For some reason something that happened a few years ago
now popped into my head today and it’s as relevant today as it was then.
It was after our normal weekly meeting and an aggrieved
member caught me in the car park (I was the Membership Coordinator at the time
– Vice President today).
His opening words were “You’re got to do something about
(I’ll call him Mike – not his real name) Mike!”
“Why?” I asked innocently although I already had an idea
of what was coming; a category clash.
“Mike was talking about fencing and that sort of work is
mine. You have to do something," he insisted. “Right now!”
I explained that it wasn’t clear cut and the best thing
to do in the situation was to meet the Mike and agree on a dividing line
between ‘crossover’ jobs.
But he wasn’t interested. He insisted that I had to do
something. That was my job. I knew that talking to Mike was the best way to
solve the problem and asked the member to do me a favour and have a coffee with
Mike. Eventually, if I really thought it best and as it was me, he agreed to
having a coffee, but if it didn’t work I had to do something.
The next afternoon my phone rang, the member’s number on
the screen, and with a certain amount of trepidation I answered it. “I did what
you said. Bloody good advice”, he said.
“Great!" I replied.
Cutting a long story short, they had met and were going
to do a large project together. The outcome was even better than I had hoped
for, but as BT used to say, 'It’s good to talk’.
So, my advice to you, if you ever think that a fellow
member is encroaching on your territory, have a coffee with them as you never
know where it might lead.
