Rotary Club of Westminster East

Change is a necessary and positive feature of life.  Success and fulfilment depends on how well we adapt to the changes in our life. The secret is to focus, not on the old, but on building on the new.

Every year, new President’s and her/his team set new goals and action plans.  But how many clubs, I wonder, consider the resource requirements to achieve their goals.  A club with a high number of members will not necessarily have the talent or motivated members to put its plans into action.  By the same measure, a small club may have more than its share of motivated people and constantly ‘over achieve’.

Motivated and achieving clubs ask themselves “if this is what we want to do, what skills do we need to do it?”  If you know where you want to go, you should know what you need to get you there.  Of course there are some passive clubs who want to stay exactly where they are; static membership, little or no contact with District and no new projects.  But there are also clubs with a genuine interest in growing membership, improving income generation and developing service projects that meet local need and address global issues.

These clubs are open to new ideas and new approaches.  Change is seen as a positive and openly embraced; leading to new opportunities and improves membership development.  Such openness enables clubs to consider what skills and talent is needed to deliver its programme.  Knowing what the missing/required skills are leads to a more focused recruitment strategy which is based on ‘seeking out’ rather than ‘wait-and-see’ approaches.

My visits to other clubs keep me motivated and it is stimulating to see firsthand how other clubs do things, how they organise themselves and welcome visitors.  I also get to hear about their recruitment strategies and membership retention.

My visits enable me to see my Club with a fresh eye and consider things done by other clubs could work for us?  Of course I’m proud of my Club, but I don’t let this blind me to new ideas and new ways of doing things.  Openness to change is openness to ideas and a willingness to learn.