Warren Norton – “Club Visioning Process”
Warren provided a very succinct presentation regarding the new Rotary “Club Visioning Process”. By the number of questions it was very thought provoking and something for further discussion at Club level.
Below is an extract from the website which explains the process.
Extract from Website
The visioning process is designed to help a Rotary club create its own vision and to discover for itself the steps necessary to achieve that vision. The result is unique to each club because this is not a vision decided by the Rotary District or by Rotary International. The result is a vision designed and endorsed by the club’s own members.
A club visioning event brings together a good cross-section of its membership from the newest to the most
experienced Rotarian. The process uses the talents and life experience within the club to develop a vision and
goals reflecting that club’s membership. A club visioning event provides renewed focus on objectives and is
completed in a dedicated, fun-filled four hour session. The challenge during this process is to gather as many
ideas and opportunities for the future from a group of Rotarians and then condense it down to the most
important goals as determined by that club. To make sure that all of this can be accomplished within a limited
time frame, the club visioning event is run by an outside neutral team of Rotary facilitators. The team has
been well-trained in a specific process to help the club bring out its best thinking. The facilitation team does
not suggest or promote projects.
This is not a strategic planning process. However, it does provide wonderful material that can be used to
either help review an existing club’s strategic plan or help in the development of such a plan at a later time. By
the end of this four-hour process, each club will have a clear vision of the following:
• What the club stands for in the community;
• The club’s target membership size in five years;
• Identification of the club’s attributes;
• Top three objectives for each avenue of service; and
• Ways to improve the club’s leadership development.
Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, chances are you will end up someplace else.” If a club
starts with an effective visioning event, it leads to a long range plan that can effectively result in programs
locally and internationally. A club vision is a living management tool that begins this process by defining a
shared commitment, providing long term direction, creating a framework to establish goals and objectives,
and helping the club to optimize the use of its resources.
The key thing to remember is that this visioning process is designed to make sure that it is the club members who are providing the input and deciding the goals, objectives, and action steps that they want to take in order to realize the vision that they have created for themselves as a Rotary Club in their community.
Chairman Robin thanked Warren for a very informative presentation and advised that further discussions will be held by the Club to determine our participation in the Visioning Process.
Warren Norton from Geelong East Rotary Club presenting the Club Visioning process.