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My Ideal Club Workshop Helps Lions Clubs Determine Goals
- 4. Why Are We Here? “ My Ideal Club” Workshop Lion ............................
- 8. What’s It All About? “ My Ideal Club” Workshop Lion ............................
- 11. Where Are We Now? “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 14. 20% Help it happen 20% Don’t know it’s happened 50% Watch it happen 10% Make it happen Is This Your Lions Club?
- 15. 20% Help it happen 20% Don’t know it’s happen 50% Watch it happen 10% Make it Happen Involve ALL your members Bridge This Gap
- 16. BARRIER Which Is My Lions Club ? Static Active 1 Formal structure Good team spirit 2 Long meetings 3 Long-term officers 4 Poor activities Relaxed & exploring Fun & fellowship Generating ideas
- 17. Where Do We Want To Be? “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 20. How Do We Get There? “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 22. Global Membership Team Lions in action . Create your ideas, make plans, then PUT THEM INTO ACTION
- 23. The Need for Change “ If we stand still, we go backwards”
- 24. “ Who is going to do it? ” Global Membership Team Global Leadership Team District Governor Teams MD and District Officers Club Members YOUR Club’s future is in YOUR hands “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 25. Global Membership Team Membership is the LIFEBLOOD of our clubs! GMT is there to help
- 32. Determining Club Health “ My Ideal Club” Workshop Lion ............................
- 38. Materials & Tools Available from LCI “ My Ideal Club” Workshop Lion ............................
- 39. LCI MERL Team Support “ The MERL Team” www.lionsclubs.org/EN/member-center/membership-and-new-clubs/chairperson-resources/merl/index.php “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 40. Key publication Membership Initiatives Overview of Ongoing Programmes “ My Ideal Club” Workshop
- 47. What do you need for the future? And from whom? Tools and Resources
- 53. Sample Action Plan Format Goal Statement ____________________________________ How? (Action steps) When? (deadline for completion) Who? (person responsible for action) How we will know? (has it been completed)
- 54. Sample Action Plan Format Goal To establish the current situation of the club, as seen by current and potential members – “where are we now?” HOW? (Action Steps) WHEN? (Deadline for completion) WHO? (Person responsible for action) HOW WILL WE KNOW? (How we will know the action step is accomplished) Carry out club survey using Club Evaluation Questionnaire Carry out public survey using Public Questionnaire Analyse results obtained from the above. Draw conclusions Prepare report for all Club members Discuss results in full club meeting August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 Membership Committee Chairman Fred Membership Committee members Ian and Dave Membership Committee Membership Committee Chairman Fred Club President 85% responses from club members Completed questionnaires from at least 9 non-members Committee Meeting minutes Written report circulated Full discussion of club’s current situation by all members
- 57. Goal Statements and Action Plans “ A goal without a plan is just a wish” Antoine de Sainte-Exupery
- 58. Programme Review and Feedback “ My Ideal Club” Workshop Lion ............................
Notes de l'éditeur
- Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Fellow Lions, and welcome. Before we start, can I ask Lion .................................. to take us through the arrangements for the day, and the usual Health and Safety announcements.
- Explain matters such as timing, refreshment breaks/arrangements, lunch times/arrangements (if applicable), toilet facilities, etc. Give necessary health and safety information (where the emergency exits are, where to muster, is there an alarm check expected, etc.)
- Thank you very much for coming. By being here, you demonstrate your commitment to the future growth and increased effectiveness of your Lions Club. To take us through the day, we have .............. (introduce “chairman” of the meeting, DG/VDG/RC/ZC ‘s as appropriate, the presenters, etc) I would now ask that you introduce yourselves by name and club, and say a few short words about why you are here. Can I ask each of you to stand when so doing, and at any other time that you wish to speak during the sessions, because it helps others to hear what you are saying. (Ask each participant in turn to comply) I will now hand over to Lion ...................... to talk about why we are here
- I am sure the reasons for being here vary from person to person. However, in working with this programme, I trust we all have some common aims of this session
- You will probably have heard about “My Ideal Club” programme from a variety of sources, not least of which will be the Mentor that was asked to work with you before, during and after this workshop – more on that point later. But one of the main aims of today is to examine in much more detail the programme, and learn how we can all use it to benefit our Clubs. In order to see how we can benefit, it is necessary to be able to determine the current state of our Clubs, and where improvements might be made. We have the opportunity here to discuss the tools and resources that are available from LCI, and locally, to help us to develop our Lions Clubs, and in particular to help us with membership recruitment and retention. And, if we are to make use of this new-found knowledge and understanding, we must be able to put it into effect. So we will be working on goal setting and action planning.
- So, in summary, we are here .......... (read slide). Please be assured, my fellow Lions, this is not growth just for the sake of numbers. The aims of “My Ideal Club” programme are to increase our capacity and effectiveness in community service, and to make our clubs even more enjoyable, both for existing and for new members.
- This slide is left blank so that the presenters can put in the historical information (on a club-by-club, a zone, a region and/or a district basis) that is considered appropriate, and any known aspirations for the future. Use additional slides as necessary. But first, let’s take a look at our clubs and how we have fared over the last five to ten years, and how we see the future going..................... So now over to Lion..................... to talk more about why we need “My Ideal Club” programme.
- So.... “My Ideal Club” ......... What’s it all about?
- As you will have gathered, this programme is all about growing our Clubs, and increasing our community service. That might suggest that we are dissatisfied with what we have done in the past, and what we are doing now. But that is not necessarily so. We should remind ourselves of the proud past we have enjoyed in our own Lions Clubs and as Lions Clubs International. We can all look back over the years and see huge success in virtually all our endeavours. And we are still hugely successful. Only a few years ago, Lions Clubs International was voted by readers of the Financial Times as the world’s best Non-Governmental Organisation to work with (another, similar organisation, who’s name begins with a R, came fifth in that survey!). We can also look at our enormous success with Campaign Sightfirst II – what other volunteer organisation could raise over US$200 million in just three years! And we can all look at the current programmes of our own Lions Clubs and see wonderful successes. (Mouse click) But what we want to ensure is that our future is as bright as, or even brighter than, our past. We want to create the bright future that we deserve, and that the communities that we serve are entitled to expect. But we can tell from the recent past that our bright future will not just happen. We are going to have to make some changes, if we want our bright future.
- But change can be a scary thing! We get very comfortable with what we know, and it takes courage to move out of our comfort zone. However if we are in control of change, then it need not be scary. In fact, if properly controlled, change can be very exhilarating and rejuvenating. To control change, we need to answer three main questions ............... (read from screen) . So let’s examine these three questions more closely.
- Where are we now? Let’s look at some startling trends.
- In Multiple District 105, the average club size is now just 20 (as opposed to around 29 worldwide). That is not to say that clubs of 20 or less don’t do a great job – they do! But if the average is 20, that means there are a huge number of clubs at well below that figure. And if your club only has 15, or even just 10 members, you are all having to work harder and harder all the time to keep up the level of community service that you want to achieve. How long will volunteers be willing to do this? The second point is even more startling! 48% of members who leave, do so within three years of joining . (repeat that sentence for effect). That means that, by and large, we can get new members, but we cannot keep them! Somehow, our clubs are not giving those new members what they expected when they joined. And of course, we are all aware that the average age of our members is rising all the time. That is not an ageist remark. But we have to face the facts that, if all the members of a club are now in their seventies or eighties, with the best will in the world, that club will not be there much longer. Natural causes will take their toll, and the club will cease to be. The community will lose the valuable service provided by their Lions club.
- So what’s gone wrong with our clubs? Do you recognise any of the factors here? (Explain the points on the slide as you feel appropriate. Ask participants to relate any observations of these factors in their clubs, or in clubs that they have visited, if they feel they want to.) (Mouse click) But the most common factor that has gone wrong in many of our clubs is that the fun has gone out of our meetings and activities. We are all volunteers and, if we are to continue to give our spare time to our Lions activities, we must enjoy what we are doing. Is this your Lions Club? (Mouse click)
- (Slide animation runs automatically. Read each line as it comes up.) My fellow Lions, far too many of our Lions Clubs are in this situation, and therefore are unable to “fire on all cylinders”. But what can we do about it?
- We really have to bridge that gap, and get all our members involved in what we are doing. If all our members are active, then we will have far more success with our events, and we will have more fun and fellowship. Our existing members will be happier with what we are doing, and potential new members will view us as a happy, successful family. A family that they would wish to join.
- But, in order to get all members active and involved, we have to look at our club, and see what needs to be done. If our club is on the left of that thick black line, with too formal a structure, with long, boring meetings, with the same people running the club the whole time, and with a low level of activity, we are not going to be able to get more people involved. What we need to do is to have an active, fun club, with good new ideas being explored in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Above all, we should have a good team spirit. So we need our clubs to be on the right hand side of that thick black line. But how do we get there?!?
- Having answered the first of our three questions in the management of change, namely “Where are we now?”, we turn to the second question, “Where do we want to be?”
- First, it pays to for each of us to remember why we joined Lions in the first place. If you ask a room-full of Lions why they joined, for the vast majority, it will be one of, or a combination of, these three reasons ............. (read the three reasons, expanding as necessary). (If there is time, ask participants to stand, read out each of the reasons in turn, and after each one, ask those who joined for that reason to sit down. Having completed all three, there will probably be some still standing. Ask each of them to explain why they joined.) Surely, what need to ensure is that our Lions Clubs are still providing these elements to existing members, and offering them to prospective members. How can we give “member satisfaction” otherwise.
- But, in many Clubs, if we are to continue to provide members with the satisfaction they need, we need to raise our game. (mouse click) We need to make sure our Clubs and our activities are:- (mouse click) Relevant – that is, we must be carrying out activities and events that are needed by our communities, and are what our members want to do. (mouse click) Active – we must have plenty going on in our clubs, and we must get all members involved (mouse click) Inspirational – our meetings and activities must be such that they inspire our members to come back again and again, and be fully involved in all aspects of club life. (mouse click) Successful – of course we want all our activities to be successful, and most are. In all walks of life, nothing breeds success like success, and Lions Clubs are no exception. (mouse click) Enjoyable – and as we have said before, we are all volunteers, giving of our spare time. We deserve to enjoy our Lions activities. If we don’t, we will not do them for much longer.
- So we have thought about were we are now, and had a broad look at where we want to be. However, the 64,000 dollar question is “How do we get there”
- What we need in order to achieve the growth and the forward momentum that will lead our clubs to a bright future is threefold. We need a stream of good, new ideas that we can work on and develop at the pace that suites us. This gives our members the chance to maintain their involvement and holds their interest. We need a strong and increasing membership of active, positive members, to make a success of our old and our new activities And we need a dynamic, successful local image that is going to keep moral high amongst our members, and attract more like-minded people in our communities. Any club that has these three elements is going to be attractive to existing members, and to potential new members, is going to be enjoyable for all, and is going to be a real credit to its community.
- (Slide animation runs automatically) But ideas of themselves will not help us to get where we need to go. From those ideas, we need to create goals and plans, and then put those plans into action. Later on today we will be looking at goal setting and action planning, to help in this process.
- I said earlier that there is a need for change. If we are to get our clubs moving forward, so that we achieve what we are capable of, then change is inevitable. Why should this surprise us? After all, we live in a changing world, and to succeed, we have to change with it. If we do not change with it, if we attempt to stand still, then the world rushes past us, and we end up effectively going backwards.
- So who is going to do all this? Who is going to produce the ideas and the actions to take our clubs forward? (mouse click) The Global Membership Team (GMT) is there to help. This is a team of around 40 Lion leaders around the world brought together in one team to help, advise and motivate Districts and Clubs in their quest for development and growth. The GMT produces initiatives, such as this “My Ideal Club” programme, and more initiatives will follow. (mouse click) Soon, there will be a similar team to help us with our efforts to encourage and train our leaders at club and district level. This will be known as the Global Leadership Team, and is expected to be operative from July 2011 onwards. (click mouse) The people mainly responsible within each district for progressing this work are the District Governor and the two Vice Governors, collectively known as the District Governor Team. They will lead the development and promotion of local plans and initiatives for growth. (click mouse) They will work closely with the District Membership Officer (or team) and the District Leadership Officer (or team) who will, in turn, work with you and your mentors in your efforts to take your club forward. But none of these Lions can actually do the work for you. (click mouse) It is down to every Lion in every Club to do what he or she can to encourage forward momentum within their own club, to look for new ideas and new members, and to improve the club’s image in the community. (click mouse) . My fellow Lions, the future of your club is in your hands - but you have a whole host of Lions with knowledge and experience on whom you can call for help.
- In all this, of course, membership plays an integral part. This is only natural, because without active, positive members we cannot perform the community service work that we know is desperately needed. And without active, positive members, we cannot maintain the fun and fellowship that binds us together as a force for good in the world. Membership is the lifeblood of our clubs , and every new member is two more hands in our work to ease the burden of the less fortunate. (click mouse) It is our responsibility, each and every one of us, to act as “development officers” for our clubs, and the Global Membership Team is there to help.
- As stated earlier, this workshop is one of the initiatives under GMT, so let’s look again at what we are aiming to achieve today. Two months ago, each club was given a mentor to help and assist before, during and after this workshop. With the help of that mentor, your club members have completed the Club Evaluation Questionnaire, and you have summarised the views and opinions expressed in those questionnaires. We will look further at that work a little later on.
- At the workshop today, we will be examining and discussing what the phrase “My Ideal Club” means to each of us. We will be looking at the questionnaires to determine the “health” of our individual clubs, and we will be discussing how we can find out from the community what it needs, and what members in the community think of our Lions Clubs. We will look at resources available from LCI and locally. And most importantly, we will be practicing how to set goals and devise action plans to achieve those goals. We also need to discuss what to do after the workshop to make use of what we have learned so far, and we need to arrange the necessary follow-up meeting or actions to monitor and assist the progress of the whole process. Is there anything else anyone feels we should be covering today? (record any additional agenda items on the flipchart) So “on with the show”. Here is Lion .......................................... to lead our discussion on what “My Ideal Club” means to each of us.
- So, before we can go much further, we need to have an understanding of what we mean by “My Ideal Club”. No doubt this will be different for each of us, so let’s have your ideas of what characteristics you would expect to see in your “ideal club”. (Record answers on flipchart) Let’s see if you agree with our thoughts.
- It is generally considered that a good, effective Lions Club will have these characteristics (Read points on slide and expand as appropriate. Invite comments on each point and record comments, or additional points, on flipchart) As I said, “My Ideal Club” is different for each of us. However, I hope this has helped you to clarify in your mind what you would consider to be your ideal club. Please remember these thoughts for later on, when we start planning where your club needs to be in the future. Now over to Lion .......................... to look a little more at the mentoring process that is so important to this programme.
- As you will have gathered, it is considered important that all clubs should have someone experienced in this programme, and in the questions that arise in developing our clubs. Therefore, a mentor has been nominated for each club taking part. Such mentors are there as a source of direct help and advice before, during and after this workshop. Some clubs will be able to work well with minimal reliance on their mentor, whilst others will need to depend on him or her quite heavily throughout the process. From this description, I am sure you will agree that it is important that your club is happy with the mentor appointed, and that you are able to work with him or her. If you feel that this is not so in your case, please speak to me at the next break. So, your mentor must be a Lion of knowledge and experience in membership recruitment and retention, leadership and club development, and will work directly with you for the future of your club. So where are the mentors drawn from?
- Your own club mentor could be drawn from any of these groups, and is your first “port of call” in the help and advice that you need. However, any of the Lions in any of these groups should always be there for further help and support as necessary. (Explain the functions of the groups on the slide as necessary, and give local names and details where appropriate) So, now to look at your club health, and the opportunities for improvement, over to Lion ...........................
- If we think back to the three steps in the management of change, you will remember that the first step is to determine where we are now. To relate this to the specific subject of our Lions Clubs, and their development for the future, we need to establish what we can refer to as “the state of health” of our club.
- How have we done this in the past? Generally, we have, by default, taken a very subjective approach to assessing our club’s health. (mouse click) We have gone on gut feeling, or we have waited until we hear moans from our members. Or even worse still, we wait until the back-biting gets so bad that we are in a conflict situation. Surely, this cannot be the right approach. We need to be much more objective about it. (mouse click). We need a much more scientific approach to our analysis of our clubs. And I believe the best tool we have with which to do this, is the Club Evaluation Questionnaire that you have in your participants pack, and which, I hope, you have already used in your club.
- This questionnaire covers the principal elements that we need to analyse and understand before we can start planning for the future. It seeks our members opinions on the current membership profile of the club, and on what meetings, activities and socials we run, and how they are organised. It elicits our current members views on the search for new members, and it asks questions to determine how well we are doing in looking after our existing members. And it is often the section on membership retention that produces the answers that are most surprising to the leaders of the club. So let’s see how you got on running the Club Evaluation Questionnaire in your club. (Ask one of the participants to report his/her club’s results of the first page of the questionnaire. Ask another to report his/her club’s results for the second page, and so on. After each report, ask for comments from the other participants. After the fourth report, repeat the cycle with further participants, as time permits). I hope that you found the questionnaire useful in determining the current health of your club, and in getting an idea of what you will need to improve for the future. Later, you will be using your questionnaire results to work on goal setting and action plans. You will also find in your pack a Skills Questionnaire that you can use to find out more about your fellow Club members. You may already know all this, but it helps to focus the mind on what the club is capable of doing in the future. Please use it as you see fit.
- In considering our Clubs’ future, and in making it attractive to prospective members, it is also important to take into account what the public thinks about the Club, and what it is doing. So in your pack, you will find a questionnaire to use in gathering opinions from non-members. (Go through points on slide and sections of the Public Questionnaire as appropriate). The intention with this questionnaire is to identify specific individuals within the community whose opinions we can respect. This may include the local mayor or councillors, teachers, police, leaders of other community groups, owners or managers of local businesses, etc. The questionnaire should be completed by one or two members of the club actually visiting the interviewee, so that, not only do you get the opinions you are seeking, but you also make a contact which could be useful for the future. Indeed, through this process, you may be able to get the interviewees interested in joining the club. It was considered better not to try and carry out this public exercise before this workshop, as it is a more complicated and time-consuming exercise than the members Club Evaluation Questionnaire. However, we highly recommend that you do take into account the views of the public when considering the club’s future growth. Now I will hand over to Lion ................................... to talk about community needs and matching those needs to our resources.
- We have talked about the need to understand where we currently stand, and where we need to be for the future, and these principals apply not only to membership, club organisation, etc, but also to how we seek to meet the needs of our communities. We all have community service projects and activities that have been successful over many years. However, if we are looking to the future, we should be prepared to review those activities, to see if they are still relevant to the needs of the community, and are still what our members want to do. We should also be prepared to take a good look at our communities to see if there are any more pressing needs that we should be addressing. We have agreed that the world changes, and we should make sure that all our community service activities are relevant in current times.
- In your pack you will find a Community Needs Assessment form that can be used as it stands, or just as a guide, to asking the right questions of the right people in your community, so that you can then check that your current activities are what the community really needs, and so that you can identify potential new service activities for your club to adopt. (Go through the points on the slide and the Community Needs Assessment form as appropriate) So if you carry out the Community Needs Assessment, and cross-check the answers with the results you got from the Club Evaluation Questionnaire, the Skills Questionnaire and the Public Questionnaire, you should get a pretty clear picture of what your community needs, what your club members want to do, and what your club is capable of achieving. So, in your club groups, please take 10 minutes to discuss how you might use the Club Evaluation Questionnaire, the Skills Questionnaire, the Public Questionnaire and the Community Needs Assessment to come up with a blueprint for future service activities within your club. If you can at this stage, predict what that blueprint might look like, so much the better. After 10 minutes, I will ask one or two groups to make a short report of your findings. Now Lion ................. ........... will go over some of the materials and resources that are available to help with our plans for future growth.
- Firstly, lets have a look at the materials and tools that are available from Lions Clubs International. These often need some interpretation and adaptation for use in our District, but nevertheless there are some very useful items available.
- We will run through these very briefly at this stage, and you can look at them, or the ones that interest you, in more detail at your leisure on the LCI website. Everything can be accessed from the page entitled “The MERL Team”. The web address is given in the slide, or you can find it just by going onto the LCI website at “lionsclubs.org” and searching for “The MERL Team”.
- One thing that is not on that website as such is the key publication “Membership Initiatives: Overview of Ongoing Programmes”. This is a printed summary of all the membership programmes, each of which is available on the website anyway. Each District should have at least one copy of the printed publication, in the hands of either the District Governor, or the District Membership Officer. More copies can be obtained by contacting the Membership Division of LCI. So, let’s go very quickly through the five sections of this publication.
- Firstly, membership. It has to be said that no-one can actually come to your club and resolve all your membership issues for you. It is up to you and your club to do this. However, LCI has various initiatives that can help. (Go through points on slide and briefly explain each initiative. Take questions as you go. Ask for participants’ experiences of using each) In your pack, you will find a paper giving some pointers on what you might do within your club to seek out potential new members, and encourage them into the club. Please look at this at your leisure, and please let us have your comments, or your ideas on recruitment, for future editions of that paper.
- One of the key issues in membership is to keep the members we have got. So retention is given a high profile in LCI materials. (Go through points on slide and briefly explain each initiative. Take questions as you go. Ask for participants’ experiences of using each)
- One of the great advantages of our organisation is that anyone joining can take a leading role, if they want to. However, this often means that training in leadership skills is necessary. Even those who are used to leading in their family or business life may well need to learn the extra skills necessary to lead volunteers and run a Lions club. Therefore, leadership training is an important element in LCI materials and tools. (Go through points on slide and briefly explain each initiative. Take questions as you go. Ask for participants’ experiences of using each)
- We have talked about reviewing our community service projects, and community needs, and finding new projects where necessary. LCI can help with this process, and can suggest various projects that have been adopted worldwide. (Go through points on slide and briefly explain each initiative. Take questions as you go. Ask for participants’ experiences of using each) The particular advantage of getting involved in a service project which has been adopted by LCI is that there is an existing structure of information and support, through our District Officers, or through LCI itself. It is not necessary to “re-invent the wheel”, and there is usually literature and visual aids available.
- One aspect that we often neglect is Public Relations. We should always remember to publicise what we do in order to help with our future efforts. To publicise before an event at which we need public support is obvious, but we should also make sure we get maximum publicity after the event. This enables us to tell the public what they have helped us to achieve, and to thank them. It is also important to make sure the public know we are there, and what we do. Such publicity is important if we want the help and support of the public in future, and if we want the public to come to us for the help that the community needs. And of course, if we publicise our success, this will be a great encouragement when we are seeking new members. Publicity is something only we can do. We do the vast majority of our work locally, and therefore each club needs to create a good, strong local image. National or international publicity can help, but it is no substitute for local image. Having said that, there are a number of aids available from LCI. (Go through points on slide and briefly explain each initiative. Take questions as you go. Ask for participants’ experiences of using each) Perhaps more importantly, our own Multiple District and District PR Officers can help with your club PR efforts. Do not be afraid to ask.
- Having looked at what LCI can provide, I think it is important (perhaps more important) to look at what has worked locally. So please let us have your experiences in any areas of club activity listed on the screen. What materials and methods have worked for you? (Participants to recount their successes as time permits) (Explain any other materials, tools and initiatives available from District and/or locally)
- Many thanks for your input. If you have any success that we have not had time to explore today, please let me know, and I will make sure the word gets around. So, having discussed what is available, we also need to hear what the needs are for the future. What materials or tools do you need to make a success of your club’s future plans? (Write responses on flipchart) Many thanks. We will see what we can do to fulfil those needs. Now we need to get down to some work. Having decided where we are now, and where we would like to be in the future, we now have to discuss how we are going to get there. Over to Lion ...................................... to take us through some practical work on Goal Setting and Action Plans.
- As we discussed, all our bright ideas and our good intentions are to no avail if we do not put them into action. In Lions, we are very good at holding meetings, and chatting about what needs to be done. But in order to take those ideas and discussions and make them work for us in the future, we need to set ourselves some goals, plan some actions to achieve those goals, carry out those actions, and then measure the results. Then we will have achieved something! First, let’s look at how we set our goals.
- We need to set a goal in such a way that we can then go on to drawn up suitable and understandable action plans. Our goal statement should be clear enough so that not only we, but anyone else, can read it, understand it, and draw up plans to action it. To be clear enough for this, our goal statement must be SMART, that is....... (Read and explain each bullet point on the slide)
- So lets look at a few sample goal statements. Are these SMART? (Take each example and ask participants to explain the SMART elements. Help them as necessary) Now I would ask each group to look at one particular issue arising from your Club Evaluation Questionnaires and decide what goal you may have in order to address the particular issue. Please write a goal statement to express that goal, incorporating all the SMART principals. In ten minutes, I will ask you to share your goal statement with the whole workshop. (Return to previous slide so that the SMART principals can be seen). (After ten minutes ask each group to read out their goal statement, and ask all other participants to comment as to whether they are SMART).
- Having written our goal statement, we need to put together some action plans, otherwise nothing will happen, or at least some random actions will occur that may or may not take us towards that goal. Those plans need to be clear and detailed enough so that everyone involved can tell from them what is supposed to be done, by whom and by when. They need to be specific. The plans need to be set out in a logical sequence, usually according to the order in which the actions need to be done, so that the participants can work down the sheet and tell easily what has been done and what needs to be done next. You also need to build milestones into the plan. That is, points at which you can pause, assess progress and celebrate the success so far achieved. These milestones are important so that all participants can appreciate the progress made. This encourages all involved to move further and faster towards the ultimate goal.
- So we need to set out our action plans to be absolutely clear as to what actions will be done, who will be responsible for that action (and what resources they will need), the deadline for completion of the action, and the indicator that will tell us that it has been done (and the level of success achieved by that particular action).
- In the packs you have a copy of this action plan sheet. As you can see, it is set out in columns headed How? When? Who? and How Will We Know?, so that against each action we can mark those elements we need to know in order to monitor progress.
- You will also find in your packs an example action plan completed in respect of the first of the three steps in the management of change. This is on the slide in front of you, but may be rather small to read, so please look at the printed copy in your pack. (Explain any elements of the example as necessary. Ask participants if the have any questions, and if they understand how to construct such action plans) Now please work in your groups and take 15 minutes to write at least some of the action plan that you will need in order to achieve the goal you wrote earlier. After 15 minutes, please be prepared to share you action plan with us all. (Assist participants as necessary during their 15 minute exercise. After 15 minutes, ask one or two participants to share their plans, as so far drawn. After each report, ask other participants to comment). As you would expect, there will be many more issues arising from the Club Evaluation that will require you to set goals and action plans. However, I hope that the work you have done here today will start you on the road to a better future for your club.
- But in that work, you are almost bound to meet resistance of some sort or other. What sort of barriers do you think you will come across? (Record answers on flip chart) (Mouse click) We can summarise the barriers into six main groups as follows:- Awareness and understanding – some of our members will just not understand what the problems are or why we need to address them. Lack of motivation – others may just not care about the problems, or about solving them. Own acceptance and beliefs – they may see things quite differently from us, and not be ready to accept the majority view. Low self-esteem – they may not believe that the club is capable of moving forward in the way we would like Practicalities – they may feel it is just not possible for the club to achieve more External influences – there may be factors in the community, or whispers from outside, that puts members off We have to try and assess ahead of time what the barriers are likely to be, so that we can be prepared, and can overcome them.
- Some of the ways round the barriers are shown here. If we can make people less comfortable with the way things are now, then they are much more likely to accept and work with the changes we propose. We should try to do this in a positive way, by increasing the attractiveness of our vision for the future, rather than “rubbishing” the past or present. However, we will have to demonstrate why the proposed changes will make things better. We should always remember to highlight and publicise the success of recent improvements (and if necessary, to say what we have learned from changes that have not worked so well!). Before approaching those from whom resistance is expected, do not be afraid to elicit the support of those whom you know will be more willing to accept the proposed changes. Lobbying has always played an important part in the achievement of change, and the more supporters you can gather before engaging the centres of resistance, the more chance there is of success.
- So, before we move on, are there any comments of questions? I hope this look at goal setting and action plans gives you a practical way to approach the changes that you find necessary. In Lions, there is often a quite understandable wish to avoid being too regimented in what we do. After all, we are volunteers, and this is a hobby. But sometimes we need to be more organised, if we are to achieve our goals. Please remember, “A Goal Without a Plan Is Just a Wish”. Now, I will hand over to Lion ............................... for a review of our workshop, and to discuss what we need to do next.
- Let’s look back at what we have covered today. It is important to continue the development of “My Ideal Club” programme, so your feedback is greatly valued. Please feel free to give us your comments and your constructive criticism, so that we can improve for the future. It is also important to leave here with a clear understanding of what we need to do next, and how we are going to progress the goals and plans that we have now started.
- We started off by discussing why we are here today. Are there any more thoughts on that? Have we achieved our objectives? Next we discussed what the term “My Ideal Club” means. As we said, this will be different for each of us, but I hope that our work here has enabled you to consider this matter further, and has helped you to see how you can conduct a similar discussion in your club. Through this concept, do you think you and your club will be able to reach a consensus on how you want your club to be for the future? Involved in the debate will be the needs of your current and future members, and the needs of your community. Through the Club Evaluation Questionnaire and the Public Questionnaires, we have looked at ways that we can gather the necessary input and opinions to assess those needs, so that we can move towards fulfilling them. Do you believe that your club will wish to go through this process? Can we improve it in any way? Through our look at the resources available, and through our goal-setting and action plans, we have looked at some of the things we can aim for, and how we can move towards the goals that we set ourselves. Do you feel that we have helped get you started on this process? (Record responses on the flip chart)
- So can we agree that we have made a good start here today? But, if we are to move forward, we must take back to our clubs what we have done here today, and carry on the work. Above all, we must keep our fellow members involved in the process, so that the whole club moves forward together. And we need to incorporate the views and the needs of the community in our development, so that we are relevant to today, and relevant to tomorrow. We do need to do a lot more work on deciding the goals that we wish to achieve, and in setting action plans to reach those goals. This will involve working out what resources are needed, and in securing those resources. And, of course, we must apply those resources in putting our plans into effect – we need action! The mentor appointed to your club will be there to help along the way as necessary, as will be your DG Team and your District Officers. But only your club can decide how you want to be, and how you wish to get there. So it is up to you. Having said that, it is recommended that you come together every now and then, just for an hour or two, to discuss progress, and to exchange ideas and information. Perhaps the first of such meetings should be in two or three months time. Do you wish to set at date now?
- So, to summarise, the future of your club will be all the brighter if:- (Take each point on the slide, and expand as appropriate, to give closing, inspirational remarks)
- (Give any necessary closing housekeeping announcements) (Thank the facilitators, the participants, and anyone else you feel necessary.)