Club Visioning

Rotary Club Visioning is something that has proved to be very successful in North America and Australia and Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI) had decided look at the concept to explore where it could be utilised in these Isles. 

I was privileged to be asked to represent my district and attend the Club Visioning Training Seminar weekend held at RIBI Secretariat in Alcester.

 

 

RI Coordinators Peter Davey and Chris Garner had invited PDG Steve & Terri Wilcox to lead the weekend.  Steve & Terri are the founders of the Rotary Club Visioning programme and have used their ten years involvement to discover what works, what doesn’t work, and to tweak the facilitation exercise accordingly.

 

A Club Vision Facilitation is a four hour evening session that assists Key leaders and interested members of a Rotary Club in achieving continuity, consistency and consensus. The facilitation session is intended for all interested Rotarians in the  club—from the newest members to the most tenured. The breadth and depth of the facilitation exercise is optimized when club leaders (past, present and future) and member opinion leaders participate. It is suggested that no more than 30 Rotarians are present

It is expected that:

• Attendance at the event by present council members, the current president, president-elect, president-elect nominee, immediate past-president, and two other past-presidents. Their collective involvement is essential.
• Participants to commit to the entire 4-hour exercise.
• The number of Rotarians committed to a session will be no less than 12 for the smaller clubs but no more than 30 (to maintain the time schedule and allow fair and full input from all present). Each Club requesting a Vision Facilitation will designate a "Coordinator" who will work with the District Vision Facilitation Chair providing all the information and direction individual Rotarians will need in preparation for the session. During the Vision Facilitation session, a team of facilitator will lead a process consisting of an overview presentation, a writing exercise, data collection, consensus voting and summary with action plan development. There are at least three measures of success for clubs that complete a Vision Facilitation:
1. An immediate measure of progress will be the members’ pledge and willingness to move the planning processes from a nice-to-do concept to meaningful growth programs for the club, its members and its community.
2. The second is that the output from this session is woven into the annually plans of the incoming and succeeding Presidents. It will be reflected in the continuity and consistency of programming and leadership of your Club.
3. Finally, the long-term mark of accomplishment will be at the end of three-five years when your club advances from where it is to where it wants to be.

 

Club visioning in itself is not a “membership drive initiative.” It was designed to help clubs develop a sense of direction and the structure necessary to achieve the club’s goals.  It is an exercise which strengthens the club and a byproduct of this is an increase in membership.

Club visioning is not something that is ‘placed’ on clubs from District.  Club Visioning Facilitation is by invitation.  The club invites the Facilitation Team in to lead a session.  It is important that the club ‘own’ the whole process, that the movers and shakers within the club are present, and that the club cast their own vision with the facilitators extracting from members what they really want for the future of their club.

Vision Facilitation is never carried out by an individual.  Districts are encouraged to build district facilitation teams, and depending on the number of attendees at a session, 2-3 Facilitators will be present working together as a team.  The facilitators are neutral, not imposing their ideas but drawing (extracting) from the members THEIR vision and THEIR ideas for the success of THEIR club.