An idea on how best to manage our Club's affairs by way of progressing members through a rotation of Club Director Memberships and then moving on to become President Elect, President, Past President.
When I was at the Melbourne World Rotary Convention back in late May this year, I met a member of a club from South Carolina, USA. He told me that in their Club, when members are accepted, it is on the basis that part of becoming a Rotary Member is that they will progressively move through all duties within their Club after a couple of years of membership and continue to rotate all positions as and when required.
I found this idea so simple and completely agree that becoming a member of a Rotary Club doesn't just mean coming along to meetings, socialising and doing all the good stuff, it also requires a commitment to stand up and take on all the duties within the Club as well.
Joining a Rotary Club is also about mentoring our members to become better speakers, to help them learn new skills and to enjoy personal growth, all with the full support of other Club members.
I personally have really appreciated the fact that I need to stand up and talk to everyone, something I was very wary of when I first joined but as time has passed, I now feel quite comfortable getting up and talking in front of everyone - and this is something I believe we need to foster more of in our Club.
We have several members who unfortunately are not keen to speak, but this is one area of personal growth that all members need to embrace.
So may I suggest that we discuss a plan to implement a rotation of all members through the Director roles, onto the President Elect, President and Past President. Of course, most members have already done this, maybe even more than once, but just because you have done it before, doesn't mean you won't need to do it again.
From my experience, I would have much preferred to have carried out all the roles of each Directorship before getting into the Presidential circuit (3years) because it was a very daunting time not having the experience of what the Club does to really make the most of being President.
To that end, we are now in a situation where we have no President Elect, which means we have no President for next year, and I know that lots of members have been approached but wouldn't it be much fairer to all concerned, that we have a better forward planning structure in place for the future? A plan where everyone knows that it is expected to become a Director on a regular basis and becoming President is a requirement of members, not an option.
Food for thought, everyone.
Thanks
Jane