobs and the media does their bit to keep us focussed on this, however the same climate is also where true business success is created because entrepreneurs learn the business basics the hard way from cost control to efective marketing to the importance of the team. If you haven't figurred this out, find the best coach (I know one up close and personal) and work with them on getting the basics right. At this point in economic times putting your head in the sand and doing what you always did, is not a smart move, in my view it's asking for trouble. Remember small business is adaptable and can move quickly, and that's where you for once have an advantage over the big boys.
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