Because Wellness Matters

FOR ROTARY TO DO WELL, THE CLUB MUST BE WELL….FOR THE CLUB TO DO WELL, THE MEMBERS MUST BE WELL.

(photo credit: Google.com)

Rotarian Wellness or Rotarian Welfare, is a relatively new concept for Rotary District 7020 although some clubs have been informally implementing Wellness principles for decades! Wellness initiatives help alleviate the stress of family members. Such a programme therefore strengthens the clubs’ and members’ commitment and ability to serve. Wellness also assists with membership satisfaction and retention.

Many clubs have a Family of Rotary chair or other person performing activities such as birthday, congratulatory and sympathy announcements, or planning events involving members’ family and the greater Rotary family. The “Wellness” element is an expansion of that concept. Some years ago, our District 7020 came to terms with the reality that there were active members in crisis who may fall along the wayside. The recent economic crisis in our region (and the world) highlighted this. DG Felix often exhorts Rotarians to look not just after others in the community but to also look after each other in the club. Service to the world is not incompatible with service to each other.

(photo credit: Google.com

In a nutshell, each club is being encouraged to develop a Wellness programme suitable for that club. Wellness depends on gathering information (sometimes confidentially) and responding with appropriate acts of kindness such as providing material, financial, physical or emotional support or by helping to locate sources of assistance when the club is unable to assist.

The purpose of Wellness is to develop a workable club-specific programme to identify and assist Rotarians who may need help or support during periods of transition or challenge. The great thing about having a formal programme is that a Rotarian needing help is more willing to talk about it and will find offers of assistance less intrusive! They will understand the motivation and intent behind the intervention, and that makes it easier for the club to intervene and more acceptable for them.

Here are some action steps:

1.Form a committee of trusted and respected Rotarians in your club in whom persons will confide and who can intervene appropriately in difficult situations.

2.Brainstorm as to how you will approach this in your club. Be specific and reduce this to writing. How will the programme work?

3. Create a Wellness Log/Confidential Information Directory so that the committee or a Wellness Chair or other club delegate can reach relevant persons if something were to happen to a member.

(photo credit: Google.com)

What if a member became unconscious at a meeting – would the club know who to call? If a natural disaster were to strike, do the members know how to physically reach a member?

I take this opportunity to wish your club a year of wellness!

Contributed by Past President Carla Stubs (Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise – District 7020)

Kicking and Screaming: How DG Felix Became a Rotarian and More!

District Governor Felix Stubbs spoke with the RCP Review during his recent visit to Jamaica. He didn’t have the time for 21 questions so we only posed nine. 🙂 Learn more about the Governor of the Awesome District 7020!

Why Rotary? There are so many service organizations out there, how did you narrow it down; what was it that caused you to choose Rotary of them all? I didn’t choose Rotary. I was dragged kicking and screaming by a good friend. It turned out that it was one of the best things that has happened in my life.
We know that it has only been one full month into your tenure as Governor for this awesome District, but tell us, how has it been so far? The experiences that Carla and I have enjoyed visiting clubs have been far greater than our wildest expectations. I can safely say that Rotarians are special people.
Though you have a year to accomplish all that you have set out for the Awesome D7020, is there anything that you would like to see accomplished, say at the end of six months? Rotary Clubs are doing wonderful work in their communities and I am extremely pleased about that. My wish is that Rotarians do a better job of sharing their time, talent and treasures with the Rotaract, Interact and Earlyact Clubs that they sponsor.
In line with Membership Month, we just have to ask, Quality or Quantity, what should the Clubs focus on when seeking to gain new members? Both. There are lots of potential Rotarians willing to join us, if we ask them. The more members we have, the more good work we are able to do. At the same time, however, we have to ensure that we are asking “quality” persons to join. Bear in mind that “quantity persons” can be turned into “quality members”. We have to ensure that once persons join, we engage them in service projects that interest them – early and often.
Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life? My mother. She was a very quiet woman who was small in stature but had enormous personality. She had the ability to command respect by giving persons the opportunity to demonstrate their ability in a safe environment – whether it was in the community or her church. Young people, in particular, were attracted to her.
What is your favourite line of the 4-Way-Test? “Will it build good will and better friendship”
This maybe a tough one but we have to ask, what do you think is the biggest challenge facing D7020, and by extension Rotary as an Organization? The biggest challenge facing D7020 is the state of the economy in our countries and the difficulties that that is creating for the survival of many of our smaller clubs. Growing membership in recent years has been challenging both at the District and International levels.
What is the best advice you ever received? “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”
How do you balance your role as District Governor with other aspects of your life? That’s a question I get asked all the time and I’m still searching for the answer. I’m very fortunate that my wife Carla shares my passion for Rotary. She is a Past President and knows the organization very well. That is of tremendous benefit to me. As it relates to the other things I do, I’ve had the good fortune to lead most of them and I’ve enjoyed wonderful support. So I guess you can say that I’ve been able to attract some wonderful and highly skillful persons to support me which allows me to have time for many things.

Attraction or Retention: Where should the Focus be Placed?

Trying to figure out whether membership retention is more important than membership attraction is like trying to figure out if your lungs are more important than your brain; okay probably not a good comparison, but you get the picture. You won’t be able to survive for long if neither of them is working properly. Likewise your Rotary Club will soon become irrelevant, and seize to exist, if you are not able to keep the members you have, or attract new ones.

The hype is most often times placed on attracting mew members, but believe it or not, membership retention is just as important as membership attraction. Maybe even more important; and because of its importance Rotary Clubs should always be trying to come up with new ways to keep their current members.

Think about it . . . if your Rotary Club cannot retain its present members, how then will it be able to retain the new members that it attracts? Also if no one wants to stay, then no one will want to join. Best Association, in speaking about membership retention in an organization said “Mathematically, if your association has membership retention problems, you will have to work much harder on the recruitment side. It is the proverbial leaky bucket issue; fix the leak, and filling the bucket will be much easier”.

In ‘The Importance of Employee Retention’ Jacob Shriar suggests that organizations should conduct “Stay Interviews”, and this only makes sense. Clubs should do this, find out what would make their members leave, what would make their members stay.

Now all this is not to say that recruitment problems do not need to be addressed urgently, because they do. It is just that if your retention rate is strong, your Rotary Club can remain relevant for some period of time while the issue of recruitment is addressed. When this happens, Rotary Clubs have a good chance of surviving long term because those members would stay.

How do you retain your present Club members? Regularly recognizing members for their achievements and keeping members involved in club projects and activities, are just a few of the many strategies that Rotary suggests Clubs should employ to engage current members. Remember it’s all about fixing the proverbial leaking bucket!

Share your thoughts with us. Which do you think is more important? What can Rotary Clubs do to retain their current members, and at the same time attract new members? What has your Club been doing to address the issue of retention and attraction?

Era of Quality versus Quantity . . . . Does one trump the other?

The idea of transitioning from Rotaract to Rotary is an exciting coup for those going through the process.

But for those already cemented in the Rotary club and are left with the task of recruiting new members the stationary elephant in the room is a reminder of the consequential decision of focusing on Quality over Quantity this time around.

For the heads of government the idea of choosing one over the other, with the intention of what is good and relevant to achieve the objectives of the club, can become the GREAT DEBATE!!!

There are those of us who will choose Quality over Quantity and vice versa while others will chose both.

Most would argue that it is better to focus on QUANTITY as it is important to have as many hands on deck as possible. They may extend this argument to add that more hands on deck equals more work getting done, and more contributions being made.

While this may ring some truth, if the focus is solely getting a full house, the aspect of quality is at often times ignored. We cannot take it for granted that “if we take care of the QUANTITY, the QUALITY will take care of itself”.

American animator and film director, John Lasseter says “Quality is the best business plan” and many of us would agree as there are those who believe that QUALITY should take precedence when new members are being recruited.

When it comes to QUALITY, less is more. Favouring QUALITY over QUANTITY will increase your reputation and attract like minded individuals who are for the cause and not the applause. QUALITY members, who get the work done, will keep your Club sustainable in the long run.

But the decision of whether Rotary Clubs should choose between QUALITY or QUANTITY becomes easier, when the focus of membership is also geared towards “Bridging the Gap”. Rotaract Clubs have both QUALITY and QUANTITY, and Rotary Clubs should tap into this “resource pool” to grow its membership.

As we observe August as Membership and New Club Development Month, let us remember that “The future of Rotary depends on our ability to make Rotary meaningful, relevant, and attractive to the next generation of Rotarians” – District 6000

Imagine the magical and miraculous things a club can achieve if we were able to find the balance between quality and quantity.

Mind boggling???? Not so much; but worth thinking about.