Thursday, January 30, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Growing Pains Sometimes are Just That! A Pain!!! But a pain worth enduring!
“It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, ‘And this too, shall pass away.’ How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!” -- Abraham Lincoln
I was a part of the bygone glory days, and I think I may have returned to the OK Chorale at its lowest point. With that being said, the lowest point is not today! With effective leadership, freeing ourselves from the quagmire of decay has begun. I’m not sure how things would have progressed had Ben lived long enough to put his entire plan into action, but I can say that with Ricky at its helm, the OK Chorale made a huge turn. Allan Pinkston, however, may well go down in history as the President—the leader—that ultimately corrected the course of the OK Chorale.
For nearly twenty years now, the OK Chorale’s board of directors appeared to have wandered lost in the wilderness, but actually they were learning all the while. They were growing. It may not have appeared so on the surface, but they were. They had to learn to lead. You might ask yourself, if the OK Chorale has been around for over seventy-five years, why would its board have to learn to lead just within its last twenty years?
Members of the OK Chorale back in what I referred to as the “glory days” recall that it was led by a charismatic man with an unequaled passion for barbershop. He was creative, strong willed, and by all accounts a true visionary. He was the OK Chorale incarnate. For over thirty years the OK Chorale did, looked, and performed as he saw fit. The only need for the board of directors was to comply with the Society’s requirement of having such a board. People were placed on the board to accomplish what he wanted done. I know that for a fact because I was one of them. The chorus was run that way for not months or years, but for decades. So when that charismatic tenure came to an end, the directors had long since forfeited any pretence of really leading the organization. The board was forced to start from the beginning and do the best it could. The process of trial and error is always difficult, but sometimes it’s absolutely the best way.
“It is the set of the sail, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” – Jim Rohn
Once again the winds of change are blowing. The leaders have a plan, and once again the OK Chorale has begun to grow. In 2013, we scored higher at contest than we have in over a ten years; and we did that even while taking a penalty. We have several new members; and perhaps most importantly, we are learning new music at a feverish pace. Two of our leaders, Dick Morrison and Bob Curtis, together with President Pinkston realized there was a need for long range planning. They brought in Denise Caudill, owner and operator of The Outcome Zone, who works with nonprofit organizations first to design a strategic plan and secondly to help measure the outcomes of that plan, specifically in relation to funding through grants and donations. These measurements help organizations such as ours receive more funding, insuring that these groups continue to grow and flourish. Based on her advice, a taskforce undertook a review and revision of existing job descriptions within our organization. That led to a review of the actual structure of the OK Choral Board of Directors and development of a plan creating a depth of leadership on the board to facilitate long range planning. Most non-profit boards rely on a progression through the offices of secretary, treasurer, vice president, and finally president to strengthen board continuity and develop long range planning and implementation. The OK Chorale, however, has multiple vice presidents serving in highly specialized areas, each of which is administrative in nature but requiring mastery of specialized skills. Therefore, our line of succession will be most effective through the Vice President of Operations, to Vice President of Music and Performance, then to Vice President of Chapter Development, and finally culminating with the Presidency. For the OK Chorale, it is simply the logical choice.
This plan was approved by the board in August of 2013. This new board organizational structure is currently in operation, and each member is embracing his position. Currently, the most noticeable change has affected Caleb Henderson, the Vice President of Operations. Wes Short, our new president, felt that the position of Valentine’s Day Chairman was outdated due to the almost overwhelming nature of the task. He took that one previous position and turned it over to a four man team that was placed under Caleb’s leadership as Vice President of Operations. And Caleb has hit the ground running. The team’s proactive approach has distributed the workload for our Valentine’s Day fund raiser and allowed most tasks to be completed weeks in advance. Our goal this year is to perform 125+ Singing Valentines, and it’s my bet we hit that goal!
It is now time to change our bylaws to fit our board. What worked in 1996 won’t work today, anymore than what works today will work in 2034. The winds of change are always blowing. Let us adjust our sails to the wind—the future—and insure the successful evolution of the OK Chorale!
Friday, January 17, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Good Things Are Afoot As the OK Chorale Prepares for Valentine's Day
For the members of the OKChorale Men’s
Barbershop Chorus Monday night is rehearsal night. And OMG what a rehearsal! I’m getting to where I say that a lot about
going to Monday night rehearsals. It just seems to be filled with fun and excitement. We have many new members and it is always a
pleasure as you watch them catch the barber shopper’s bug. But that’s not really the reason that it has
become such a pleasure. It’s because of
the new life that seems to radiate from the chorus. There is an unmistakable robust energy that
is springing into being after a very very long dormancy.
Monday night, I was running late to rehearsal. It was the first time I had missed the start
of rehearsal since David Roman, our director, took the helm over a year ago
now. This was one time being late to the
party was a good thing! When I hit the
doors the sound was incredible! Then I
turned the corner into the rehearsal room and the sight combined with the sound
was awe inspiring. A melodious sound
filled the air and all the guys were clad in their best Valentine’s Day finery. There were cameras everywhere with video technicians
scurrying around the room filming the chorus members from all angles while they
sang. The room crackled with electricity! I cannot wait for everyone to see the new
video clips that we are producing for Valentine’s Day! They will be so cool. I hope to post one here as soon as they are
available.
The OK Chorale takes Valentine’s Day very seriously. Besides being a great fund raiser for our
philanthropic organization, the men of the OK Chorale simply love St. Valentine’s
Day. Singing to the beautiful ladies around
the city is one of the greatest joys for many of the men in our
organization. Each year, men who don’t
normally even sing in a quartet band together into groups of four to croon love songs
in four part acapella harmony to the fair ladies of our city.
This year the OK Chorale is gearing up for a huge Valentine’s
sing-out. Heading our Valentine’s Day team
is our newest and youngest Vice President.
Caleb Henderson is the Vice President of Operations and under our new
board structure he is responsible for the Valentine’s Day Team Coordinators. His team consists of Jevon Wright-overseeing
marketing and public relations for the event, Ken Elder-our guru of the web will
be handling internet sales, Charles Knight will be routing quartets all around
our vast city form his secure location at command central and Bob Curtis will
be compiling all needed data to coordinate the entire day.
Orders are pouring in
from men all over the metroplex requesting Singing Valentines for their
Sweethearts. The Valentine presentation
consists of two love songs sung by one of the OK Chorale’s barbershop quartet,
a long stem red rose and beautiful hand-crafted card. The cover of this spectacular card is of a single
rose. The rose was drawn by local
artist, Arni Anderson especially for the OK Chorale. Guy’s!
No where will you find a gift so unique.
You can order now by going to SingToMyGirl.com
and filling out the online order form. You
should order early so that you can be assured a slot. There are a limited number of spaces available. Singing Valentine’s start as low as $50!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tech Committee New to the OK Chorale
If there is a buzz word in the OK Chorale for the start of
2014 it should be “NEW”. It’s a NEW
year, it’s NEW music, it’s a NEW team concept handling Valentine’s Day, it’s a
NEW board of directors, that NEW board of directors has a NEW structure and
within that NEW structure there are NEW leadership titles and NEW
committees. One of those you committees is
titled “The Tech Committee". There has
already been some confusion as to what that means. Let me point out, it is a committee dedicated
to “Technology” not “Technical” issues within the Chorus.
Since it will be the first year ever for this type of
committee within the OK Chorale, we are not looking to do anything earth
shattering. I want to get a group of
guys that have some level of knowledge on the subject of technology together to just have some fun
and try out some new ideas. If we can
use any of those ideas to help members grow or market the chorus great!
For the first year, my primary goal for this committee is to
find the knowledge depth of our group, what each of us bring to the table
and how we can work together for the greater good. Idealistic I know but a worthy goal none the
less.
Currently the NEW Tech Committee is comprised of Chuck West,
Jevon Wright, Caleb Henderson, Ken Elder and me, Jim Lee. If you would like to be a member of your
group give me a shoot. Qualifications
are: you must have a mobile device that considers itself smart and that
connects to the internet. Note! We didn’t
ask that you be smart.
The first meeting will be Thursday, January 23, 2014 and
from 6:45pm to no later than 8:00pm. We
will meet at Starbucks in the Nichols Hill Plaza.
Coffee for the opening session is on me.
I’m calling our first meeting “Appy Hour”. Bring an app you’d like to share with the
group. I don’t care about if we could
apply it to the chorus or not. Just an
app you think is cool. Look forward to
seeing you there.
NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTES IN A PROGRAM TO OFFER HELP TO MEMBERS WITH THEIR DUES
Last night, Tuesday January 7, 2014, was the first meeting
of the new board of directors of the OK Chorale and I dare say a lot was accomplished. At the Patron’s Christmas Show this year, a
plan that had been nearly two years in the works was rolled out. The OK Chorale’s new season tickets program
came into being. Research showed that
although we offered several ticket prices the vast majority of our sales were
our senior $10 ticket. With that as our
base the new season tickets went on sale for $22. This price includes both the OK Chorales
Annual Show and its Patrons Christmas Show for 2014. So, you might be asking yourself, if the
average price is $10 why are the tickets priced at $11 each then? The answer is simple. We wanted to give our members who sell
tickets to our shows an advantage. The
board of directors wants to use that $2 overage to give back to OK Chorale
members. For every season show ticket
you, as an active member (due current with BHS denotes active), sell you will receive
a $2 credit towards your annual BHS dues.
For all of you guys that look at numbers instead of the big picture here
they are. Story Problem for you math geeks!
We will offer a max of 600 tickets per performance. Each show will have 2 performances. You with
me so far? That is a total of 1200 seats
per show. If all four show are sold out
and each filled seat pays $2 to the Member’s Benefits Fund-then how much will
be in the Fund to disburse at the end of the year. It’s a trick question! Will it be: (a) $1200 (b) $2400 (c) $4800. The answer is $2400! Wanna
go for extra credit, all of you over achievers? How many Season Show Tickets will you need to
sell to pay your annual dues in their entirety for next year? (That is provided
you are over 25 years of age and under wherever lifetime begins) The Answer is:
95 Season Tickets would cover all of your annual dues for next year. If the OK Chorale sells out all four shows,
the Member’s Benefits Fund could pay the full membership of up to 12 guys. Tickets are on sale now and the new sales
format will be explained within the next week.
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