Management Philosophy

The Management Team are constantly reviewing Club activities and trying to ensure that members are able to enjoy Club life, which, after all, is what we are about. We do not hold regular meetings, because we have never found the need. Very occasionally we will have a TeamSpeak meeting - about once a year on average, but these are not usually minuted. They are held mainly to save time and lots of emails or PMs flying around to deal with an important issue - e.g. how to go about being a VATSIM Training Organisation. Most of our discussions are via posts in a private board in the forum, or via PM. It is, and always has been, a very deliberate policy to manage with a light touch and to include rather than exclude as many activities as we can within our overall "mission" to be a Light Aircraft Flying Club.

Most MT members access the forum at least daily, and sometimes hourly. Controversial forum posts from members are always picked up and discussed among the Team to see if we need to improve anything, or to respond in any other way. New ideas from members are always discussed, and if they are in the interests of a majority of members, in our judgement, then those ideas are implemented. Sometimes those ideas prove not to work out, but it doesn't stop us considering any ideas. Other ideas will be considered non-starters quite quickly, but we would always offer an explanation if asked. We accept that it may be better to proactively provide an explanation for ideas which are not progressed.

A good example of this is the Screenshot Competition. This was an idea for which there was much initial support, so it was implemented. With the forum upgrade to SMF version 2, the competition was moved into the forum media facility to raise its profile with members. Support from the membership, however, in the form of submitting entries, has been very weak. This is a disappointment which we have to accept along with the many more successful ideas. There is no suggestion that the screenshot competition will be dropped, by the way. On the contrary, we have continued to do our best to simplify the entry process, and to attract more entries.

Management Team members are chosen very carefully because the worst thing that can happen in any Club is divisiveness in its management. All of the team have been members for more than ten years, so have a long history of mutual respect and understanding. That gives the Club a very secure foundation. In addition, each one brings a specific and essential skill to the Club. It also means that new MT members are chosen with very great care.