nomadpete

I've been talking to a couple of pilot's wives about the suspected clumsiness of the RAAus exec/board processes and their reluctance to communicate with the members. Now I can reveal the solution: Get all the pilot's and owner's wives together and send them down to Canberra. I'm pretty sure they will sort everything out - they are all heartily sick and tired of hearing us bleating on about this or that outrageous "oversight". Once in Canberra they will do whatever is necessary to restore harmony in our homes. And as for communication, well who could be better qualified to get the right goss and spread it to us?

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target: Dear Mrs. Harris, Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Harris, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras: 1. June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking. 2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in House wares to go off at 5-minute intervals. 3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom. 4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money. We don't have a Code 3. 5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layby. 6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area. 7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged. 8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called. 9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose. 10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were. 11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme. 12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' using different sizes of funnels. 13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!' 14. October 22: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!' 15. Took a box of condoms to the checkout clerk and asked where is the fitting room? And last, but not least: 16. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, and then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.

Maybe, DODO, there is more to criticize than to praise in the RAAus executive....

Rather than blame those who have "come and gone", might we look at the common denominators? If numerous individuals have put in their best efforts and so often left in disgust, that only leaves the "long timers" who have been there the longest. They have had the longest tenure to know what has been going on and to carry the largest part of the blame....

Sorry Nev, So, can I start rubbishing smart blonds with your blessing now ?

Wait a minute - this is definately off topic. These aren't jokes - they're axioms!

Hey, AWAL's been stealing all our ideas !

Nice, but will the recording of proceedings be filed away by the executive for their own future reference? We'd like to be able to get a copy to hear at our club debriefing after the meeting. (Hope there are more than one recordings set up, so there is a chance that members will be able to get a copy)

Andy, There is absolutely no point in asking all those "WHY" questions (except that it would be satisfying to know why) UNLESS there is a little flow chart attached to each question. That is so that a positive outcome can be made to result from information revealed by the answer. So if an answer was "we didn't know at the time" What are your options to rectify that? It might be a motion to change a process or it might be another question. That is the kind of strategy that must be down on paper prior to the GM. If we leave it to be done on the fly, the meeting will ramble on without acheiving any of the positive outcomes we desire. Remember that the meeting cannot go on forever, we need to keep to a strict set of agendas in order to fit as much as we can into the available time.

TP. Numerous posters have suggested starting points to prompt members to build a strategy. This is clearly essential in order to prevent the GM from degenerating into a mud slinging match. None of us wish to waste this opportunity to bring about a positive change in RAAus . My hope is that groups have got together to nut out their particular strategy and questions and motions to use at the meeting. Most are reluctant to put their plans on an open forum because they fear that it would only give the less functional board members some advantage, or bring about more destructive vitriol from certain individuals. So long as the focus remains on keeping it simple as possible, we will come out of it well. No need to reinvent the whole system, just address what matters most.

But, Ian, all that you describe above still means that the success you and Lee had here, was a work - around for a defective communication process that RAAus had even back then. As you say, it went downhill after that. Probably because the noncommunicative culture was already started and was/is progressed by less open people over a period of time (the monkey metaphor comes to mind). At present, RAAus already has its own web site capable of doing what you suggest. If only we could get somebody to arrange for the web site to be dragged into the 21st century, and updated. It is woefully poorly maintained. Just look at the dead links and out of date stuff on it. It still tells us that Don is the treasurer, for heaven's sake! Communication and transparency, directly from RAAus please! This is not intended to denegrate your site, Ian. It should still have its own part to play no matter what.

Couldn't agree more. This brings us plebs back to the original problem - to put it crudely, how do we know which individuals need to be moved on, which are already great assets to be kept, and which are a problem now but can be guided to become great assets. Pete, the concept of using clubs as a main conduit for feedback to the board has great merit because the clubs already represent groups of concerned members. They already represent regional interests. I like that idea.

Too much information already !

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE) I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it around your genitals, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.

A man walks into a pharmacy and wanders up & down the aisles.. The sales girl notices him and asks him if she can help him. He answers that he is looking for a box of tampons for his wife. She directs him down the correct aisle. A few minutes later, he deposits a huge bag of cotton balls and a ball of string on the counter. She says, confused, 'Sir, I thought you were looking for some tampons for your wife? He answers, 'You see, it's like this, yesterday, I sent my wife to the store to get me a carton of cigarettes, and she came back with a tin of tobacco and some rolling papers; cause it's sooo-ooo--oo-ooo much cheaper. So, I figure if I have to roll my own .. so does she... WOMEN'S REVENGE 'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse. 'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked. 'No,' she replied, 'but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'

When I suggested an email broadcast for board members to send out a news bulletin, I expected it to be taken as a starting point for giving all members the same information (stops chinese whispers). It MUST be provided alongside a forum which allows the members (and board members) to openly discuss the issues arising out of the email contents. So you would have the ability to target the information initially to the members (not the general public), and allow open discussion about the contents. An email list shouldn't be so cumbersome to compile, and only requires the addition of new members and a 'unsubscribe' process.

Freedom of speech means that you must allow lots of biassed views to be aired and the reader must be remember to fit his/her sh*t filters prior to taking any views as being truth. And sometime wear a suit of armour. So, I'd say, thanks Ian for all your efforts that allow freedom of speech to our community. I too, was worried when the site went down, and relieved that it was 'only' an IT problem. Incidentally you were not the only aviation websit down at that time.

Furthermore, a forum is a platform for debate, not a platform to broadcast a news bulletin

Again I thank you, Ian, for providing this resource. It is unfortunate that so many of the committee members find the success of your forums to be a threat. That in itself caused many of us users to become suspicious - usually when free speech and honest communication is gagged, it often is because someone somewhere is afraid that their naughty behaviour will be seen. My suggested motion was because individual board members are presently either unwilling or unable (I suspect there is no provision for them to use it) to use the RAAus website to provide timely comprehensive information to members. Also, the website is too public for some information. At times there would be information that is useful to members who are aware of the context, but damaging if taken out of context by an outsider. An email list (with the provision for a member to opt in or out at any time) is a way to broadcast information to a target audience of interested parties. If the mechanism is already there, we should insist that it be used as a step toward transparency.

Move a motion:- That RAAus develop a email list for dissemination of RAAus news items - as a method of board communicating issues arising to members. A "member's advice" page advising members of the board/executive's intention to communicate and asking members permission to be included in the email list shall be included in the magazine, the members response to be returned by email to RAAus office. Purpose of the motion:- To allow RAAus permission to contact members by email. To establish an instantaneous communication path to all (or at least the majority of) members. To promote regular updates within the RAAus community, thereby minimising mis-information and rumours. To allow any board member's voice to reach the membership, either individually or as a group, so long as they take individual responsibility for their email content.

I just gotta post something here just to get this thread back to the top. The thread was intended to start debate around formulating questions and possible consequential motions for the Feb General Meeting. Please start listing questions that you would like to ask (nicely) at the meeting. Questions that can lead to positive motions to help get RAAus back on track. We have surely all vented enough here. It's time to come up collectively with some positive process to get some answers and then be able to select some positive motions to vote on, to restore proper governance and transparency. Here are a few ideas......... What process has been implemented to bring RAAus record keeping up the the standard required by CASA? Possible answer = (a) none (b) a process explained - could be great or could be flawed. How many aircraft registrations are presently lapsed due to issues identified by the CASA audits? How long will the backlog take to clear? What KPI's are written into the new position of General Manager? What internal auditing is being set up by RAAus to ensure that pilot certificate records are p to date and adequate for any CASA audit? Is the constitutional reform committee active? What is the timeframe before members are advised of its recommendations? Pending the answer, move for it to be set up with a timeframe for a response. What would you ask? Then based on the possible answer, would you feel that a motion should be moved to fix a problem. If we don't go in with a orderly plan, we run the risk of the meeting degenerating into an anger fest - which would not serve any useful purpose for us and perhaps only play into the hands of the secret clique who keep calling us concerned members a small bunch of trouble makers. I would dearly like to see the meeting reveal that we are justly concerned and we want to contribute to a positive outcome. But to achieve that we should have some consensus on the order and content of questions, and possible motions.