The ARRL Club News
ARRL Club News for February 2008
ARRL Club Newsletter
February 22, 2008
____________________________________________________________
Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Editor
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Leadership for the Amateur Radio Club
+ Swiss Army Knife
______________________________________________________________
Leadership for the Amateur Radio Club
By Norm Fusaro, W3IZ
Congratulations! You have just been appointed to a leadership
position of your Amateur Radio club. You may be on the board of
directors or an officer of the club or you may be chairperson of an
event like a hamfest or Field Day. Other positions of leadership may
include heading up a team of Volunteer Examiners or organizing a new
licensing class. Whatever the responsibility, the fact remains that
the members of your organization are now looking to YOU to lead them
to accomplish a set of goals.
Leadership is not a popularity contest. During the course of your
tenure some people are not going to be happy with some of the
decisions that are made. That is unfortunate but a leader has to do
what is best for the organization. Trying to please everyone is a
losing proposition and will only alienate those that truly have
something to offer.
This does not mean that as the leader you get to ride roughshod over
everyone. There are always diplomatic ways to affect change. As a
leader you are the champion of change. Doing things the same old way
is not leading, it is simply repeating the mistakes of others. Not
that the way things were previously done were necessarily wrong, but
a leader is one who will look at ways to do things better. Finding
ways to tweak it, move it up a notch, fine tune it, or whichever
cliché that you choose, is what a leader will do.
As a leader you are not going to have all of the solutions so keep an
open mind and consider fresh ideas from your members. Rather than
doing things "the way that we've always done" look for better ways to
do them. It is neither "your way" nor "my way" but the best way.
Stimulate your members to find new approaches to the challenges at
hand. An effective leader is one whose people believe that they did
things on their own. Be innovative, not imposing. Be influential, not
demanding. Inspire your team to take ownership of the project and do
the best that they can do.
Leaders Must Have Integrity
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who
do the right thing.
--Warren Bennis, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"
In order to be a good leader one has to develop trust from the
membership. Trust is inspired by actions. Being open and fair with
people is the best way to gain their trust. Nobody will trust someone
who lies or doesn't give honest feedback. People will become
skeptical of secret or closed meetings. Avoid these behaviors at all
cost. They will be the downfall of even the most well intentioned
person.
You and your team have made a commitment to the club to accomplish a
task. It makes no difference if the position is voluntary or
compensated; a promise has been made to do the job. As a leader you
will delegate jobs and responsibilities. Be specific about what is
expected. You will also have to provide feedback. Be honest in your
feedback and don't blame others for things that did not work out.
A good leader will always see the glass half full. Avoid being
cynical or negative as this will just undermine your objectives.
Inclusion
Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk
it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.--Stephen
Covey--
Your radio club is comprised of people. People are individuals and
each person has something unique to offer to the group. As the leader
of the organization you will be tasked with identifying the talents
of the individuals and delegating tasks that will achieve the mission
of the club.
The individual members of your club also have needs. We will assume
that the basic needs of life are being met--food, shelter,
clothing--so we will look at people's other needs. All people have a
need to belong, to be recognized, to learn, to accomplish something
and to express an idea or vision.
By focusing on your people, the goals of the organization will be
met. However, if you simply focus on the goals and not the members
then you will not have the support of the people needed to accomplish
the mission, in which case you will have failed all around.
The members of your club want to be a part of the activities. Deep
down even the most introverted person in the club wants to be
involved but they are just waiting to be invited to participate.
When looking for people to do jobs for an event, passing around a
clipboard with a sign up sheet will net very little. Walk up to
people and ask them if they would care to assist by doing a specific
job.
"Bob, would you like to help us by putting address labels on the
envelopes for the hamfest fliers?" Or "Mary, could you be the contact
person to register new hams for the upcoming licensing class?"
These are specific jobs asked of specific people. By asking people to
participate you are satisfying their needs to belong, to accomplish
something and to perhaps learn something. Even the simple task of
mailing labels may teach someone about the process of mail merging
and computer generated labels from a data base. You will never know
unless you ask.
Furthermore, when recognizing these individuals for their part in the
project start with the smallest job first. By putting them in the
front of the parade you are making them important and not
trivializing their contributions.
Have A Mission Statement
The goals of the club should be communicated to every member.
Committees of a club should also have a mission statement. This
statement should clearly define the objective and the mission of the
group. Your mission statement may only be one sentence, "The mission
of this club is to have fun." The Frankford Radio Club in
Philadelphia has a very simple statement, "Proficiency through
competition." For a contest club that pretty much says it all.
Whatever the mission of the group is, write it down and communicate
it to everyone. Keep it handy and visit it often. Don't loose sight
of what it is that all of you are there for. Effective leaders will
continually find new ways to communicate this vision.
Commit To Excellence
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their
commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of
endeavor.
-- Vincent T. Lombardi
Always do things to the best of your ability and accept nothing less
than the best that anyone can do. The key to this is to empower your
people. Don't micromanage your team. Set goals and guidelines and
your people will find ingenious ways to accomplish them. Good enough
is never good enough.
Accept Responsibility
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to
get all the credit for doing it.
-- Andrew Carnegie
Own the project. It is not what "they" want or what "the board" or
somebody else wants. It is what needs to be done and we are going to
do it. Own it and do it. Nobody wants to listen to a wishy-washy
person. A leader is going to take command of a situation and gather
input from the team and then make a decision on how to accomplish the
goals. If things fail, a leader takes responsibility and doesn't
blame others. Leaders don't take credit for successes, leaders
acknowledge the entire team.
Create Excitement
You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
-- Colette
Lead by example. Your excitement about the project should be
contagious. "This is going to be the best event ever." Say it and
mean it. Avoid sarcasm or negative comments. You were not drafted or
bamboozled into doing this job. You volunteered to do this job
because you wanted it to be successful.
Remember the first part of this exercise where we said that you are
not going to be able to please everyone? This may be true, but if you
have a naysayer that is trying to undermine the operation so that
should it fail they can say "I told you so." perhaps you may need to
talk to that individual and find out specifically what it is that he
or she sees wrong with the project. You will have to try to create
the excitement on a personal level. Surely you won't expect this
person to jump up with bells and balloons but you may just be able to
neutralize their negative outlook.
Always Remain Positive
Celebrate the victories, no matter how small, and never dwell on the
negative. If something didn't work this time, look at it as an
opportunity to improve upon it next time. We learn from our mistakes
as well as our successes. A good leader has the humility to admit
that something didn't work but also takes a lesson from it.
Be proactive and anticipate changes. Always have a "Plan B" in case
something should happen that wasn't part of the initial plan.
Build Relationships
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted
with the important matters.
-- Albert Einstein
Everything we do in life is interdependent upon the relationships
that we develop with other people. We said earlier that clubs are
comprised of people. As a leader you will have to build relationships
with everyone in your club. Everyone has something to offer. Avoid
playing favorites or developing a click. Leaders do not seek hero
worship.
As a new leader you may be called upon to mend broken relationships.
This may require some tact and in most cases may not happen
overnight. Time really does heal all wounds. The first step in these
types of situations is to extend a hand in friendship and acknowledge
that, though not intentional, things did not turn out exactly for the
best. Make a concerted effort to go forward and apologize for
anything that may have happened in the past. Take this lesson from
the ancient Chinese who used gold to fill the cracks in a broken vase
making it more valuable than the original.
It is the uniqueness of every individual that makes your club work.
If everybody was exactly the same the group would be dysfunctional.
Celebrate diversity and utilize the many points of view that everyone
has to offer.
People are not objects that can be shelved and returned to at a later
date. We must continually work at the relationships in our lives and
in our club. This means that we must be mindful of other commitments
to family and work and other organizations that we are involved in
and respect other's prior commitments.
Balance is the key.
Have Fun
Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people.
Inventories can be managed but people must be lead.
-- Ross Perot
As a leader you are going to take risks and challenge the status quo.
You are going to upset some people sometime. As long as you continue
to build strong relationships with your club members you will not
alienate anyone.
The idea of a club is to have fun. Even the most serious of people
enjoy a break and some fun. Maintain a sense of humor and learn to
laugh at your own mistakes. Leaders are not gods. They are human
beings just like everyone else in the club. So, don't take yourself
too seriously.
The reward for any good leader is being asked to tackle the next
challenge.
Summary
- Respect people - Earn trust
- Set goals
- Communicate effectively
- Strive for excellence--Accept responsibility
- Celebrate victories--learn from mistakes
- Create excitement--stay positive
- Be proactive
- Build and maintain relationships
Important Words
The six most important words: "I admit I made a mistake."
The five most important words: "You did a good job."
The four most important words: "What is your opinion?"
The three most important words: "If you please."
The two most important words: "Thank you,"
The one most important word: "We"
The least most important word: "I"
-- Author unknown
____________________________________________________________
Swiss Army Knife
The Swiss Army Knife for PIOs CD, version 2008, is now available.
This is the "all in one" toolkit on a disk for Amateur Radio public
relations.
To receive a copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope (make sure
the SASE is large enough for a CD disk!) with at least 70 cents
postage on it and a note to:
Public Relations
ARRL
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
____________________________________________________________
ARRL Affiliation Milestones for February 2008
25 Years
*W1
ME Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association KS1R
*W4
KY Western Kentucky Dx Association KY4DXA
*W5
NM New Mexico Big River Contester NM5NM
*W7
OR Amateur Radio Relay Group K7RPT
*W0
MO Southside Amateur Radio Association, Inc KC0JGA
60 Years
*W2
ENY Yonkers Amateur Radio Club W2YRC
*W3
MDC Potomac Valley Radio Club W3GRF
*W4
NFL Orlando Amateur Radio Club W4PLB
*W8
OH CLARK COUNTY Amateur Radio Association W8OG
*W7
WWA Cascade Radio Club W7EK
=============================================================================
The ARRL Club News is published on the first Wednesday of each month by
the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur
Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259; www.arrl.org. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.
The ARRL Club News is an e-mail digest of news and information of
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Editorial questions or comments: Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, clubs@arrl.org
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Page last modified: 03:09 PM, 15 Nov 2006 ET
Page author: clubs@arrl.org
Copyright © 2006, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
