While Jason Bobst, Pottstown Borough Manger, was talking about PAID and the future of Pottstown he mentioned two words – cooperation and coordination. I have pondered the importance of these two words in relationship to Pottstown since Thursday’s meeting. If I am being honest, we need to work harder at cooperation and coordination if we want Pottstown to “be all it can be’. It is a big job and will need the hard work of many people to make sure it happens.
No one group can successfully turn Pottstown around. It will take coordination and cooperation from elected leaders, citizens, the Pottstown School District, Montgomery County, business, industry, bloggers, print and online media and entities like PAID. We can not expect the new Executive Director to come in and wave his or her magic wand and fix 40 years worth of problems (unless we hire Merlin).
The new structure of PAID should be the model we use moving forward. We need a good cross-section of people, possessing a variety of skill sets and talents, working together for the betterment of our community. The coordination of efforts, a unified voice, mutual respect/cooperation, a positive attitude and the sincere belief that Pottstown can be transformed into something even better than it was during its industrial heyday are essential if we expect to be successful.
I leave you with the definition of cooperation and coordination for your consideration. Going forward, we should ask ourselves if our efforts are coordinated with the efforts of others and if we are working in the spirit of cooperation for Pottstown’s greater good.
co·op·er·a·tion
1. an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit; joint action.
2. more or less active assistance from a person, organization, etc.: We sought the cooperation of various civic leaders.
3. willingness to cooperate: to indicate cooperation.
4. Economics. the combination of persons for purposes of production, purchase, or distribution for their joint benefit: producers’ cooperation; consumers’ cooperation.
5. Sociology. activity shared for mutual benefit.
co·or·di·na·tion
1. the act or state of coordinating or of being coordinated.
2. proper order or relationship.
3. harmonious combination or interaction, as of functions or parts.
Definitions from: Dictionary.com
Roy's Rants - For Your Information 
Roy, this is a jewel of wisdom that I hope everyone will ponder. Those two words, if sticky noted to everyone’s bathroom mirror for daily reminders, could be pivitol in moving Pottstown into the “plus” category.
I leave you to ponder this quote from Alexander Graham Bell:
“Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself”.
Absolutely, Roy. No one person or group is going to turn things around. Every person and organization will have to do his/her/their piece of the puzzle, with PAID leading and coordinating. It can be done!
Well said, Roy. Enjoyed this. Another “C” word I’d throw out there is Compromise. It’s going to take compromise of different ideas to move forward. We all have the same goal, let’s work together on the best way to get there.
I think somewhere there should be an ‘idea bank’.
An email addy or a blog comment-like style place to post ideas anonymously on a particular theme or subject matter as relates to a potential concept or proposed project. This could allow people to engage their creativity and see what others might be thinking with the hope of finding the ‘best fit’ in the ‘marketplace’ of ideas, free from any stigma of the source of the idea.
You know, I might not particularly care for someone, but they might have the best idea and if we put blinders on to generate an ‘idea bank’ we could even get feedback about which ideas are most favored so that when the direction develops for the greater good it isn’t a choice that divides the town.
A system like this could work but people would have to participate and it would need to be moderated so that it was held to the highest standards of civility.
Great thoughts, Roy, Katy, Sue & Chris!!! It takes a village!