On Passion versus Committee

Once upon a time, i was tasked with running a newsletter and this was being run by someone else - but somehow the issues never came out. I said, sure and took over the newsletter team. Called for a few meetings, but hardly anybody turned up. And then I asked the one or two people who regularly turned up and then it struck me...

I met all the "committee members" 1 on 1 and asked them are they here because of the love of writing or because their managers sent them. Most of them had no love of writing - they were there because someone asked them to be on the committee. I then gave them a choice - no repercussions, you can leave this committee.

Most did. Two stayed back. And we managed to bring out a couple of issues. After that we sent an mail - Would you like to join this newsletter team? With a few fun lines thrown in. In a week we got another 5 people who were there because they liked writing. And then the newsletter never missed an issue!

A very similar experience to the time I was tasked with running a Quiz show for an event in college. Once we packed the team with quiz enthusiasts who volunteered - it was a magical ride as opposed to working with a committee who had been handpicked by someone.

Passion always triumphs committee!

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