As with any organisation Rotary has built up a number of
cultural norms over the last 100 years.
I thought I might take a look at some of these and perhaps discuss what
relevance they have in the 21st Century. In addition there are a number of misunderstandings that I
have heard in recent weeks that could readily be fixed.
So where to start ……..
The Rotary Theme
We have an annual Rotary theme – this years being “Engage
Rotary – Change Lives. Whilst some of
these particularly last years “Peace through Service” do lend themselves to
external use these themes are aimed at our internal audience being designed to
inspire and motivate Rotarians. We
should not use them on letter heads and such that are aimed at an external
audience. This only confuses people with
regular changes of emphasis.
The whole aspect of our brand image is being developed by RI
at the moment and we are being encourage to look more closely at how we promote
ourselves externally in the future
To quote the guidance document “We are Rotary, and we have a great story to tell. It’s up to all of us
to protect, promote, and deliver on that story in all our interactions.”
More details of how we should do this are available here and
guidance will increasingly become available to us all.
Attendance
Regular involvement in Club activities is critical to making
sure that people fully engage with Rotary.
Unfortunately some people still seem to think that our attendance rules
mean that a Rotarian needs to attend 60% of meetings. The percentage was changed to 50% over 3
years ago and does not have to be weekly meetings. The key issue is that someone gets involved
in Rotary, be it service projects, visiting other Clubs, governance or learning
and development. All of these enhance an
individual’s involvement in Rotary and quite rightly should count towards their
Rotary activity.
I am aware of a number of Clubs who are considering
converting weekly attendance into service hours. An interesting approach and perhaps worth
considering.
The Meal
Tradition has it that Rotary Clubs meet for a meal and their
service activity stems from the fellowship around the table. However in the beginning the meetings were
more networking events followed eventually by service activity. It is all too easy to become a diners club if
service is not at the forefront of what we do.
As for all the other trappings of a semi-formal meal how many
of us say grace and toast our head of state around our dining tables at home or
in a restaurant or pub in the 21st Century? I suspect very few, so why do we continue
with this tradition at all?
In fact why do we insist on having a meal at all? Many people complain about the cost of
Rotary. Our subs are around £100 a year
but we may spend over £600 on having a meal and a drink each week. Only a fraction of this £600 could go a long way to improving our annual giving to Foundation.
Dress Code
A couple of years ago my Club had a vote on the wearing of
ties – between May and October we needn’t wear them! But what do most people wear at work, if
indeed they are still in work. Surely
smart casual, or whatever you are comfortable in is more appropriate in the 21st
C
Change
Change is one of the constants in our lives, it's a natural
part of the cycle of life. It was
Longfellow that said "All things must change to something new, to
something strange". It's this
strangeness, the uncertainty, the unknown, that sometimes means we need to give
change a hand.
Andy Warhol said that "They always say that time
changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
Rotarians are changing the world; ending polio, providing
clean water and sanitation, educating young women, and much much more. We
have to be able to continue this work for many years to come. So what are you going to? Can you start by challenging some of the
Myths and Cultural norms we have built up over the years?
