Begin Rant
I will say more about that as I write. For now let me just say that I suspect one key reason the joyful, productive Adams Ave. floundered is its connection to Flag and a wrong PTS item. This came years before Finance Police were conjured from His cauldron.
The Missions were being KSW targeted and F’d with long before the Finance Police were created to deliver the coup de grace. I'm interested in your take on the Adams Avenue story when you have time.
Missions like Adams Avenue were the major business source for FSO services. The complete insanity of Senior SO “Management” staggered me regarding the Mission Network in the ‘70’s. I knew that the Missions were the heart and soul of the Scn “Empire” and knew what to do and how to do it re: expansion. Everything in the inner bowels of the SO was all about “Source”, KSW, “we’re right and the rest of them are wrong”, and all Scientologists are “our subjects” and all Students and PC’s “belong to us”.
When I was running Class IV Orgs there were some very simple actions I learned that really worked, I got a lot of heat for from “up lines” and, even though I had to weather near daily "fire fights" with Flag Reps, Programs Chiefs and FBO's, only got away with it because the stats, on trend, were very healthy
1. The Missions and the Mission Holders are your friends. Help them, keep them informed, be responsive to their needs, respect them and, personally, pay attention to and “watch out for” their public when at the Org.
2. FSM’s are your friends. Help them, Hat them, be responsive to their needs, respect them, pay attention to them and watch out for their selectee’s best interests. A person brought in buy an FSM is 5 times more likely to sign up for indoc courses and 3 times as likely to resign after them.
3. The personality, energy, appearance and attitude of your Basic Course Sups are the most important factors in the size and success of your indoc course rooms.
4. Never allow recruiting of Basic Course Students. Give folks time to “settle in”, make progress, get to “know” them and vice-versa. A person that’s had some training and been around awhile makes a better staff member and sooner than a green horn. Also, FSM’s get frustrated when their selectee’s are, in essence, ripped off.
5. Build a sense of “community”. Have things like Sunday “Potluck Dinners” for staff and public with no agenda, lecture, reging or recruiting…just fellowship and fun.
6. During Basic Course Breaks all available staff, including me, were assigned to visit and 2WC with the Newbies. No sales pitches, no out-reality blabber and “Scientologeze”, etc…just visit. The staff loved it and so did the Newbies. We got to a point where often times there were more Newbies than staff. Every staff member involved turned in a brief report to me re: who they talked to and the gist of the conversation. From this list I could detect problems, “orchestrate” subsequent break chats and “guide” pathways. One example of a problem is a student we had once that said that if something worthwhile didn’t happen soon he wasn’t gonna finish the course. I was able to clue the Sup in and, sure enough, this guy was twinned with a real f’d up stoner. I called the guy's FSM and they rushed over to the Org, twinned with the guy for the rest of the night and the next night, and 4 months later that student was on the HSDC Internship. Another time my DofP turned in a report that the person they talked to was really interested in the e-meter and being and Auditor. Next night at course break I set up for the DofP to introduce the Snr C/S—not the reg—to chat with them during break. One week later the student bought an e-meter, all the books and materials and a full Academy /Internships package. This person’s FSM, who we made sure was kept abreast of things, was deliriously happy and just couldn’t wait to bring someone else to the Org. On another occasion, a person from a Mission on the Cl IV Internship originated to me that they were considering buying their Solo/SHBC Package. I knew ASHO and AO, dropped a few names and told a story or two about the “old days” (late 60’s). I then went back to my office, called the Mission Holder, who was OT 7EP, Cl VIII and told them about the conversation. We worked out that I would do the “Deal” with his public (the Msn was also the guys FSM) in my office with the Mission Holder on the phone. He wound up, without pressure and “Hard Sell” paying through OT 7 and Cl VIII with a promised job at the Mission when he was done, if he wanted. The Mission got some good goodies, we got a few small goodies, ASHO and AO got the cake and I gave the Mission the kudos. I don't know where he is today but I know that in the late '70's he was an CLVIII C/S.
Now, I’m not making a statement here that is all pro El Ron and the “Tech”—I’ve written much on this thread and board as to where I stand on all that. My point is simply that it’s not all that hard to build a nice little Org and Field when you care about people, want for them to do well and treat them with respect—including your staff. What is hard, is to do all that while being threatened, bull baited and hounded by stat pushing, desperate and clueless Senior “Management” and "Gestapo Think” Networks.
The biggest problems in running an Org, for me, were that:
A. Staff were broke, starving, exhausted (many had to moonlight to survive) and their personal life was a neglected shambles.
B. Most Staff were not getting what they were so dedicatedly protecting, selling and delivering.
C. Staff were hounded, pounded, threatened and brutalized by SO “Management” and Networks and immediate Seniors that were indoctrinated, ordered and coerced by them to do same.
And El Ron El Rey, being the sick F’er Hisself was, set it up that way and knew damn well how it was and what it was.
During the mid to late ‘70’s it became obvious to me that El Ron was not “serious”; that El Ron was only pretending to play the game I thought Hisself was playing, that El Ron had said Hisself was playing; that El Ron didn't give a shit about the rest of Us. By that time I’d seen enough, been "around" enough, been at the "top” and on the "inside" long enough, and had enough information that it was obvious what needed to be done to play “long ball” and consolidate the position of “Planetary Scientology”. There was times multiple more than enough dough in SO Reserves and flooding in every month at the FSO in the late ‘70’s to design, prepare for and then call a 6 month “Stand Down”, restructure Org staffs and SO with increased compensation, improved Org quarters, facilities and equipment, realign postings, hire needed experience and talent, streamline and simplify policy, focus the energy on the "lower bridge", clean up, crash train and drill everyone, then “restart”. Nearly every Scio would have pitched in to help a project like that, and the resultant espirit de corp and pride would have "filled the sails" for a generation.
End Rant.
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