Letting the new members shine
Vol. 2, No. 2 * January 7, 2010
By JCI Mem. ANGELO DANIEL R. PARCON
2007 President
Exactly twenty-five years
ago today, I lost my father to cardiac arrest.
His first, and unfortunately his last.
I was seven years old then and words could not describe the grief and
anguish that I had to go through in the first few days realizing that I won’t
be seeing him anymore.
Being second to the
youngest, I was quite close to my dad. There
was a time when our mom would be the one who’d accompany my older brothers and
sister when they’d visit our mom’s hometown in Butuan City. It was just my dad, my younger brother and I who
was left in Cebu. One of my fondest
memories with him was when the three of us would hear mass at the Redemptorist
Church, had ice cream cones at Coney Island and finally he’d take us and buy us
as many comic books as we wanted on Sundays.
EVER
THE OPTIMIST
Little did I know then that
his passing would play a very important role in my formation and would act as a
fuel to fire the passion and determination that would someday make me into who
I am today. I have five other siblings,
from then on our mother had five boys and a single rose who would look to her
for guidance as we grew older. Our
eldest was just fourteen then and he was abruptly thrust into the role as a
father figure to us five other younger kids of whom the youngest, the one who was
born after me, was just four when we lost our dad.
To put it bluntly, we were literally
thrown into the fire of what is called life.
To ease the pressure off of our mother, we all chose to take the bull by
the horns and try to weave through the trials and tribulations we encounter when
we were able to.
That is when I come to the
topic on how we can aid the personal growth of a local organization’s members,
particularly the new members. When a
person chooses to join JCI, they already took the first step in trying to
become a better person on their own accord.
If the local organization chooses to baby them too much, it’s tantamount
to stunting their growth as a person and as a leader. It’s not a secret that man has this
predictable characteristic to assimilate easily to something that they’re
comfortable with. “Spoon-feeding” a
member is one such situation.
LETTING
THEM RUN THE SHOW
Since 2006, when we first
founded JCI Cebu-Mactan Channel, we’ve always preached the idea of having new
members undergo three very important trainings when they joined us: A New Members Orientation (which was preceded
by a Coffee Conversations session), the Vanguard Leader’s Course and a Project
Management Seminar. After which they
would be given the chance to be a project chairperson of a project of their
choice.
It was but natural that you
could see fear, anxiety and a rush of mixed emotions on their faces when you
would tell them “What project would you choose to chair?”. Some would balk at the idea, while some, as I
said, would take the bull by the horns.
Of course we do not toss them immediately into the mix without a guiding
eye to watch over them. For every new
member who would chair a project, as much as possible, we would pair them off
with a regular “veteran” member to provide advice when needed in the project
that they would be collaborating in. But
we make it a point that room for growth for the new member will always be given
a premium. “Veteran” members have
already had their time, they make it a point to work for and allow the new ones
to be the ones to shine.
In 2009, we were blessed to
have members joining us who all chose to take the bull by the horns and
literally threw themselves into the projects that they chose to chair. I would not deny the fact that to a certain point;
I had moments of hesitation whether they could handle the immense
responsibilities in the projects that they chose to involve themselves in. I was thankful that they all proved me wrong
and all passed their trials, with flying colors even.
Our set up in JCI is much
like corporate offices; Presidents, Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, et
al. But what makes us placed on the
other end of the spectrum is, in JCI we’re all allowed to make mistakes. We are, of course, a process oriented
organization; unlike the corporate world which is a results oriented
environment.
DO
NOT BE AFRAID
That is why we should never
be afraid to let our new members join the fray and allow them to be project
chairpersons and let them have a feel by having them run the show but at the
same time continually guide them on how to do it the JCI way. We can make mistakes, as long as we don’t
make the same mistake twice. We can make
mistakes, because it is through these mistakes that we learn how to do it
better. We all make mistakes, both the “veteran”
members and the new members. And that is
one other aspect which allows us to grow even further as persons and
leaders. We just have to make sure that
we learn from our mistakes.
I have borne witness to how
our new members in 2009 spread their wings and showed their true potentials to
become important assets to the JCI movement.
Not only did they show the spunk and the tenacity that defined us a “young”
JCI local organization, but they emanated the passion and determination that
symbolizes a true young active citizen. One
can read about the projects that they chose to handle in the contents of this
website.
In closing, don’t be afraid to
let your new members shine. Do not be
afraid to cut the so-called umbilical cord that could prove to be a stumbling
block to their growth. Do not be afraid
to make mistakes. Do not be afraid to
throw them into the fire.
For the new members, do not be afraid to take the challenges head on. Better yet, do not wait to be thrown into the fire, just jump in!
P.S. Happy New Year everyone! I trust all of you have had an incredible holiday season!
Disclaimer: I do not claim to have found the formula for GENUINE and EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP nor do I claim to be a genuine and effective leader though I sincerely seek to be one. This column is my quest towards being a genuine and effective leader and my insights from my JCI experiences that would hopefully lead me there. Let me hear your thoughts too by leaving a comment here.
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