Let NOCK’s desire for change yield fruit

The announcement by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) that it is set for a radical changeover on how it manages its affairs is welcome and timely. In any case, the age-old saying that the only constant in life is change still is sacred for any organisation if it is to adapt to the ever changing times and ambrace emerging best management practices. NOCK is proposing the creation of a professional secretariat with departments such as Finance, Administration, Projects and Communications.

Well, these are very basic requirements of any public or private organization worth its salt. Change, however, is always as a result of failure or crisis and also a need to optimise on latent potential within an organization. Failure to adapt to change often breeds frustration leading, at times, to complete breakdown of systems. That is where had reached until recently.

Actually change at NOCK not just on the faces but also on the structure was long overdue. Especially after some of its officials were caught up in the 2016 Rio Olympics fiasco where funds were misappropriated. It is a no brainer that NOCK’s management style needed urgent re-engineering, including changing its Constitution to make it more progressive and in tandem with the current times.

A tweak in the constitution stripping the Executive of voting rights broke the stranglehold of the octogenarians blamed for the rot at NOCK. In Paul Tergat, the respected world-beater marathoner, Kenya's athletics have found a new spring.

Tergat's team need all the support they can get.