Participation = Value

A few years back, I attended a programme titled “Play to Win”, which was conducted by an Australian Trainer, Mr. Clinton Swaine. It was an activity based learning programme. Throughout the programme, the trainer was stressing on one specific point, which was “Participation = Value.”

I am sure many of you are members of a number of trade or business organisation, social forums, service organisations, whatsapp groups and so on. Now, tell me honestly, how many of you derive maximum value by being a member of these.? Not many! Am I right?

I have heard many people telling me, “I am a member of so many organisations, but I am so busy that I don’t have the time to attend any of their meetings or being part of any of their projects or initiatives.” It makes me wonder, why then, do they have to be a member?

But then the answers are obvious. It could be just for a social standing or peer pressure. Many of us, might be like that. For example, if you are in business and you are not a member of the local chamber of commerce, then you don’t seem to be an outcast of the business fraternity. So, we take a membership, just pay the membership fee but don’t engage in any of the activities. We like to call ourselves passive members. But as long as we are a passive member, we do not derive any value from any organisation. It is only by being active, do we derive value.

One of the reasons, people fear to be active is that, if they are active they would be asked to leadership roles, which they are averse of. But, tell me, where else can we get such leadership opportunities. Is it not a great feeling to lead?

I have been a member of a number of social organisations, such as JCI, Giants, Rotary, CII, Toastmasters, BNI, YES, Chamber of Commerce and few others. When I do a deep introspection, I realize that the amount of value I get out of any organisation is directly proportional to the level of my participation.

Let me relate this with the example of one organisation that has added a lot of value to my life  JCI. The initial years, I was just a member, but I used to be regular for meetings. As days passed by, I attended all the training programmes offered by this organisation. It was a lot of new learning for me and it got me interested in the field of training. This motivated me to develop my speaking skills, which in turn changed to training skills. I slowly rose up to the level of a National Trainer. I also readily took any small leadership roles given to me. This gave me the confidence to handle bigger roles. When I performed well in my roles, I was recognized and given awards. I then climbed the leadership ladder to the extent, I aspired for. I was able to network with a lot of people which helped me to create a strong network of friends.

The same principle worked well with my participation with other organisations too. The more I participated, the more value I got and the less I participated the less value, I got. So, the simple secret to unlock value is participation. Without participating, we will not get any value from any organisation.

There is a saying, “You have to dive deep into the ocean, to get the pearls.” The same goes with social organisations too. Unless we make the dive, we are not going to get value from anything.

So, always remember this mantra, “Participation = Value.”

 

 

 

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com