Category: Tokyo American Club

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A Performance Review Of The General Manager

If you ask around the club, you will find varying reviewing on varying things.  One subject area seems to get the same review from everyone.  We at the  MABT members receive the same reports regarding the Tokyo American Club general manager.   We’re really wondering what is going on.

This is a very important job as the GM role is entrusted with the staff and resources of the club.  Our money.

We would like to recommend that the Board of Governors review the performance of the GM in managing the resources, rapport with the membership, and financial performance of the club.  If the GM performance is good, then the pay should be good.  If the performance is… well you get the idea.

All the members of the Making A Better TAC (MABT) team were surprised at the renewal of the current GM’s contract by the board of governors.  Of course, you could argue that we need to have consistency in management as we go into our new facility.  Did anyone see what they membership thought about the GM?

We put the question out to you.  We are not here to trash anyone, or to blindly say “they’re doing a great job”.  What is your experience as a TAC member.

Overall are you happy with the GM and his performance over the last few years?  What are some good things the GM has done?  What are some things that concern you?  Please feel free to comment below.  The more feedback we have the better.

Encourage your BOG member to do real reviews of this GM role as it is detrimental to the health of the Tokyo American Club.

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Around The TAC- TAC General Manager Contract Renewed

One of the MABT has confirmed that the contract for the General Manager has just been renewed.  This was done by the Board of Governors.  He continues to draw his high salary that has been the subject of much frustration among the membership despite the economic difficulties of the TAC.

Further, the Food & Beverage manager has tendered his resignation and will be leaving the Tokyo American Club in coming weeks.  The Assistant General Manager is now looking after F&B.

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Summary Of TAC Townhall Meeting 27 Oct 2010

As the management of the American Club has apparently managed the TAC to the brink of financial failure, a group of 4 TAC members teamed up with 4 TAC board of governors.  This group was named ‘The Working Group 2” or TWG2.

This TWG2 presented their recommendations for how to fix the problems of the TAC.  They were very candid about what needed to be done.  Following their presentation, when asked if they “were confident that their recommended changes would be implemented?”.   the group unanimously responded “No”.  They responded on how getting information was slow and painful at TAC.

It was apparent to all present that there was a split between TWG2’s recommendations and some members on the board.  Although the positions of all the BoG (board of governors) was unclear, one board member made clear that he was against their recommendations in several instances.  In one case, he responded that the loan could not be renegotiated.  When asked by another member, he revealed that he was the one who negotiated the loan at 4 plus % interest for the club but did not clarify why he was unwilling to renegotiate and his position varied from that of the 4 TWG2 members.

The overall conclusion was that the problem of the club is not just an inept general manager playing the committee and board system, but also some individuals on the board of governors.  There are definitely some good people there, but there are also some people that need to move on.

A recommendation was made, and accepted by the President, to have a further meeting for the Board of Governor candidates to debate or state their positions as being for change or of the group that would continue the status quo and continue to block change and not make the changes necessary.

An American Chamber of Commerce (ACCJ) board member asked the General Manager if he paid for the development of yet another new TAC site that was described earlier in the meeting.  With a bit of stumbling around saying something about a ‘backend’ the GM confirmed that he did use budget to develop a new website.  The member went on to explain that the TAC must shift their thinking.  “The paradigm must change” he stated.  He illustrated his points by explaining how at ACCJ he paid nothing for web development, the chamber magazine, the upkeep of the website or virtually anything else.  This comment was a brilliant illustration that TAC needs people with fresh minds.

Although we have not covered all the questions and comments of the membership in this summary,  the conclusion we made from all that we need to rid the club of blockers on the board of governors and elect people who are willing to implement the changes.  One BoG member (mentioned above) seemed to indict himself at the meeting as being against change later on multiple points.  Later arguing with the TWG2 members about providing information that the 4 clearly stated they had not received.  The positions of the other BOG members and BOG candidates for the upcoming election remains unclear at this point.

The great work of the 4 board of governors and the TWG2 made it known that their work must be implemented otherwise we will have to continue “these

If you have any comments or would like to add any further points, please feel free to do so in the comment section below.  We will edit this summary accordingly to incorporate your comments.

Stay tuned!

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TAC Townhall Meeting Oct 27th

You may have very good reason.

In late spring, the club’s membership rejected an additional dues
assessment to members. If you are among the many who had concerns then
about our club’s financial future, you are probably wondering what
happened since then. You might even feel that an update on the situation
is overdue.

You might

-be among the many who are frustrated by the lack of transparency and communication.

-have doubts about the viability of the whole thing.

-just be curious if anything productive has been accomplished in the past few months.

You might even wonder if there is any real willingness to change in the face of a
dramatically changed external environment.
Now is your chance to find out:
Townhall meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 27
18:30, TAC 3rd floor banquet rooms

You will hear what changes have been implemented, what other changes are
being considered, and you will have a chance to make your voice heard.
Come and assess for yourself where things stand, see if YOU think it’s
enough, or if more needs to be done.

We want to see an American Club that is around for generations to come.

See you there!

Sincerely,

Making A Better TAC Team (MABT)

www.abetteramericanclub.com

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Ecstasy and Agony By Terry White

I think it’s fair to say that many of us on TWG2 have found the experience both fascinating and – at the same time- frustrating. While almost everyone — Board, member and management included — individually recognize that we need to change the way the way we operate, there seems to be great difficulty actually doing it. Ironically, transformation is dependent on those dysfunctional mechanisms we seek to reform. It will be important going forward for all members to stay actively involved and to keep up the pressure for reform. The potential for backsliding once the short term financial pain is deferred remains a clear possibility.

We recently spoke to the Board about the twin missions driving TWG2 – the need for short-term measures to address the DSCR concerns, and longer-term actions to address the root causes of the Club’s tightened circumstances.

Short-Term Measures: We explained that we believe that it is possible to remove considerable expense from the Club’s operations without impacting services to members. Working closely with the Finance Committee, we are confident that we can recommend a budget that meets the current situation realistically and head-on. We have also recommended some changes to the management structure that help deliver on the four strategic issues below.
Strategic Issues: At the same time, we’ve pointed out that there are four key issues that need to be addressed to effect the transformation that will ensure our long-term success:

1. First, we believe there is a fundamental problem with the governance of the Club. Mostly, that’s our fault as members … but we have to put in place an effective and active governance structure that determines the strategic objectives of the Club and helps oversee management in the delivery of those objectives. It’s great to see that the BoG agrees with this perspective and has launched a Governance Committee charged with making changes.
2. Second, and a necessary consequence of the first, is the need to develop a strategic plan that gives clear direction on what’s important to the club as a corporate entity and the aspirations and expectations of its members. 3. The third plank follows the second – a need for a clear understanding of the Club’s brandand the mechanisms to market that brand among the existing and prospective membership. The Membership Committee is potentially going to take this challenge on board with pro bono help from members who are professionals in this area.
4. The final element is transparency and accountability mechanisms, reviewed regularly by the board andreported to the members. A performance dashboard comes to mind, and we’ve made some suggestions about what this might look like.

These four challenges make for much more difficult conversations: many people have opinions on each of these issues and the unfortunate result can be that the status quo emerges as a compromise. That’s the frustrating part.

To be sure, measurable progress has been made to date. Not least, management has been given more and tighter guidance by the board in the budgeting process. Budgeting to lose a major portion of our remaining equity and basking in self-satisfaction when we lose a lesser amount is now, hopefully, a thing of the past. Executive compensation is in the cross-hairs and governance per-se is finally attracting a measure of attention.

I’d love to get feedback and comments … all reasonable opinions sought and welcomed!

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TAC Email from President Lance Lee

—– Original Message —–
From: “Lance Lee” <@tac-club.org>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 11:21:02 AM GMT +09:00 Japan
Subject: President’s TWG Update
Dear Members,
On behalf of the Board of Governors, I would like to thank all members who voted on the recent proposal for a special assessment, as well as those who took the time to attend and share their concerns in the Special General Meeting (SGM) on June seventh . We on the Board are committed to addressing all concerns expressed with dispatch. At the same time, we are looking forward to an increasing number of members becoming actively involved as we work towards our shared vision — superior member service and satisfaction with sound financial management.
In this spirit, the Board passed Resolution #3649 which creates a team to spearhead action plans in resolving many difficult issues raised at the SGM giving top priority to the financial issues. This new nine-member team is returning to the work of the original “Transition Working Group” (TWG) established in 2009 to analyze and plan an optimal strategy for ensuring earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in conformance with the debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR) called for in our loan covenants. The members of the TWG include four members of the Board of Governors (BoG) and five non-Board members. The TWG Chair is Mr. Dieter Haberl who is not on the BoG and the vice-Chair is Ms. Barbara Hancock who as Women’s Group President has Board status. The other Governors on this reconstituted TWG are Mr. Brian Nelson, Mr. Dan Stakoe, and Mr. Per Knudsen; the other non-Governor members are Mr. James Ashley, Mr. Bryan Gould, Mr. Takashi Maruyama, and Mr. Terry White.
The full text of Resolution #3649 will be found on the TAC web site.
The Board further resolved to thank the original members of the TWG for their intensive efforts to date.
Members will be regularly apprised of the work of our reconstituted TWG and we hope they may have your support as they progress in their complex undertaking.
Lance E. Lee
President
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Proxy Analysis -TAC June 7 vote

The analysis of the proxy vote as a  download under BOG on TAC’s web site.
Someone spent a lot of time on this analysis and it is revealing:
* The Japanese vote was mostly in favor of the levy (60:40). About one in five votes cast was by Japanese.
* The USA vote was narrowly against the measure.
* The other country nationals were overwhelmingly againt the measure.
The lesson here is that Japanese members  vote and as they make up about a third of eligible voting members, their vote is very important. They are the most likely to be swayed by messages (or propaganda) from the BOG as they are long-term resident members.

the analysis of the proxy vote as a  download under BOG on TAC’s web site. Someone spent a lot of time on this analysis and it is revealing:

* The Japanese vote was mostly in favor of the levy (60:40). About one in five votes cast was by Japanese.

* The USA vote was narrowly against the measure.

* The other country nationals were overwhelmingly againt the measure. The lesson here is that Japanese members  vote and as they make up about a third of eligible voting members, their vote is very important. They are the most likely to be swayed by messages (or propaganda) from the BOG as they are long-term resident members.

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Tokyo American Club MABT Update

Suggestions are flowing in from the membership and many are adding comments.  Please keep contributing your comments and stay positive.  Quick update points are

-Tomorrow, the BOG will be meeting to discuss how to proceed with communicating better with the TAC membership as represented through the MABT.

-We are encouraging the BOG to have a real Townhall meeting and get people a chance not just to make suggestions but to get involved.  We would like to see this by the end of July.

Members Comments-

-A member from the finance industry suggested that the current TAC is “much like we have built this Tokyo American Club Taj Mahal that cannot sustain itself.  All the governance systems need to be rethought and brought to date”.  The TAC needs to be run like a business that is competitive.

Updates

-135 people visited this website yesterday.  110 visitors on Monday.

We’ll keep you posted of new developments.   We will only send out emails to all membership as barely necessary.  There won’t be much email because we are collaborating via this website.  You can subscribe to updates via the RSS feed below.

Staying positive and construtive with you!

Making A Better TAC (MABT)

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All Members Email

—– Original Message —–
From: “Better TAC Team” <editors@wordpress-644826-2102161.cloudwaysapps.com>
To: “Tac_members” <tac_members@wordpress-644826-2102161.cloudwaysapps.com>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 7:19:51 PM GMT +09:00 Japan
Subject:  Making A Better TAC (MABT)- Need Your Feedback
Dear Fellow TAC Members,
With the push for a “Yes” vote on increasing costs to TAC members by the current leadership, the vast majority of the TAC membership has risen up in alarm. This was evident in the three town hall meetings and materialized in the vote result.
Although not organized at the time, a number of us were able to get an email out to demonstrate how a “Yes” vote was the wrong decision (posted on the website). If you were one of the members in the packed room on 7 June, you will know that people were very concerned about what is going on with the Board of Governors (BOG) and especially with the management of the club.
We have amazing people in retail, IT, operations, hospitality, entertainment, finance, marketing, and many other areas that can help the club keep the glow that it has had and blossom as it goes back into these amazing new facilities in a few months time.
Our goal is to better involve our membership as we have found out few things about TAC that concern us.
  • -TAC does the majority of work house and outsources little to keep costs competitive
  • -The average salary for the top 10 managers at TAC in 2009 was XX million yen according to the website. Quick marketing checks would have this as 40% above market rates in Japan.
  • -Apparent over-staffing in certain areas of the Club
  • -There seems to be no check or balance on the management we employ
Democracy has spoken and the Board of Governors is listening after your “No” vote. The group of members that has been working towards fixing and helping the club has become known as Making A Better TAC (MABT). We have a website with close to 100 visitors each day since we set it up earlier this month. Clearly all members that want accountability and transparency are a part of MABT.
Five of initial MABT membership will begin work with the BOG shortly to help better represent the membership on the whole. The rest of our growing group will be monitoring the status. We will use the website to collaborate with each other.
We will remain a voice of the membership and independent from both the management and the BOG. Let’s all stand together to continue our momentum. The site can use more ideas from you of how
  1. To Reduce Cost
  2. Generate More Revenue
  3. Improve the Tokyo American Club overall
Please check out the site and comment in the appropriate section so that we can open the lines of communication and make everything clear.
We are looking forward to working together to make an even better TAC.
Sincerely,
Making A Better TAC (MABT)
www.abetteramericanclub.com
PS. Please feel free to change, remove or add your email to this list by following the links below. We apologize that this email address is not monitored, but encourage everyone to communicate via the website. (There is a link on the top page of the website for the mailing list as well).
_______________________________________________
Tac_members mailing list
https://abetteramericanclub.com/mailman/listinfo/tac_members_abetteramericanclub.com