UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CLUB VITALITY

Toddler Adolescent Adulthood Maturity Old Age Health Death Basic Life Cycle Time Infancy

Health Life Cycle of Rotary Clubs and many other organizations Time

Health Basic Concept Incline and Decline (Rise and Fall) Time

RECLINE Health Change in Orientation Time RENEWAL

Health is important  Healthy People feel happier, make others feel happier, handle stress better and accomplish more.  A Rotary Club is really just a group of people. And it may be healthier if its people are healthier, or not. The club is a social SYSTEM with a lot of people characteristics. The system can be healthy or it can be sick.

George Bullard and others…  Studied churches and observed that life cycles of churches are related to 4 characteristics or elements. The mix of these four elements directly affects health and vitality.  Rotary Clubs appear to follow the same patterns

The Four Elements of Club Vitality  Vision  Relationships  Projects  Management

VISION  Passion  Future  Goals  Leadership  Core Values  Why are we here?  MOTIVATION

Relationships  Family of Rotary  Character of the club  Caring and Sharing Heart  Compassion  Nurture  Mentoring/coaching  Inclusiveness, welcoming quality, hospitality

Projects  Engage the club’s vision with relationships to turn good intentions into acts of service that reflect the values of the club

Management  Administrative infrastructure that allows vision to engage  Communication protocols  Reporting  Organization and Empowerment  Financial

V R P M Health V R P M VRPM Concept (Vision / Relationships / Projects / Management) Time

Motivation: On what side of the hill is your club?  Incline – Visions of what a club can become  Decline – Visions of what once was  But a club can’t go back in time  A club can positively go forward if it is willing  But can it handle the stress?

Without Vision  “…the people perish…”  No change  No stress  No exciting future  No raison d'être  Things are smooth and predictable  The club heads towards death

Without Relational Health  Disconnected club  No family sense  No belonging  No appreciation for a job well done  No encouragement to aspire  No reason to join, and no reason to stay  Never missed

Without Projects  “old boys club”  Lots of talk, no action  Begin to believe that a rotary club is one that knows how but isn’t expected to actually do  Discomfort becomes primary fear, yet the comfort itself becomes distasteful

Without Management  Unnecessary mistakes happen  Leading to unhealthy stress  Blaming  Distrust of the leadership or of any innovative idea  Even good innovations don’t attain great results, nor great participation  Volunteers are more difficult to get

Healthy Balance  Need a balance of ALL 4, ALL healthy  Sometimes leaders need to emphasize one or the other… (see later sessions this afternoon)

V R P M Health V R P M VRPM Concept (Vision / Relationships / Projects / Management) Time

Resistance  What causes resistance  V initiatives always lead to some resistance – apathy or non-participation is the last resort of the powerless  The goal for V leadership is to make maximum use of R and M  Use R-building techniques to develop the initiative and to carry it out  Use M-tools such as communication and financials and timeliness

Leadership  Every leader has a personal orientation or preference. (Think about the political leaders right now.) Each person, generally, has a driving preference and a supporting preference.  What is your primary strength?  What is your secondary strength?