吃瓜头条

All 吃瓜头条s experience bumps and bruises over time. They are prone to the effects of economics and egos, logistics, and fluctuations in quality. Over time, the membership of most 吃瓜头条s waxes and wanes. Yet some 吃瓜头条s experience particularly tough times. The question arises: What to do when bad things happen to good 吃瓜头条s?

Location, Location, Location

吃瓜头条 15 years ago, AT&T 吃瓜头条s throughout North America were suddenly faced with a loss of onsite meeting space because of a policy change. A combination of communication, leadership, and public relations strategies resulted in a recommitment to providing secure meeting space for these 吃瓜头条s.

So how stable is your meeting location? Are you regularly in touch with your landlord or site contact? Nurture that relationship in good times to protect yourself from changes in policy or sentiment toward your 吃瓜头条. Demonstrate your 吃瓜头条’s value to your host organization’s human resources department and upper management. Remind them that great things are happening in the 吃瓜头条 and that the 吃瓜头条 adds value to their organization, neighborhood, and community. You may be able to avert disasters related to logistical challenges with a little planning and communication.

Here are a few difficulties your 吃瓜头条 might face:

• You lose your primary location (sometimes on short notice). 
• You’re forced out of your regular meeting room and possibly downgraded to a less popular location.
• Your members might be forced to register, in advance, for each meeting as a result of security concerns.
• Your company (a primary source of members) relocates, downsizes, or closes—stripping your 吃瓜头条 of talent and mass.
• Your 吃瓜头条 becomes too big, outgrowing its location or 颅delaying the growth of some members wishing for more 颅opportunities to participate. 

Ego, Ergo They Go

Sometimes strong personalities within a 吃瓜头条 will lead to attrition of members over time. Even healthy 吃瓜头条s lose members when a particular member’s dominant personality or overriding style drowns out other members’ voices. And don’t think it’s only the 吃瓜头条 President who can have this effect.

I’ve been in a 吃瓜头条 where an overaggressive multilevel marketer used the 吃瓜头条 as a platform for growing her business. This led to sales speeches, unwanted sales phone calls, and emails. Thus, the 吃瓜头条 environment was poisoned for many members. When 吃瓜头条 leaders were slow to address it, several members quietly left. Only later did the 吃瓜头条 realize why it was losing members.

One 吃瓜头条 I visited was highly politicized. It had developed a political agenda based on local and national parties and propositions. Visitors soon realized this 吃瓜头条 was far from neutral in terms of its political leanings. Guests either fell in line or felt the wrath of members who weren’t shy about espousing their prevailing beliefs and attempting to persuade visitors and new members. As a result, this 吃瓜头条’s membership remained constant; there was little growth. Only its true believers felt comfortable.

A Leader Runs Through It

Bad things can happen as a result of leadership challenges. On occasion, a 吃瓜头条 will suffer from an overbearing Immediate Past President who is reluctant to let go of a 吃瓜头条’s culture or allow new leaders to modify its structure or operation.

I’ve seen specialty 吃瓜头条s, whose officers are elected for one year at a time, re-elect their President for a second year. Members will tolerate a leader they’re not enamored with for one term, but two consecutive terms is more than many will endure. Without fanfare they will withdraw or transfer their membership. I’ve always felt the strength of a 吃瓜头条 comes from the diversity of its members—their styles, thoughts, opinions, and skills, and the rotation of leaders each term. Too much of any one member may inhibit others from expressing their excellence.

Sometimes a power struggle or battle of styles will occur between officers. When it goes public it can divide the 吃瓜头条; some people side with one officer while other members support the opposition. Polarizing members with “political” friction leads to fissures and fractures of the 吃瓜头条’s cohesiveness. This is definitely not a recipe for 吃瓜头条 excellence!

On occasion a 吃瓜头条 leader will browbeat members with rules. Occasionally these 吃瓜头条 leaders can be so dogmatic that their entire focus is on the letter of the law and they miss the spirit behind the law. They espouse rigid rules—often not official 吃瓜头条 rules—at every opportunity, neglecting the focus that 吃瓜头条 really encourages personal growth and learning in a safe environment.

Sometimes over-ambitious 吃瓜头条 members and leaders, in their zeal to excel in the Distinguished 吃瓜头条 Program, focus on empire building and amassing points, to the detriment of human relations. When everything is quantified instead of humanized, a coldness pervades the 吃瓜头条 experience.

The Long Decline

Some 吃瓜头条s suffer from the cumulative effects of many small decisions, each causing a slight decline in quality. Regarded individually, each choice or practice may seem inconsequential. Yet the sum of all these parts leads to an average or below average 吃瓜头条 experience for members and guests. I call it the curse of mediocrity.

Consider the “Pedestrian” 吃瓜头条 吃瓜头条. This now-defunct group was once Distinguished. At that time it had a nice blend of men and women, and longtime and newly joined members. Their meetings were vibrant and varied. Over time a series of events occurred, each causing a small ripple. For instance:

• The Vice President Membership stopped leading membership-building campaigns.
• The Vice President Education stopped assigning roles in print weeks in advance.
• The 吃瓜头条 leaders began to construct the agenda on a flip chart after that day’s meeting had started.
• A few members left and were not replaced.
• Guests were ignored when they visited and didn’t join or return.
• Members failed to show up for meetings and neglected to arrange back-ups to cover their roles.
• Meeting standards declined a little bit each month.
• Members gave impromptu speeches.
• The Sergeant at Arms stopped stocking the appropriate speech evaluation forms for each assignment.
• Members increasingly arrived late.
• Speakers rarely provided introductions in advance, but 颅scribbled on lined paper right before they were to speak.

An air of informality pervaded meetings. Soon membership had dwindled to a handful of die-hards, mostly male. The environment resembled more of a men’s 吃瓜头条. And thus, a 吃瓜头条 that was once a model of excellence became a 吃瓜头条 likely to dissolve within a year without attention and a rededication. That year passed, and the 吃瓜头条 died.

In communities, quality of life is tied to practices such as repairing potholes in the roads as soon as they appear. The quality of a 吃瓜头条 吃瓜头条 is similarly threatened by the incremental diminution of quality in its various practices.

It’s Not What Happens, It’s How You React

Bad things may happen to your 吃瓜头条. Yet nothing is irrevocable. There are 吃瓜头条 specialists, coaches, and rescue chairs available to assist you in saving your 吃瓜头条. Learn more about 吃瓜头条 coaches here. Also, veteran members can deliver modules such as Moments of Truth to help. Your Area Director can also assist. You don’t have to go it alone in your quest to make your 吃瓜头条 the best it can be, again.

This article was originally published in the August 2011 issue of the Toastmaster magazine.