In Focus

Chicks Make Mistakes Too

Believe it or not, and as much as I hate to admit it. we've made mistakes. Yep, not everything has been as smooth as down feathers in our nest. We've goofed up, we've erred, and we've just plain old done some dumb things. As long as I know what they are, (and unfortunately am not able to let them go) I thought I'd share them with you this week. You can either learn from them, or you can just bear with me while I get them off my chest. If anything, it will give your club something to keep in the back of your minds, and maybe bring up at your next meeting.

Since our mistakes didn't happen in any logical order and don't have a common theme running through them, it's hard to tie them all together into one nice neat little story. So I'm going to have to make one up. (You should hear my bedtime stories. I'm Queen of making stuff up.) Go with me here. "Use your magic-nation," as my three-year-old says.

Once upon a time there was church choir. It was the choir of the new Heaven's Gates Congregational Church. All of the women could sing like Disney leading ladies. Yes, some were better than others, but they all belonged to the Heaven's Gates Hymn Harkers.

Six months into their choir-ness, things started to go awry. Some women wanted the church choir to serve as their social outing every week; others were serious about winning choral competitions across the country. Still others were there to sing the praises of the Lord and could care less about blue ribbons or church bazaars. Everyone was there for different reasons. They soon started to question each other's priorities.

Lucille started bringing her knitting to choir practice, Mary Jane read her bible between stanzas, and Juliette brought her kids to rehearsal. Then someone started bringing coffee and donuts and it turned into one big social gathering with some wrap up Do-Re-Mi's. They sounded so awful in church one Sunday that the minister had to call them into his office.

"Ladies," he said, "What happened to the angelic voices we heard earlier in the year? Heaven's Gates will never open if this is what He has to listen to."

The women sunk deep into their black robes. It was true. They were a mess. What had happened? They were once in harmony, and now, even Milli Vanilli made them look silly.

To Chicks, it is very obvious what happened. (But then again, we can't sing.) We've had a similar situation in our club. We all came to the table wanting to learn how to invest, but we all wanted to learn differently. We forgot to discuss HOW each person wanted to learn. Did we want it to be mostly a social club, with learning secondary, an equal part of both, or mostly investment related and do the socializing elsewhere?

If what each person wants to get out of the club is not discussed early on, there will be some sour notes. If half of the women in your club really would like your group to be a social outing, create "social time" and "business time." Personally, I wouldn't go if it were all business. I'm not that type. It is the social stuff that gets me there, and the social stuff that keeps me there. I learn in the middle. But I have to understand that not everyone is like me. This needs to be discussed from the beginning to keep all members aware of everyone else's needs.

Another item that we and the Harkers messed up on is commitment level. What should our commitments be at and to our meetings? If we are having a face-to-face meeting, how hard should everyone try to get there? At the meetings, should we be able to bring our children?* Should we take calls from our cell phones? Is it okay to knit? Can we chew gum and sing at the same time? You get the picture.

The same kinds of questions have come up regarding our online commitment. How often should members be required to read their email? How often do they need to check the message board? How great should their attention be at online meetings?

It has happened to us. A whole BUY vote on a company has been screwed up because people were not responding on their computer. (I'm not naming the Chick, okay, it rhymes with chlorine, but she was either on the phone, or letting her new puppy out to pee. All I know is that she didn't respond via her computer and our vote tally was off. We kept doing it over and over and then realized Miss Chlorine was missing. To think we almost bought Amgen instead of Yahoo because of Mutsy.) It's important that online commitment is discussed from the beginning.

If I may summarize today's mistakes in a solo.
(Sing to the tune of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing")

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

One of our mistakes being

Not making clear what each Chick wanted

From the club in the beginning

We lost two members early into,

They were upset and off they flew;

Hark, learn from the Chicks in song

In heavens name.

Please learn from our wrong.

* Some of the girls did (and do) bring their kids to our meetings. This is something that we discuss before each meeting so there are no surprises.