Yeah, I've generally found that non-response within an organisation is a damning tell. Doesn't bode well for a recovery. This is the sort of 'unsexy' shit that needs to be nailed to lay a foundation for on field success. Very frustrating.
I went for a job interview once with a company I might have been interested in working with.
Being a job interview, I of course suited up (as you do).
Upon arriving at the company, I was met not by a person, but a self sign in system. The system was missing the labels that would print out so that you could place them on your jacket to identify yourself. No big deal of course, but I noticed.
During the course of the interview I was given a basic tour of the facilities. Now this was a couple of years ago, but it wasn't 1996. Walking along I notice that the PCs that people work at had the old school CRT monitors. Odd.
Finally, as the interview drew to a close, my would be colleague says to me, 'here at nameless company, we wear a shirt and tie every day. It's the way the owner likes it, so we do'.
I thanked them for their time and left.
Two days later, I receive a phone call from said company who happily announced that they would like to offer me a position with them. I very politely informed the HR manager that I would not be interested in pursuing this role any further.
As you can imagine, HR manager is rather shocked. So she asks me the very obvious question - why?
Paraphrasing, I responded:
'After having met with the representatives of your business, and looking at your facilities, I believe that nameless company and I do not share similar views on policy and process. Thank you for your interest.'
This business genuinely thought that wearing a shirt and tie to work was important. So important that it was mentioned at a job interview. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the shirt and tie in certain industries. But I look around, and I see the evidence that you are failing to concentrate on things that DO matter.
Does the missing label in the sign in station really matter? Do CRT PCs? Not in isolation no, but they are the physical symptoms of a company that is concentrating on the wrong things.
Your processes are failing, you are not striving to continuously improve - but at least your shirt and tie is in place.
This is the problem at Essendon. It is failing, badly I would add, to actually identify and rationalise WHAT IT IS we actually do. We are directionless. We are reactionary. We lack vision, purpose and application.
So we look around, and we see the TVSC. We look at our members and proclaim that we are doing the right things.
But look again, look at the physical symptoms. It is a club under poor administration, and it needs to change.