Since joining Roundtable as a guest, turning in to a pipeliner and being inducted as a member it has been evident that this is an organization which works unlike any other I have ever been a part of. I have tried assimilating this with structures and in business and life we have been thought the concept of a pyramid. In order for a pyramid to be able to rise above the ground, it has to have a big support base carrying each and every consecutive level, supporting the growth and allowing the structure as a whole to rise above the ordinary and be noticeable. However, each level you go up the responsibilities get more specialized and the reliance is placed on the level below to execute the vision set by those at the top as they are forward looking and drive the growth of the organization. Hence a chairman and board in this case has to instruct those below as to how they want to run the organization.
However, the more involved I have been in Roundtable the more I realize this model does not apply to our organization. We refer to Roundtable as a bottoms up organization, whereby the individual members as a collective set the tone and strategy and the execution of this is the responsibilities of the councils and execs that the members elect and put in place. Yes, your chairman will hound you for reports and budgets and photos, but this is not them giving you tasks to do, this is them steering the ship you are powering in the direction you have chosen as a crew.
The only comparison for our organization I could think of was that of a chain hanging from a structure, where every link is supported by the one above it and the load is greatest at the top. The higher you go in the organizational chain, the more responsible you are for the people below you as the load of the organization is at the bottom and it is supported at the top by our aims and objects. Maybe this is why we wear chains of office, to remind us we are but a link in the system.
With this, the more you get involved, the more you experience and the more rewarding the journey becomes. It is only when you start tabling outside your own table that you realize how big the organization is. So I urge each and every tabler to be part of as much as you can, attend each other’s meetings, projects and socials. Attend councils and areas. Attend ARTSA’s, numbers tours and host tablers from abroad. Travel, if you can as much as you can. You will be a better tabler for it. And the organization will be better as well.
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