Poor Decision Makers

One of the first acts of Pat Thompson as a newly installed President was to spend over £3,000 on printing and distributing the President’s Newsletter to the members, which provided exactly the same information as British Naturism [the magazine] issued a week later, but with less detail. “That was quite an amazing decision to make, made worse by the fact that the idea must’ve died a death shortly afterwards, because it hasn’t been repeated. It was an utter waste of money,” said John Paine of the BNchange campaign group.

“Sadly,” continued John. “This is not the only example of poor management that I can cite.” Both of the last AGMs, under Pat’s control were criticised by H&E Naturist and Naturist Life, the last of which culminated in John’s expulsion as Research and Liaison Officer (R&LO), just two months before he was to give up the post. “I am totally bemused by that episode,” he said in an interview last week. “And to be honest, it still rankles. Yes, I admit to writing a letter published in HEN, which stated my personal opinion but signed off with the wrong signature, so it appeared as if I was writing in my official capacity as R&LO and I apologised for that. The charge they eventually got me on came completely out of the blue and was never evidence based, so how could I refute it and it was hanging over me for six months, as the report to the EC kept being put off. I’m told that had I been an employee, such a delay meant that I could have turned to the Employment Tribunal for a decision, but I guess natural justice doesn’t matter because we’re volunteers. Then of course came the vote at the AGM and when I finally saw the ‘legal advise’, eight months late by-the-way, it turned out to offer no more an opinion, because the EC had asked for advice too late for any considered research,” he explained. “In a way, that [AGM] was almost farcical, if it hadn’t also been so sordid,” concluded John.

John returned to the subject of poor management: “The 2004 survey told the EC, which included Pat, that 91 per cent of the respondents wanted BN’s profile raised and of course the Alton Towers weekend held last November [2006] had been an ideal opportunity to do just that with the general public,” began John. “I didn’t hear it, but I understand from the minutes of the Marketing Committee held in September – so just before the event – that Pat had done some radio interviews, on the subject of Alton Towers. The minutes state, and I quote: ‘Pat Thompson stated this [that the event was restricted to members] in the radio interviews, though non-members had always been invited provided they joined [British Naturism].’ That is putting the cart before the horse; she was literally telling naturists – and anyone wanting to try it for the first time at Alton Towers, because it was an organised event – that we don’t want them. If they had said, ‘If you want to try naturism in the UK come to Alton Towers’ then not only do I think BN would have had more than the ‘roughly 275’ quoted in British Naturism [the magazine] as being there, they might have had some new members too!
“If there was a clause that precluded non-members from going in the contract with Red Letter Days, then why did Pat go on the radio; why did we give a vague invitation to non-members and why did they reluctantly agree to setting a fee for non-members who, late in the day, decided that they wanted to go.”

Conscious that he appeared to be targeting Pat Thompson, John turned to someone else on the council he thought showed a lack of judgement and poor management skills. “Mick Ayers, as Chairman; agreed a contract with Sundial Marketing without prior discussion with the rest of the Executive Council and to the eventual objection of his own Treasurer on the grounds of affordability.” BNchange believes, that ever since Sundial Marketing won the contract, certain aspects of it have been needlessly kept secret, although some details have since escaped. “From the outset, the members were given the impression that Andrew Welch was experienced contractor in the field,” said John. “But they were careful never to actually say so. I have since learned that he was in fact a public relations man – sometimes called a spin doctor – made redundant from a city institution, so BN is effectively paying for someone to learn the job, on the job.”

John held the post of R&LO for 22-months, during which time he was heavily involved in several campaigns involving beaches and swims, that saw him travelling to different parts of the country. This was in addition to his charitable and union work that he does on a voluntary basis. “I’m retired, so yes, I am busy but I like it like that,” he said. Together with Richard Burnham, who resigned from the Executive Council early, John tried to get BN to adopt good management and open decision-making practices, such as the creation of roles and responsibilities for the various officers on the EC. “Richard was actually asked to compile these for the EC,” began John. “As it would give terms of reference for each person sitting around the table, but the others were reluctant to provide him with any help for some reason. In the end, Richard was forced to compose his own set of roles and responsibilities for each post. It took several meetings before we finally got to that item on the agenda, only to be rejected and Michael Farrar being asked to re-write them. I leave you to draw your own conclusions as to how Richard felt at that moment.

“In the end, it didn’t really matter, because Michael’s watered down versions weren’t accepted either. But I read in the minutes for the EC meeting held last February that Angela Russell had ‘updated’ and made them ‘more concise’. I find this confusing because when Stuart [Troughton] asked for a copy of the role and responsibility for the International Officer, Tracey Major [General Secretary] told him that such an item did not exist, yet she was there at the meeting!”

BNchange believes that such details are important. While a sun club might have a small committee with the chairman, treasurer and secretary being designated, and a couple more undesignated members to help out, according to the CCBN directory British Naturism has up to 19 people around the table (the General Secretary, 10 officers and eight regional representatives) and in such circumstances, roles and responsibilities are essential so each of them know what they are expected to do. Without them each person who holds the office will look at the role differently. “I think we can see that right now,” said John. “Malcolm Boura has a very different take on the role of R&LO from me, and I was different from Sue Piper, another previous holder of the office. I’m not saying that they are wrong or that I’m right, but I think it will be useful to have terms of reference for consistent of action from one R&LO to the next.”

John then explained that he has been thinking about the management structure of BN, citing the two sub-committees, management and marketing. “Neither of these sub-committees are mentioned in the constitution, so their existence is all down to custom and practice. But to be honest, I think it’s almost impossible for 19 people to agree a decision about policy or management issues efficiently. Should I be elected as President, I shall be looking at slimming down the Executive Council, with each post being given a clear role and responsibilities and formalise the management and marketing sub-committee functions by bringing them into the constitution, separating policy from management.”

BNchange believes that this review is not only sensible it’s essential if British Naturism is to have an Executive Council that is efficient as well as effective.