|quoted:
Our Chairman, Mastersmith Harvey Dean, asked that I create this forum during some of our recent conversations, about how the membership should be made to feel like they have a say ...
Kevin, you know that I like and respect you a lot, but you're the messenger, so you're the first person I'm going to shoot. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
I find your choice of words here a bit... unfortunate. You state that the membership "should be made to feel like they have a say..."
Feel like?
No offense to anyone, but the ABS Board of Directors has a pretty weak track record on this front. I'm certainly not involved in any board-level discussions, but I'm unaware of even a single instance of an idea or suggestion from a rank-and-file ABS member ever being considered or adopted. Perhaps they have, but I've never heard about it. I did hear an awful lot of concerns about the ICCE show after its early stumbles, but again, were any of those issues ever addressed? And as someone else already mentioned, there was also request a few years ago for ideas and suggestions on increasing member participation on the forum. A lot of good ideas came out of that discussion, but again, I don't think a single one of them was ever actually implemented. There's plenty of talk, it seems, but very little action.
Both here and elsewhere we've all been encouraged to provide feedback and contribute more actively to the forum. In fact there have been quite a few pleas over the years to ABS members and especially ranked members to increase their participation here. But communication, as they say, is a two way street, and when I read the user stats on the board members' names, I see the following:
ABS Chairman Harvey Dean - 10 posts, last active Oct. 2015
First Vice Chairman Steve Dunn - 0 posts
Secretary and Founder B.R. Hughes - 7 posts, last active Sep. 2015
Treasurer Bill Wiggins - 42 posts, last active June 2016
Board Member James M. Philips - 0 posts
Board Member Jeffrey Harris - 0 posts
Board Member E. Jay Hendrickson - 1 post, last active Aug 2013
Board Member James L. Batson, Ph.D. - 5 posts, last active Aug 2014
Board Member Greg Neely - 23 posts, last active May 2018
Board Member Robert Calvert - 0 posts
Board Member Mark Zalesky - 50 posts, last active Jan 2017
Board Member Kevin R. Cashen - 490 posts and counting!
Board Member James Rodebaugh - 0 posts
Board Member Robert Wilson - 2 posts, last active May 2016
Among the 14 Board Members, only 3 have posted more than a couple dozen times and only 2 have even been on the forum within the past year. The "ABS Organization Reports and Information for our Members" section of the forum, meanwhile, hasn't been updated in almost three years.
If this is the board's idea of communication and member engagement on the forum then I honestly don't even know where to begin. In fact, I'm more inclined to just end right here, because it's pretty clear no one other than you, Kevin, is listening anyway...
I just came in from the shop to add the following:
Many of our members have wonderful ideas that they never share because they don't want to stick their necks out. They feel it is not their place within the hierarchy to say anything, or they don't wish to risk offending anyone, or they're just too shy to speak up. Some also fear retribution, through ridicule by their respected peers, or in the judging room when they submit for their JS or MS rating (I've heard this concern voiced by more than one aspiring bladesmith).
The fact is that when the ABS Board of directors asks for member feedback, it's an awful lot like your wife asking you if she looks fat in those pants. There just isn't a whole lot of upside in it for you!
Now Kevin has apparently been burdened with the impossible task of acting as a sort of unofficial liason between the ABS board and its thousands of members across the planet. Since I don't want to criticize anything without at least offering to help improve what I perceive to be deficient, I'll gladly volunteer my time end energy to serve as an assistant liason. I would propose that, among my duties, I would write a brief member survey to be distributed electronically to all ABS members, and then compile and summarize the results in a letter to the Board prior to its annual meeting in June. I would also accept direct feedback on a personal or anonymous basis, that I would then also summarize and periodically share with the board. After the annual meeting is concluded, I would also assist the board in drafting a formal response, which, upon board review and approval, could be posted on the forum and published in the ABS journal.
I know that many of you feel strongly that people should have the conviction to stand behind their opinions, and while I agree with that sentiment, the organization's hierarchy as well as its social structure can act as a powerful barrier to the open sharing of ideas. Therefore, I strongly believe that providing an avenue for anonymous feedback will be far more effective in gathering constructive ideas and opinions. Besides, most of us can easily recognize the difference between a bitter, spiteful complaint and a sincere, constructive criticism. And in the spirit of openness, what's more important - the idea, or the mouth it came out of?
I feel that even a modest increase in communication from the board and a sincere effort to both solicit and address real feedback would do an awful lot to improve engagement and bring out the best ideas of our varied and diverse members, and again, I would be happy to carry out most of the grunt-work involved in the initiatives I've proposed here. If the Board is serious about listening to its members, rather than just making us feel like we have a voice, then I recommend starting right here.
