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Mr John Kubale
President
Shoalhaven Bushwalkers Club
10 September 2023
Dear John,
REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ADDRESS DAMAGING BEHAVIOURS IN SBW
I am writing, as a member of SBW, to you, as Club President, following our brief discussion on Friday. I set down below some serious concerns I have with aspects of the culture within SBW - and to propose that the committee look to taking a more active, and proactive, role in addressing these concerns into the future. I set down some specific recommendations for action at the end of this letter.
As you will be aware, the immediate trigger for my contacting you was two articles that appeared recently, and in my opinion inappropriately, on the SBW website - and in particular the one dealing with the term of the President. I am aware that significant changes have since been made to this article, addressing some of my immediate concerns with it as such. However, I feel I should set down some thoughts on the wider context and background - because my concerns began well ahead of the appearance of these articles and are unlikely now to dissipate rapidly. I also feel it is important that you and the committee understand that my concerns extend to how the committee responds when there is clear evidence of disrespectful and hurtful personal attacks being undertaken within the Club.
Healthy exchanges of differing views on ways forward for the club, backed up by logical argument and evidence, is of course appropriate and to be encouraged. My concerns lie with some of the methods used to promote particular positions that we have seen in recent times - though extending back over many months - and not with the strategies, and strategy differences, being considered. My views have been particularly informed by what I have seen happening to my partner, Julienne McKay, and some knowledge of what was also happening to Mary Furness, over the last several months as they sought to bring Club processes up to date, where they judged it appropriate, and to address specific risks they saw for Club members and for committee members who have legal as well as ethical responsibilities to the members.
At times, the pattern of behaviour, continuing repetitiously over weeks at a time, has been both personal and highly disrespectful of members striving to do the best they can by the Club - and on occasions the cumulative impact of these disrespectful behaviours has been extremely hurtful to the individual and damaging to wellbeing. Indeed, the persistent use of disrespectful messaging, circulated across the committee, and more recently the publishing on the web of disrespectful and hurtful material heavily directed at Julienne, has taken a significant toll.
Looking at these behaviours and their impacts through a company lens raises in my mind real concerns that these behaviours have already extended into an area that might be deemed bullying or harassment under provisions of NSW law. I note that bullying can entail repetitious behaviour where no one instance would be deemed to be bullying but where the cumulative impact can still be devastating. As far as I am aware, volunteer organisations are subject to the same laws as for-profit companies are in relation to bullying and harassment. If true, persistence of such behaviours without an adequate response from the committee has direct implications for risks to the Club and the committee members - risks I believe need to be addressed explicitly and pre-emptively.
I expect none of us is looking for legal redress here. However, the bad impacts of these behaviours should, in my opinion, be seen as totally unacceptable for a club formed to further the interests of its members - and that makes substantial calls on volunteers to put time and effort into making this happen. Julienne did not seek out office with the Club; she reluctantly agreed to be nominated as vice-president when approached by a committee member; I believe the same was true, in relation to the position of President, for Mary when she was first approached. These volunteers put great effort into their work and deserve to be treated with respect by all members, and especially all committee members - even if they support a strategy with which some members may disagree. I provide some specifics from my perspective:
Julienne and I recently spent three weeks on the Isle of Skye, during which time Julienne received almost daily messages from Brett Davis written in a style that was both personal and hurtful. These messages were copied to committee members. I have not seen all the messages because Julienne decided she did not want to unduly upset me which in itself speaks to the impact of the messages. She felt hounded by the persistent flow of such messages and it certainly detracted significantly from her enjoyment of her holiday. At one stage she suggested to Brett that they talk over Zoom about the issues - and she received no response. Another committee member warned her early on not even to open the messages - presumably having read the content and having judged their likely impact on Julienne. This supports the view that the assessment of the emails as disrespectful was objectively grounded.
Beyond this, there has been, to the best of my knowledge, no communication from the committee to Julienne indicating understanding, regret at what has happened or offering support. This contributed to her feelings of isolation - adding to the hurt and harm.
It was this ongoing hammering with disrespectful messages that led to Julienne deciding (while we were still away) to withdraw from any involvement with the committee processes - even though she had previously agreed to be nominated for President in the present year.
While I am delighted that you have made yourself available as President, I would suggest that the Club does not want this discouragement of talented people, with a lot of relevant experience, from being prepared to serve the Club. I believe the harm is to the Club as well as the individual.
Julienne had hoped that her withdrawal from the committee might act as a circuit breaker and allow the committee to progress the urgently needed updates to the Club's walker safety procedures and practices. Sadly, following the recent web post, it appears that the circuit has not been broken and the committee processes appear, based on the reports we have been hearing, still to be proceeding very slowly.
The web article in relation to the President's term, that emerged well after Julienne had left the committee, was written in its very pointed personal style directed, repeatedly, at Julienne. The disrespectful, persistent style has further exacerbated the stresses caused by the prior string of emails - adding to the cumulative impact. It does not help that this content was made available to all members, and even beyond through open web publication. The original version may have been pulled from the site, but it has not ceased to exist. There has been no apology for the material going up in the first place.
The way in which the web was initially used to publish this material raises questions as to the role and power of the web management system - and risks to the Club and its members from feeling locked into a web presence that can only be altered by the current web manager. My concerns here are exacerbated by recent reports of the web manager pulling the plug on the services he was providing to another organisation and, I believe, highlighting to SBW that he is in a position to do the same here. I would have thought that, by any standards, this is a situation that should not be allowed to persist.
None of us is immune from falling under a bus and sound organisational risk management would strongly favour having a viable way of limiting the damage and moving on. Viewing the current web system as the combination of the current pages, the interaction with the web manager and the quality of the backup systems in the event that the web manager ceases to be available, I suggest that the current web system is seriously flawed and vulnerable - regardless of its current functionality. If the website is considered of high value to the operations of the Club, then this situation appears to entail high risk and, ultimately, to be unsustainable.
I believe the committee should, as a matter of priority, be looking at ways to re-establish its web presence on a sustainable basis - even if this entails some transition costs. This may best be done through recreating the website, covering the priority live pages, within a mainstream website programming system that can be supported externally or internally. The existing website might well serve, for some time, as an archive for the large volume of less frequently visited pages that have accumulated - without the need for on-going development of that website. Over time, material could be transferred to the new site or scrapped, without urgent timelines.
My impression is that the current walks pages have been developed in Google docs and should be relatively straightforward to maintain- though eventual transfer to an 'off the shelf' system such as Bilby (https://mybilby.com/), as used by the Canberra Bushwalkers, might again offer a more robust and more easily maintained system. This may also make it easier to engage with other talented club members in helping with system support and development.
Beyond the specific behaviours that I refer to above are the questions of the culture that the Club should be cultivating and the role of the committee in doing this. The committee should, I believe, look carefully at how it will respond in the event of members being seen to be experiencing high levels of stress from the activities they are undertaking on behalf of the Club - including, but not restricted to, bullying and harassment and lack of respectful dealings.
While I might sometimes yearn for simpler times, when organisations did not need formal policies to cover every possible eventuality, recent experience suggests a case for SBW to adopt, as have other bushwalking clubs, a code of conduct that deals sensibly with these matters. But to be effective, the committee will need to commit to enforcing the code - and to being sensitive and responsive to any instances of severe stress that flow from a failure by individuals to follow the code.
In summary, I ask you to:
- instigate a code of conduct and promote to Club members.
- consider an active committee process to commit all Club members to respectful behaviour, to ensure that appropriate behaviours flow, to call out and stop any breaches, and to respond early and supportively to the needs of anyone who has been subjected to such inappropriate behaviours.
- in relation to the website, put in place a strategy to move quickly to a web design and management process that is sustainable, not dependent on any single individual - and importantly, not open to being used as a tool for harassment of Club members.
Happy to discuss at any time. I look forward to hearing back.
Regards.
David Campbell
[FYI - Defamation is the act of making false statements that damage a person's reputation. It includes both libel (written statements) and slander (spoken statements). Essentially, it's about harming someone's reputation through untrue and damaging communications. Defamation cannot be claimed if the statements are true ... ]
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