CDS Dressage Letters Oct 2020

October 2020 ~ Dressage Letters ~ Page 4 Tough Stance on Drama You have to nip drama in the bud the moment it rears its head. Drama always eats away at the positive energy necessary to revitalize an organization.  It also defeats the “joining” mentality (see below).  You will have people in your organization who always have drama in their lives.  They have to be managed, subtly.  Keep them actively involved but in a way that they do not shoulder sole responsibility.  For example, place them on a committee where their talents can be utilized, but the impact of their pot stirring is minimized.  This said, it is important to have a strong but diplomatic person chair the committee on which a pot- stirrer serves to “manage” any issues that arise.  With time, even a pot-stirrer can become a “joiner.” Make Tough Decisions and Present a Unified Front You also have to be willing to make the unpopular decisions and to stand by them, as a unified group.  You can never make everyone happy, but if your goal is truly the success of the overall organization, unpopular decisions will eventually fade away and the “joining” mentality will kick in. You will not always have 100% agreement on the board, especially regarding unpopular decisions. However, once a decision has been made, it is critical for all board members to support the decision. Side conversations with board members who believe a wrong decision was reached can be very damaging (see Tough Stance on Drama, above). With this said, there are also times when it is appropriate to revisit a decision. This has to be done with the success of the overall organization at the forefront of the discussion. Encourage the “Joining Mentality” The “joining mentality” that I’ve mentioned is the point at which other members want to join in whatever is going on.  They want to participate in the planning, preparation and the events - not just to take from the events.  Within our Chapter, I knew we had turned a corner when new people got involved with and handled the planning of the year end banquet.  Now it wasn’t just that there was a new board and let’s see what they can do, but it was “let me get involved and help out.”  Of course, you have to be willing to manage this process without micro managing.  Not always an easy task, but you have to be careful to build the fire within new participants to add their individual flair without dousing that fire by dictating every detail or starving the fire by ignoring it. Remember, for the organization to flourish, you have to allow other people to be involved, to add their creative flair or touch. The banquet may not be as you would have planned it, but it might be even better. More importantly, new people will be revitalized to participate and take ownership and pride in the activities of the Chapter. Be Willing to Adjust You also have to be willing to adjust.  In the past, one person was responsible for everything having to do with our shows - creating premiums, mailing them, organizing volunteers, overseeing set up and the day of the show AND obtaining sponsors and awards. That is a tremendous responsibility for any one individual.  This year, we had more of a committee.  One person did an awesome job with sponsors and donated awards, saving us a ton of money. Another person (with a cheery personality and someone other people want to join) organized the volunteers,  another person handled the behind the scenes items such as drafting the premiums, checking rules compliance, corresponding with judges and TDs, circulating throughout the show and another person handled all the ribbons.  In this way, several people had a vested interest in the successful culmination of the show experience.  No one person was completely stressed and we had a group that other people wanted to join. We’ve also had the same group working on all the shows, so the process has become more streamlined and efficient. Coincidentally, we’ve also begun the process of training new people to begin taking over show responsibilities -which brings me to the next point: preventing burnout. Streamlining and Efficiency Building a successful chapter is time consuming. Fortunately, many functions become repetitive throughout the year – for example, show prep, set up, break down, newsletters, premiums. Whenever possible, look for ways to streamline the processes and to work efficiently. We have four single rated shows and one triple rated show each year. The premium is virtually identical for four of the shows. We are now able to create all five premiums at the beginning of the show season, post them on our website at the beginning of the season and mail one postcard with our