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A bit of this, a bit of that

Since we are starting a club I think it is worthwhile saying a few words on community. These days the sense of community is falling away, along with the benefits it provides. As a focused collective we can accomplish more than an individual.

We are putting extreme self interest first, and others second. Strong prosperous communities require the opposite to this.

The 3 principals of creating a strong community, organisation, group are,

• Possibility
• Generosity
• Talents

Possibility – This means our club must focus on what’s possible. Call them, dreams, visions, roadmaps..whatever, the key is that we are always focused on a positive future.

What exactly do we want? An excellent dive boat, a Nitrox compressor, To setup our own suite of Underwater Photography courses, do dive holidays overseas every 6 months, map every major dive site in Australia then sell them online to buy better equipment for the club. These are possibilities, we just need to come up with them together and be grounded enough to execute.

Generosity – In the end, the strength of a group comes down to it’s connection between the members. Generosity with your advice, time, patience, equipment and yes, money all contributes to that strength. We don’t need many rules or regulations, we need to trust in people to make good decisions. We must invest in those that are keen to contribute. For example, if someone wants to be an instructor, and has shown commitment to the club, then maybe we should fund their ticket? Then they run courses in return for free. If people make decisions not only on their needs, but the community as a whole, both parties prosper. When you cultivate a mindset of generosity, you immediately get the benefit of giving to something way bigger than yourself.

Talents – The paradox for most communities is that everything they need is most times right in front of them. All the regulation, money, talent, rules, policy and people. The problems come when one or two individuals create an action bottleneck. The self-appointed gurus that are loud and obnoxious, confident and convinced. They get all the limelight and the plethora of other talented members fall into the background. Never to raise their heads for fear of conflict.

Instead we need to create an approach where a group can discuss its possibilities, then allocate them as projects to the people who are interested. Those people then use their talents to achieve the goals for themselves, and the community. Give them the boundaries for the project, then get out of the way. When people create the idea, they are more likely to follow it through. We have heaps to contribute as a club, by lots of people giving their talents we can have an impact.

Your thoughts?

Tags: associative life, Community, talents