Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland has been operating for over 100 years and the majority of that time with a President at its helm for a 12-month period.
Organisations around the world are no different and regularly need to really look at themselves to rejuvenate, adapt to world events and be appealing.
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We at Rotary are no different whether we are a Rotary club, a district or the Governing Body.
Through Rotary International’s regional pilots we at Rotary GB&I are privileged and delighted along with our colleagues in Australia & New Zealand to participate in the programme.
The difference is “continuity” and “accountability”; we now have the scenario of decisions being made, projects and initiatives being implemented with sustainability as a key focus with the majority of the team still in situ.”
As I write this article, we are close to completing year one of a possible six-year pilot to really grow Rotary in these Islands.
Our new Regional Board comes into operation on July 1st, 2023 made up of voting and non-voting members who may have a one-, two- or three-year duration, with a three-year revolving Chair Group.
The difference is “continuity” and “accountability”; we now have the scenario of decisions being made, projects and initiatives being implemented with sustainability as a key focus with the majority of the team still in situ.
Whether you are a current Club President, President Elect, Team Lead of a District Team, incoming Youth Chair for your club or in my case current Regional Board Chair, we all should be looking forward to month 13 and 14 etc. – not a brand-new year which you call month one.
We must get away from this is “my year – one year duration”.
Yes, you can add your own style and enthusiasm to things, but the key goals, projects, initiatives and direction should be the same as we all move forward; adjusting as we go along!
As our regional pilots’ programme really kicks off, we must ensure we really get behind all the components so that we can test and tweak them to find the optimum model that works for us.
I felt so good at a recent club centennial celebration when we had time for some reflections that we were talking about one of the recent youth initiatives that had been run in clusters.
In the words of Henry Ford – “coming together in the beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success”.
