Santa Clara Vanguard 2024

[Weaklefthand4ever]

1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

We could start an over/under of how many SCV threads are closed before the 2024 season starts.  

If that number is above the corps placement in 2024, you get a super cool prize? I'm joking of course, but Wednesday is my "Dealing with dullards on conference calls all day" time and I'm grumpy.

[cixelsyd]

33 minutes ago, Cainan said:

Beleive it or not, we don't go out of our way to close threads.. quite the opposite actually. You don't see just how much cleaning up of threads we do in an effort to keep them open.

That is a good point.  So often, "cleanup in aisle 5" has already been completed while I was still in aisle 2.

[JimF-LowBari]

6 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

I'm joking of course, but Wednesday is my "Dealing with dullards on conference calls all day" time and I'm grumpy.

Glad almost all of my calls were not video conferences. Then I could make faces, roll my eyes and stick my tongue out during the call. “Favorite” was when a contractor called me a liar on a 20 person call. I calmly explained why I said what I did. Meanwhile I’m giving the finger to the phone. Woman at desk next to me almost fell out of her chair. 😳 Had the last laugh as the contractor was replaced next call.

[Mello Dude]

34 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

So in your view Mr. Lesher is engaging in axe grinding. Got it. Can you tell me what is inaccurate in the article linked by fighterkit a few pages back?

Why do YOU assume it's an "axe to grind"?  I noticed that you jumped to that immediately rather than the other option I offered.  That seems telling in and of itself.

[Mello Dude]

35 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

If that number is above the corps placement in 2024, you get a super cool prize? I'm joking of course, but Wednesday is my "Dealing with dullards on conference calls all day" time and I'm grumpy.

I love those...not.  You are just about to leave it and one person starts asking questions that were fully covered.

[BlueStainGlass]

And this is why announcing a season before everything was buttoned up was a bad idea. 

[lawdn]

2 hours ago, HockeyDad said:

What would have prevented this from happening?  Transparency from the leadership. Answering questions. Reaching out to alumni instead of alienating them.  Now we shine the bright light on it. It’s generally a very good disinfectant. 

Per my last post in this thread a few days ago, I still think VMAPA is righting the ship and in active resolution with state authorities. Gavin suggests as much. Although I said in my last post that I guessed VMAPA’s lawyers were instructing the org not to make public statements about status, the client still gets to make the decisions and could have required the attorneys to help construct a proactive statement that gave some i formation about how VMAPA was on the road back to good standing with the state.

I personally don’t approve of RL’s actions at the council meeting, but it is understandable and foreseeable. More transparency from VMAPA before this might not have avoided this but it would have kept them in front of the narrative. Instead, they put their new CEO in the position of having his first public responsibility be to defend and explain the organization with information it could have chosen to make public probably any time within the last few months.

I also don’t approve of the attacks on RL. He has longstanding ties to VMAPA and like many of us is a California resident with a right to ask questions about a CA nonprofit’s legal status and a legitimate expectation to get meaningful answers.

But wow - there is so much room for improved behavior in the VMAPA community. I hope there is the humility to take that opportunity.

Edited September 14, 2023 by lawdn

[lawdn]

2 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Exactly.  

Bad news NEVER gets better with age.  Get the ugly out there early, deal with it before it grows and explodes.  

From an organizational perspective, when a parent is researching a corps like SCV that their kid is interested in marching, it must be FAR better for them to learn about the org’s legal status from an organizational press release than from a news story about a public complaint about possible illegal conduct, complete with ugly responses from the org’s community.

This whole thing could be a case study about crisis management taught in a course on organizational and nonprofit management. I am not saying everything about it has been bad, but an exercise in looking at what worked well and what did not could be informative.

Edited September 14, 2023 by lawdn

[MarimbaManiac]

2 hours ago, Mello Dude said:

Why do YOU assume it's an "axe to grind"?  I noticed that you jumped to that immediately rather than the other option I offered.  That seems telling in and of itself.

Because you have both implied and outright stated multiple times that you think people have "ulterior motives" or "other agendas" for being vocal about the organizations repeated failures. It makes people think what YOUR motives might be, that you can't accept the organization is in the wrong, and needs to face some accountability.

[MarimbaManiac]

1 hour ago, lawdn said:

Per my last post in this thread a few days ago, I still think VMAPA is righting the ship and in active resolution with state authorities. Gavin suggests as much.

Not calling you out specifically, but this was an easy quote to grab that I think details one of the main issues here. 

People are thinking about this too myopically. This issue with CA non-profit compliance is a symptom of a bigger problem, not the problem itself. The bigger problem being that the board has operated dysfunctionally and without oversight or accountability for too long, and the entire thing has started to come apart at the seams. 

In order to clear the air and show they really understand the issues, VMAPA has to:

• Become VERY transparent, and plainly acknowledge the issues that are currently facing the organization.
• This includes ALL issues, not just the financial stuff on the surface (transparency, abuse, HR issues, etc.). 
• Speak plainly about their plan for fixing these issues, including a timeline for when/how they will address them.
• Commit to a new process of transparency for communication moving forward, through open meetings, status updates, etc. 
• Commit to a new process for whistleblowers for staff/member abuse, accountability, inclusion, etc. 
• Speak PLAINLY about the status for 2024, and not hide it in behind vague promises of "taking necessary steps."

Not everything has to be a carefully crafted PR statement.

Not everything has to be cloaked in 7 layers deception and secrecy.

Not everything has to be communicated in a way that casts the org in the best possible light. 

Be CLEAR, be HONEST, be TRUTHFUL, and engage the alumni and fans as stakeholders that will hold them accountable. Otherwise 2024 starts to look like a Fyre Festival fiasco where VMAPA promises the world and delivers cold cheese sandwiches and FEMA tents. 

 

I just gotta say it's SO FRUSTRATING to watch an org I really respected just run from the truth over and over again, rather than taking responsibility for its missteps and making amends. 

 

Not very classy Santa Clara.