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For those of you members who have never bothered to
attend the club's AGM, our club practices democracy
to the fullest and have very high standards of governance.
You need to exercise your rights as a member by attending
the AGM and vote; the same principle as a citizen of
Malaysia. I have seen many clubs and associations failing
due to mismanagement that resulted in misappropriation
of funds. While each club would have an appropriately
drafted constitution or rules to guide it, the real
safeguard is to vote in capable individuals with integrity
into the Exco.
Timing Chip System
During the discussion on the acquisition of the timing
chip system, I made a little speech. I can't remember
word for word what I said but roughly the gist of the
message is as follows for those who were not at the
AGM;
I congratulated Munning and his team for being transparent
in bringing in the proposed acquisition of the timing
chip system to the AGM. Under the existing rules of
the club, the Exco has the power to make such an acquisition
even though it is a significant capital expenditure.
It is a sensible decision on the part of the Exco to
table this proposed acquisition to the members at the
AGM.
"Today is a proud day for the club, to be able
to decide on the acquisition of the timing chip. I fully
support the proposal to acquire the timing chip system
as it would enhance our capability in event management.
We have 3 strong reasons to do it;
1. We have the events in the pipeline, 5 events
this year.
2. We have the financial resources to purchase
it outright.
3. We have the team to be able to manage it as
it sounds easier than the present semi-auto system we
use with the laptop, logging in runners as they finish
the run at the gate."
Downside Risk and Suggested Mitigations
As a risk manager by profession, I often highlight the
downside risk on seemingly upside decisions. Having
5 public events a year to manage, including 2 outstation
events in Penang and Johore Bahru, I feel the Exco will
be fully stretched. We may end up a cut back in the
pure members' events like the various breakfast runs
and the track meet. We must remember, PACM first exist
as a club, only second as an event organizer. Our members
are from all walks of life; from the young to old and
from the slow to the fast runners. The club needs to
have activities to satisfy this broad spectrum of members.
As our statistics show, only about 600 to 700 of our
members take part in the public road races we organize
such as the Great Eastern Pacesetters 30km and New Balance
Pacesetters 15km. What about the other 1,000 members?
They are the recreational runners and families that
look forward to our breakfast runs and the kids that
enjoy the track meet. These events usually non-competitive
help to bring out the families. Over the years I have
seen the kids from a number of families growing up with
PACM's activities.
One strategy to manage this is to engage the area groups,
get them to organize such members' events. To the credit
of the Exco, this has been implemented sporadically.
We have done it successfully for 3 breakfast runs, with
the Klang Group in 2006, the Putrajaya Group and the
Sabak Bernam Group in 2007. The Kuantan Group is a class
of their own, they did the Kuantan TC Run with 500 runners.
I also notice that a few area groups have lost some
fire as compared to previous years, judging from their
participation in the club's activities. Getting these
groups to organize an event could possibly help bringing
back the fire in them.
What the Exco need to do is to commit the area groups,
fix the date, allocate them some funds, assign someone
from the Exco to guide them and cheer them on, communicates
the events via our website and Footloose. Fixing the
date in advance is very critical as it is impossible
to find a date without a run event during the active
months. We must be prepared to have a clash of dates
so long we don't clash with major events like KLIM,
Penang Bridge Run or Singapore Marathon.
Succession Planning
This is one subject that best in class corporations
practice but rather unheard of among local clubs. In
2002 we changed the rules of the club, to introduce
a limited term on the president, 5 years. Munning co-wrote
the changes with me. Such a rule is democratic and it
prevents the president from over-staying and encourages
healthy leadership succession. In the United States,
the president is limited to 2 terms of 4 years (total
8 years). We are probably one of the few clubs in the
country to practice this but this is common among professional
societies. When I was due to retire in March 2005, I
have been talking to both vice-presidents, Jimmy Tong
and Phoon Yoke Heng to stand for election. I feel both
are capable to take over as they have been working with
me for several years. Unfortunately, both were unwilling
to take up the job and I was getting desperate to get
a candidate from the existing Exco to take over. I do
not like the idea of parachuting a new person into the
president post from outside the Exco. I feel strongly
about continuity and getting someone who has contributed
for a few years in the Exco is the best bet moving forward.
I decided to turn to Munning who has served the club
for about 12 years then in the previous Exco, took a
few years break and then joined my Exco. He was a reluctant
president from day one but he also recognized the importance
of continuity since the club has grown quite big with
1,400 members and with 2 public events a year. His agreement
to take stand for election has avoided a possible leadership
crisis in the club.
Going forward I wish to emphasize that it is important
to groom successors to ensure the changeover of leaders
is without disruption. The purpose of having 2 vice-presidents,
though not spelt out is that in the event the president
is unable to continue for whatever reasons (say he get
posted overseas for a job), one of the two vice-presidents
must be prepared and able to take over. This time round
when Munning decided to step down, in fact he announced
it at last year AGM Dinner that he is stepping down
this year. Francis Toh , the more experienced of the
two vice-presidents decided not to take on the position
and Rustam Affandi, who is willing to take on the post,
stood for election and won without contest.
I would appeal to members who are interested to serve
the club to come forward to volunteer your services.
You could start by being a volunteer in the club events
or area groups and if you feel passionate enough, come
forward to offer yourself for election. Our club is
a fine place for budding managers to get some experience
in managing. In our case, we have to manage people who
are not paid to work; they too are volunteers. You could
really improve your people skill in the process. We
also need some special skills like IT, the club has
to move forward with on-line registration that could
be payment enabled to stay competitive in event management.
Kelab Roadrunners Ipoh has got their on-line registration
going for the last two years but not payment enabled
yet. We have to catch up in this area.
Wan and Hooi Siew Weng |
Lily and Veronica at the PACM Annual Dinner |
Tribute to Munning and his team
Munning has a distinct different style from me, I am
more publicity seeking to promote the club's branding
via the media while Munning believes in working hard
quietly. His original intention was to stabilize the
club after years of growth during my era. However, circumstances
did not allow him this luxury as more organizations
seek PACM participation in various events. The momentum
of the club continues to grow with one successful event
after another. The Mizuno Wave Run and the Great Eastern
Pacesetters 30km were two key events added to the club's
calendar during Munning's era. The club's membership
continue to grow to 1,700 from 1,400 three years ago.
During this period, the club's magazine, the Footloose
has become a very professional runners' magazine with
top notch contributions from members and has the support
of several brands of running shoes and ancillary products
/ services. Tan Swee Huah, the outgoing secretary and
Footloose editor has ensured the quarterly magazine
come out on time, with good contents and with a professional
layout. Two consistent work horses of the Exco that
retired were Uncle Sonny Ng and Naidu from the Gasing
Group. I have worked with both of them and they were
very hard working in many of the field assignments given
to them during events they took charged. With them we
even got extended help from Jenny Leong (Sonny's wife)
and Naidu's children.
With Dr William Chan, Clara and Lee Shew Keng |
I have a unique story
with Munning that I once narrated during the 2005
AGM Dinner and I wish to repeat it here. I joined
the club in November 1984 according to the club's
records, 6 months after the club commenced on 20th
May 1984. In 1987, I got married and moved to Subang
Jaya and decided that it was too much hassle to
come down to Bukit Aman to run with PACM. I did
something that most members won't bother, I sent
in a resignation letter to resign from the club.
Most members would just don't pay up and wait for
the club to deregister them. To my surprise, I received
a reply from Munning, secretary of the club, urging
me to continue my membership. I was very gratified
with his gesture and decided to renew the membership.
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I continue to renew my membership for the next 11 years
without stepping foot into Bukit Aman car-park till
1998 when I became treasurer of the club. The next was
a twist of fate, I became the president of the club
in 2000. I still have the copy of my resignation letter
and Munning's reply in soft copies.
PACM EXCO 2008 - 2009
In all our 24 years of existence, with Rustam elected
as the 8th president, the leadership changeover in the
club has been smooth and the support by the immediate
past president exists both in form (provided by our
club rules that the immediate past president stay one
year in the Exco) and in substance (Munning was in Bidor
on 27 April 2008 to help organize the registration for
the New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2008). I am confident
the in-coming Exco will take the club to the next level.
In 2009, we shall be celebrating our 25th Anniversary
and I have suggested that the club re-enact the inaugural
run we did on 20 May 1984 that marked the formation
of the club. It may be too difficult to use the original
route (traffic safety reasons) and the logical choice
is to use the Pacesetters 15km 2009 on 17 May 2009 as
the celebration event.
Wan Yew Leong
15 May 2008
wanyewleong@gmail.com
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